ee IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE NINTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT, IN AND FOR ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA ., CASE NUMBER: 48-2008-CF-015606-0 DIVISION 16 STATE OF FLORIDA, Plaintiff, vs. CASEY MARIE ANTHONY, Defendant. Orlando, Florida August 5, 2009 10:08 a.m. DEEOSITION oF: GEORGE A. ANTHONY oe ek ot oe gat Marge Raeder Court Reporter, Inc. 999 Douglas Avenue/Sulte 3307 Altamonte Springs, FL 32714 407/774-6611 * Fax 407/774-449010 13 14 16 7 18 19 20 at 24 2 PPEARANCES: LINDA DRANE BURDICK, ATTORNEY AT LAW FRANK GEORGE, ESQUIRE JEFFREY ASHTON, ESQUIRE Assistant State Attorneys 415 North Orange Avenue orlando, Florida 32801 Appearing on behalf of the Plaintiff. JOSE BAEZ, ESQUIRE 522 Simpson Road Kissimmee, Florida 34744 and ANDREA LYON, ATTORNEY AT LAW [Via Skype] 15 East Jackson Boulevard Chicago, Illinois 60604 Appearing on behalf of the Defendant. BRADLEY A. CONWAY, ESQUIRE 189 South Orange Avenue Suite 1850 Orlando, Florida 32801 Appearing on’behalf of the Deponent. INDEX TESTIMONY OF GEORGE A. ANTHONY: Direct Examination by Mr. Ashton 5 Direct Examination by Ms. Drane Burdick 278 Further Direct Examination by Mr. Ashton 318 Further Direct Examination by Ms. Drane Burdick 324 Further Direct Examination by Mr. Ashton 330 Cross Examination by Mr. Baez 332 CERTIFICATE OF REPORTER 335 SUBSCRIPTION OF DEPONENT 33610 1" 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22, 23 24 25 Exhibit Exhibit Exhibit Exhibit Exhibit Exhibit Exhibit Exhibit Exhibit Exhibit Number Number Number Number Number Number Number Number Number Number Beownuawne HI Mi: ed10 " 2 18 4 18 7 18 19 2 22 24 25 The deposition of GEORGE A. ANTHONY was taken on behalf of the Plaintiff on Wednesday, August 5, 2009, beginning at 10:08 a.m., at the Office of the State attorney, 415 North Orange Avenue, Room 379, Orlando, Florida, before Dawn R. Matter, Electronic Reporter and Notary Public, State of Florida at Large. (Whereupon, Exhibit Numbers 1 through 8 were marked for identification.] Whereupon, GEORGE A. ANTHONY, having been first duly sworn by the reporter, testified as follows: MR. ASHTON: Good morning. THE WITNESS: Good morning. MR. ASHTON: Let's begin first by introducing everyone. I'm Jeff Ashton on behalf of the state of Florida. MS. DRANE BURDICK: Linda Burdick. MR. GEORGE: Frank George on behalf of the State. MR. CONWAY: Brad Conway for George Anthony.10 " 2 13 14 15 16 7 18 19 at 22 23 24 25 MR. BAEZ: Jose Baez and Andrea Lyon on behalf of Casey Anthony. MR. ASHTON: And for the record, Ms. Lyon is appearing by computer from her office in Chicago? MR. BAEZ: Chicago MR. ASHTON: All right. And we've already verified that she can hear us and will participate when she needs to. DIRECT EXAMINATION BY MR. ASHTON: Q Mr. Anthony, before we begin, I want to go through some preliminary matters about your appearance here. You are here pursuant to a subpoena that was actually issued for your appearance last week, I believe on Wednesday of last week was when it was set. By agreement with Mr. Conway, who was present with your wife, it was agreed that your subpoena would be held over until this week for both your convenience and ours in trying to get this deposition done. I say that to point out that you are still under subpoena here today, under a State attorney subpoena. That subpoena has certain obligations or protections I want to go over with you. I'm sure Mr. Conway has already explained them to you, but I want to make sure they're on the record.10 " 2 13 14 18 16 v7 18 19 20 at 22 23. 24 Since you are a subpoenaed witness in this case, you are obligated to provide any information that you know and answer any questions you are asked. The only time you can refuse to answer a question is based upon a claim of privilege, which Mr. Conway would advise you about and explain to you. That is your obligation under subpoena. The protection you are given by law under subpoena -- and, again, this is based upon Florida statute, and it is granted to every witness who is subpoenaed by the State -- it's something called use and derivative-use immunity. That means that you may feel free to discuss openly anything, any facts you know in