Caylee Marie Anthony MURDER TRIAL- DAY 24- 6/21/11

3:45pm Tues, June 21, 2011 Court is in session, jury is present.

Next witness is Det. Yuri Melich.

Baez is up.......

You are the lead detective in this case? Yes. You have served several search warrants on the Anthony home? Yes. Did you find any papers dealing with chloroform in the Anthony home? No printouts? No. No containers? No. No rags? No. No products using to make chloroform? No. Any receipts for items to make chloroform? No. Any science kits? No. On the 2nd search of the Anthony home did you find any of the above previously mentioned? Where you looking for that? I don't know. If I showed you the warrant would that assist you? Yes. Baez is approaching with the search warrant. Search warrant of Dec 11, 2008. Did you look for any of these items in the search warrant? Yes, we did. Showing Yuri the next search warrant, Dec 20, 2011, did you look for these items in that search warrant? No, sir. The reason for that would of been? We had already looked for them in the first search. Is that because you did such a thorough job? I don't know. If you had come into contact with a chemistry kit you would of taken it? We would of done it legally. Did you ever find any items to do with chloroform in the Anthony home? No.

Linda is up.............

When you first looked for items did you know about the chloroform results in the trunk. No, we did not. Was Ms Anthony out on bail between that time? Yes.

Baez is up..........

You can get a search warrant when someone is out on bail? Yes. After you got the info from the lab on chloroform you waited how long till the next search warrant? Months. When you searched the home did you find any items of chloroform? No. Melich says all that time we were looking for a live child. After Oct 14, 2008 you were no longer looking for a live child? No, because she was charged with murder. You didn't go back looking for chloroform till Dec 11, 2008? Yes. Witness is excused.

Next witness is Marcus Wise.

He is a research scientist at Oakridge Natl. Lab in Tennessee.
He has worked for Oakridge for 27 years. He has published articles on analytical chemistry 15-20 times. He has lectured and given presentations on the topic. This is the first time he has ever testified in court.

The judge has made him an expert witness in analytical chemistry.

He solves chemistry problems. He works in a research laboratory. The difference in a forensic lab and a research lab is he runs experiments. He doesn't usually handle evidence items. Is the other difference in the labs, protocols? Sustained. As a scientist you are aware of different types of labs? Yes. One of the things you are aware of in a forensic lab they usually have more rigid standards? He has not worked in a forensic lab. Are you aware of the protocols of a forensic lab? No. You do not have rigid protocols? We have varied and different methods. You are not using protocols, steps written down? We have a routine part of our job it is not written down, it is just like driving a car. You do not have proficiency examinations? No. Do you have quality control? No, not routine procedure. Are there any protocols in place in your lab to prevent contamination? We run instrument standards. If you have an item your gonna test, there are no protocols in place for contamination? How would it become contaminated? I don't know what you mean. I am aware of major sources of contamination that can occur. Is there anything that you have in place in your lab that could indicate contamination before it reaches your instruments? No. You were given items in this case, what did you do? Dr. Vass asked me to run instrument testing on these items. He left me a key but he wasn't there that day. They were on his desk or file cabinet. One was in a bag one was in a can. I used a MSGS to see what was in the sample. It is a qualitative analysis not a quantitative analysis. The items you were asked to test, did you advise Dr Vass that the analysis would not mean anything in this case? No, we were looking for what we found. It showed a high peak? Yes. It showed a high read out? Yes. It shows a series of peaks and they have a relative height of peaks. In the sample where we found chloroform it was not qualified, it would of been a meaningless number. We did a quantitative analysis. Chloroform is a volatile gas and it evaporates, the rate at which it decreases depends on factors. If a trunk is closed, that would slow down the volatility? No. If we would of made a qualitative analysis of the carpet, it would of just been a snap shot in time and would not represent the whole carpet. So they did a quantitative analysis. It could of been much greater, they could not have back calculated. Is the reason you did not check is that you did not know the history? You would of had to of known the temperature, how long it was there, the amount there originally could of been much higher than the amount we found. You were given air samples from the trunk of the car. When you tested that air, there was virtually nothing there. Yes because those bags diffuse out and it was not surprising that no chloroform showed up. The piece of carpet from a point source, was in a metal can. When Dr Vass was out of town, I put in a syringe in the can and found chloroform. Subsequent to that they concentrated the sample, they took that carpet sample from the can and put it in a clean bag and put into an incubator held at 95 degrees, after 2 days, they analyzed it again. They again saw chloroform as the major peak. The instrument you used is highly sensitive? Yes. My instruments are very sensitive, 2 parts to one million parts per air. You purchased standards of chloroform? Yes. You did not use those. Yes, quantitative analysis would be meaningless. They got a series of peaks, with the help of their computer they identified the compound with a library search and found it to be tentatively chloroform and then compared it to the bought sample. Baez gave him notes, handwritten by the witness in the lab. He wrote in his notes that the triple sorbent trap was reasonably clean. Baez asks him if he didn't make sure it was absolutely clean. He is asking him more questions about the notes that I do not understand. Why is there a Benzine peak? I don't know. He is asking him about his notes, it is just comments he made, very hard to understand. Sidebar....sidebar is over.

Taking a 7 minute stretch break. 4:35pm