this case, even if those facts would tend to incriminate you. Again, I explain this, not because we think that you have done anything wrong. It's just a standard protection that all witnesses receive. Not only can nothing that you tell us be used against you, but nothing that we derive from what you tell us can be used against you. As an example, if you were to tell us where a piece of evidence could be found that would incriminate you, we went and found that piece of evidence, we could use neither your admission or the piece of evidence10 "1 2 13 “4 16 16 "7 8 9 21 22 23 24 against you. The only exception to that is for prosecution for perjury committed today or at any time hereafter. Under those circumstances, the evidence could be used. Aside from that -- therefore, based on that, you may not claim a privilege of self-incrimination during this deposition. any other privileges that you feel apply that you would like to claim, you may, on consultation with your counsel, but not the privilege against self-incrimination. What I've just explained to you, is that pretty much what you already knew? A understand. Yes. Q Okay. Any questions about any of that? A No. Q All right. Let's just start off, please tell us your name. A George A. Anthony. Q And what is your date of birth? A September 5th, 1951. Q bet me just start out with some personal history of yours. Just kind of take me through where you were born, where you were raised, those kinds of things. A. Iwas born in Warren, Ohio. I was raised in10 1" 2 13 “ 8 16 7 18 18 20 at 22 23 24 @ small town called Niles, Ohio, which is adjacent to Warren, Ohio. Up until the year 1989, I lived in Ohio, and I moved down here in September of 1989 -- Q and -- A -- and resided here since. Q + do you -- were both your parents -- I believe both -- are both your parents still alive? A Yes. Both of my parents are still alive. Q Okay. A They live in Fort Myers, Florida. MR. BAR: + Excuse me, Jeff. MR. ASHTON: Sure. MR. BAEZ: I don't mean to interrupt, but 1 think the camera is facing the wall. MR. ASHTON: Yeah. Tt does seem to be getting a lot of the post. MR. BABZ: Yeah. If you could turn it. MR. ASHTON: Let's see. Is that better? MR. BAEZ: .Is that better, andrea? MS. LYON: It's much better. And Jeff, as long as we're talking, if you can keep your voice up just a little bit. I'm having a little trouble hearing you, which I know you can't believe. MR. ASHTON: Yeah. I have never heard - I've never had that -- I've never heard that10 " 2 13 14 15 7 18 19 at 23, 24 25 before. MS. LYON: Thank you. MR. ASHTON: Usually it's the other way around. BY MR. ASHTON: @ And your -- those are your biological parents, no stepparents or anything like that? A They're my biological parents. Yes. Q Did you have any siblings? A Yes. TI have three sisters. Q Three sisters, And where -- what are their ages in comparison to yours? A I have a sister who's seven years older than Tam. She'll be 60 -- wow. You don't have to do the math. It's okay. Okay. That's why I said -- Yes, She's -- OP Oo bP oO -- in comparison to yours. A Yes. She's older. And I have two younger sisters. Q And how many years younger are they? A One is ten years younger and the other one is seven years younger. @ So a spread of 24 years between the youngest19 1 12 16 W 16 19 20 at 22. 24 25 10 and the oldest? A Yes. Q All right. and how old were your parents when you were born, approximately? A Well, my dad would have been 25 years old. Q And your mother? A She would have been 26. She's about -- just about a year older than my father. @ Okay. What did your parents, your father do er your mother do when you were growing up? What were their occupations? A My mother was a stay-at-home mom. My dad had an automobile business for 44 years. Q Was it new cars, used cars, a little of both? A It was five-year-old used cars, and we also sold new ones considered conversion vans at the time. Q Okay. Now, as you were growing up, did you go through elementary school, middle school, high school, complete all those normal kind of schooling? A Yes. I did I went from what we consider kindergarten or like a pre-school all the way up through high school, graduated. Also went off to Youngstown State University. Q@ And did you spend that entire time in Niles, or Warren, or --10 12 13 7 18 19 at 22 23 24 25 11 A Up until the time that I met Cindy, yes. 1 was living in Niles, Ohio. And when I met. her, we moved into a small, what we call, a township right outside of Niles, called Howland ‘Township. Q And is Niles like a suburb of warren? A It's a small city itself, probably about 45,000 people. Very small midwestern town. Q And how big is Warren? A 110,000. About double the size. @ And it is in eastern ohio; is that -- A Eastern section of Ohio, yes. Q Eastern Ohio? What is -- is Warren one of those towns where there's a primary industry that sort of the town grew around or kind of describe it to me. A Well, the primary industry is the steel industry. Also we had automobile manufacturing there. Q Okay. And coming up through, did your father -- you said your father had the business for 40-some years? A 44 years exactly. Q 44 years. A Yes. Q@ Would you describe your upbringing as middle class? Were you on the wealthier end of the community you lived in? How would you describe that?10 1" 2 18 14 5 16 7 18 19 20 21 24 25 22 A Middle class. Q dust middle class. Now, when you -- you said you graduated from high school and you went to Youngstown State? A University. Yes. Q In Ohio? A Yes. Q Was that a place where you would -- did you live in Youngstown, or was it close enough to Warren that you could commute? A I could commute. About a 25, 30-minute drive. And did you live at home and -- Yes. ~- commute to school? Uh-huh. o> Oo Fr oO How far did you get in college? A It took me five-and-a-half years to get a four-year degree, a Bachelor in business administration, a minor in art. Q Were you working while you were at school? A Yes. Q What were you doing? A I worked for my father at thé car business and also took a position as a law enforcement10 1" 2 13 14 16 16 7 18 19 20 at BR 24 25 13 officer -- Q Right. A -- back in 1975. Got out of the family business. Q So you started in law enforcement in '75? A Yes. Q And were you still in college when you were in law enforcement? A Yeah. dust had finished up. It was, like, probably about a month or two difference, yes, from the time I started until when I graduated. Q All right. Was this something that you had thought about having a career in or focused on a career, or was it something you just wanted to try or, you know, that -- oh. There you go. some water. [Whereupon, there was an interruption in the proceedings, after which the following transpired:] THE WITNESS: Actually, the family business, decided to do something different. It was a challenge, a friend of mine was doing it, and it was something interesting to do. BY MR. ASHTON: Q Okay. And you were with the -- I don't know if I have the term right, was it County?10 " 2 13 14 16 16 17 18 20 at 22 23, 24 14 The Trumbull County Sheriff's Department. County Sheriff's Department. PO Dp Yes. Q And how big is Trumbull County? I know -- Population, just general estimates. Back in -- when you started in the '70s, how big a place was it? A Probably the whole complete county as far as the amount of people who lived there through all the townships and the different little cities and stuff like that, maybe a little less than a million people. Maybe 800,000, right around in there. 1 mean, that's -- Q Okay. A That's a tough -- Q Rough estimate. I -- A Giving you a rough idea. Q I'm just trying to get a sense of the community a little bit. A Okay. Q All right. So you started in law enforcement in '75, dust kind of take me through your career path in law enforcement. A I was in uniform for about two years, working in different areas throughout the county. Going into about my two-and-a-half year period, I was promoted to10 12 18 4 5 16 7 18 19 20 at 22. 24 25 is a detective. I was the very first one to be promoted so quickly within the sheriff's department of all the years it had been in existence, Q That's wonderful. How large a detective division, if that's the correct word they used, did the Trumbull County Sheriff's Office have? A That could fluctuate by the number of officers we had on our force at the time. Officers we had -- when I was -- at our peak, I think we had 115 or 116 officers in our Trumbull County sheriff's Department. As far as the number of detectives, 1 think we had, like, 16 or 17 of us were -- Q Okay. A in different divisions within the Detective Bureau. Q And how -- and it's called the Detective Bureau, was the -- A Yes. Q ~~ term you used. Okay. A Yes. Q Within the Detective Bureau, how were was it divided up, in other words? A Oh, we had a burglary division. We had an auto theft division, which I was basically assigned to. We also had a homicide division, which I occasionally10 " 12 13 14 15 17 18 19 a 23 24 16 worked in. And we just -- you know, different things. T mean, it was just whatever came through. small/petty theft, I think vandalisms. It was -- Q Is -- I imagine with that number of officers, there was a lot cross-over where -- A Oh, absolutely. ~- one division would get busy and the other would help ana -- A Right. Q = -- that kind of thing? Okay. So you started out in Auto Theft? A Uh-huh. Q And did you ever -- were you ever -- and how long were you a detective? A Oh, geez. Just about five-and-a-half, maybe six years, roughly. Q And at any of those times, were you actually transferred full time to a different division within the sheriff's office other than the auto theft division? A Oh, I worked in a -- I was working undercover in a drug division. We had a drug and surveillance division that we had. That was something that was -- the sheriff at the time, our newest sheriff that came in, he just divided certain officers, and we had --10 " 2 13 4 15 16 7 18 18 20 at 22 24 25 17 there was, like, three or four of us that were assigned to that particular area. Q Okay. And what type of undercover or surveillance work would you do in that division? A Wow. Any -- any particular case that would have involved drugs, selling, being cultivated within our county and other counties that were around us we worked very closely with. It was basically a task force we had -- Q Okay. A -- formed with the Mahoney County Sheriff's Department and Trumbull County Sheriff's Department -- Q Now, I - A -- at the time. Q I'm sorry. I thought somebody said something. I know in some different parts of the country, different types of drugs are the greater problem. Some places it's marijuana cultivation; some places meth production; some places crack cocaine. What was -- was there a main focus in Trumbull County as far as your investigations went? A Well, a lot of things that we were involved with, that I can remember having a lot of - a decent amount of arrests with, was a marijuana growth and cultivation we had within our couple counties that we10 " 12 13, 14 16 16 "7 18 19 20 a 22 23 24 138 worked with. We also at the time was a drug called PCP or phencyclidine. It's a horse-type -- Q © Yeah. A -- thing. ‘That's going back. As far as crack cocaine, it wasn't really the big thing, I guess, back then or the meth and stuff like that. Q It wasn't really until the '80s. A Yeah. It's -- I think right after I got out of it, I think that stuff really started to -- Q All right. A -+ blossom. Q And so you were in that unit for how long? A I would say 18 months, right around there. That was sort of towards the end of my stint as a detective. ves. Q Now, I think you indicated that during your time, even when you were in Auto Theft, you would occasionally cross over and investigate homicide cases as well, or violent-crimes cases? A Uh-huh, Q How frequently would you become involved in investigations of violent-crimes cases and homicide cases? A To put a specific amount of days or months or10 1" 12 13 4 16 ” 18 19 at 22 24 19 something like that, I really don't remember. 1 -- Q dust in general. In other words, was it something that happened once or twice, or was it something that happened, you know, fairly often to the point that it didn't become, like, really, you know, notable kind of thing? A Oh, no. I mean, there are specific cases that I can remember very, very well -- Q Okay. A -- that I was involved with, probably for a matter of months or maybe even a year. But as far as exact amount of times I worked in, like, violent crimes and stuff like that, I'm going to say maybe two years at max maybe with that. Q Okay. I understand that. Did you -- did you -- were you called upon to testify very frequently as a law enforcement officer up in Trumbull County? A I was in court numerous times for a lot of different -- Q Right. A -- different things. Q Well, I know at some point during this period of time you met your wife. A Uh-huh. Q Can you tell me, how long had you been in --10 "1 12 14 15 16 "7 18 18 20 at 23 24 25 20 where were you in your law enforcement career when you met Cindy? A Towards the end of my detective bureau -- I was working undercover at the time. Q All right. A I was working as a drug enforcement person in our division. Q Did you ever actually, you know, pretend to be a drug purchaser, do the whole -- A Oh, yeah. You did. Q -- the whole thing? A Absolutely. Q Okay. My understanding is that Cindy was a nurse for a family member? That's how you met her? A As a matter of fact, my sister was in the hospital, yes, when I met Cindy. Q And she is how much younger than you? Like, a few years? A Ruthie is ten years younger. Q meant Cindy. z'm sorry. A Oh, Cindy? Cindy is seven years younger than Q Seven years younger. Okay. And so how were you -- how old were you when you met? A I was 29 and she would be 22.10 " R 13 “ 15 16 7 18 19 2 22 23 24 25 21 Q 22. Now, it's my understanding that you had been married before you and Cindy got married; is that correct? A Yes. Q All right. Tell me a little bit about that, when in your life that happened, kind of how long it lasted, just a thumbnail sketch. A Oh, that lasted from 1972 to just about the last part of 1979, almost 1980. @ Okay. So through your -- when you were in college to when you started in law enforcement, and then it ended while you were in law enforcement. A Yes. Okay. Any children of that -- No. -- marriage? No children. What was her name? Her name was Terry, T-e-r-r -- T-e-r-r-y. T-e-r-r-y. Okay. I'm sorry. What was her last name? > OP 0 BP OD DO pO Rosenberger [ph] was her maiden name. Q Rosenberger. You know, the ending of that marriage, did it have anything to do with your career10 ” 12 18 1“ 18 16 7 18 19 20 ai 22 23 24 26 22 in law enforcement? A It had something to do with it. Her also working in the auto industry. She worked for a plant, which was called Pack [ph] Electric at the time. Just never saw each other. Q Right. A When you're in law enforcement, you work undercover, you're sometimes -- Q Sure. A == you're not available 9:00 to 5:00. Q Right A You don't make it home sometimes for two or three days. Q How -- was the -~ was there any acrimony in the divorce, or was it kind of just -- was it okay, or was it a very difficult divorce? A Oh, yeah. I mean, we split very -- as amicably as possible. Q Okay. A I mean, she -- she went her way and I went mine. Q Okay. And you said you met her -- you divorced in '79. What year was it you met Cindy? A Just in the spring of 1980 and we were married a year later.10 2 13 16 16 17 18 19 21 22. 24 25 23 Okay. 1981. And you got married in Warren or Niles? » Oo PO Niles, Ohio. Q Niles. And -- let's see. Did you and Cindy live together before you got married? A About two months maybe, right around there. We had purchased a home together and probably just a couple months. Q@ All right. and so you got married. and after you were married, what -~- did you both continue to work? A Yes. Q How long after you got married was it that you left law enforcement? A Oh, about four years. Three-and-a-half, four years. Q 9 And what -- tell me about your decision to leave law enforcement. What prompted that? How did that come about? A Oh, my father made me an offer to go back in the family business, which was a good offer. He was getting ready to retire, or at least step back, and he wanted to keep it in the family. My son had been born. Just a lot of different little reasons.10 1" R 13 “4 15 16 7 18 19 21 22 23 24 24 Q Okay. A Law enforcement, too, was getting very, very treacherous at the time, I guess to say, through a bad automobile accident, through some other causative things that made me start thinking about my life a little bit differently. Q Okay. And I'm sure having a child gives you a different perspective of that, too. A Having a son gives you a different perspective on a lot of things. Yeah. You value your life differently when you have children. Q So what -- and did -- did Cindy encourage you -- maybe that's the wrong way to put it. Was she concerned about your safety when you were in law enforcement? Did she express that to you and -- A Absolutely. Q -- those kind of things? All right. so -- well, how long after you were married was Lee born? A He was born in 19 -- God, he's going to hate me for this. 1982. So it was about a year-and-a-half. Q Okay. A About -- I think about 17 months after we were married he was -- Q Right. And was he planned?10 1 12 13 14 15 7 18 19 20 at 22 24 28 25 A Absolutely. Q Okay. TI have four kids, two planned, two not, so that's why I asked. All right. so you get out of law enforcement. You go to work for your father; in what capacity? A I was considered the general manager of the business, overseeing the sales and service department of our business, of our family-owned business. Q Did -- and it was called Anthony Motors or -- A Anthony's Auto Sales and Service. Q Anthony's Auto Sales and Service. One location? More than one location? A Oh, my father, over the 44 years that he was involved in it, he moved three different times. When the business would get better or increase, he would build on or he would go to another location to -- Q At the time that you took over, how many locations did his company have? A We just had one location. Q Just one. And still selling used cars and new conversion vans? A Yes. Q Did you -- did your company actually do the conversions of the vans or just sell them? A We just sold them. We purchased the vans and10 " 12 13 14 16 7 18 19 20 2 22 23 24 25 26 sent them to Elkhart, Indiana, to be converted over. That's considered the conversion capital of the United States. Q Right. Every one I've ever seen has had Elkhart on the back. A Yeah. Q And then you would sell them -- A Yes. Q = -- at that point? okay. So you went to work as -- now, at that point working for your father, were you working just as a salaried employee, or were you given profit sharing or something like that? A Basically salaried. I mean, when the business did better each month, or a quarter, something like that, yeah, I would get an extra maybe two or three percent or whatever it might be. I mean, it's -- it's like anything else. Business is doing well, you make more, and when it's not doing well, you don't do as well, so -- Q Right. Was your father actively involved in the daily operations when you were general manager, or did he sort of step back and -- A The first year he was there pretty much daily. But after going into the second year after I10 1" 2 13 “4 15 16 17 16 18 at 22 23 24 27 went back into business with him, he decided on cutting back. Q © Okay. A Maybe two/three days a week, if that sometimes. Q All right. And so you kept working for how long did you work as the general manager for your father's business? A dust about about three-and-a-half, maybe four years. And we decided to part because he was getting ready to -- he had a chance to sell the business. Q Okay. A And I went out on my own and started my own, George Anthony's Auto Sales, so -- Q Okay. So it -- had it been your impression that he was going to sort of turn the business over to you? A That was my -- Q Okay. A -- feelings back in -- when I left the sheriff's department; yes. Q Okay. But that didn't turn out -- didn't turn out that way? A Not fully, no.10 " 12 13 4 15 16 17 19 21 22. 24 28 28 Q Okay. A No. Q So he sold the business. Did you get -- dia he give you any sort of part of the business or anything like that, or was it just he sold the business and you started your own on your own? A He sold the business and I went out on my own. Q Okay. And what were you selling? Obviously cars, but what type of cars? A Used cars. I sold cars two, three, maybe five years old. Could be a little bit older. But basically I was trying to stay in that newer-type -- Q Right. A -- used models. Q And how big a lot did you have, if you can kind of describe it? A dust about -- maybe about an acre lot. Could put maybe 50, 60 cars on it, something like that. Q All right. And, again, did you do the conversion-van thing, too, or -- A No. I completely separated from that, because at the time I just couldn't afford to do both. Q sure. A It was --