George Anthony gave some of the most damning testimony in the murder trial of his daughter today, saying that Casey Anthony was the last one to see Caylee alive.
George Anthony also denied the defense's claim that he had sexually abused Casey Anthony when she was a girl.
Casey Anthony is accused of murdering her daughter, 2-year-old Caylee, and could face the death penalty if convicted. Her defense team argues that the toddler accidentally drowned in the family pool and that George Anthony helped dispose of the body. They also claim that he sexually abused Casey Anthony and that she hid her daughter's death in the same manner that she hid the molestation.
In a testy exchange between George Anthony and his daughter's lawyer, Jose Baez, the lawyer asked him, "You know that sex with a child under the age of 12 is a life sentence, sir? ... You of course would never admit you molested your daughter, would you, sir?"
"Sir, I never would do anything like that to my daughter. I would never do anything to harm my daughter in that way," George Anthony shot back.
Baez snapped rhetorically, "Only in that way?"
Casey Anthony's Case Hurt By Her Father's Testimony?
George Anthony's testimony may have hurt his daughter's defense as Baez argued that George Anthony attempted to shift the focus of law enforcement to his daughter and that his experience as a former police officer helped him do it.
"Definitely something happened to Caylee, she's no longer with us and Casey was the last one I'd seen with her…one and one adds up to two no matter how you try to spin it," George Anthony said.
At another point, he told the court, "I didn't want to believe back then that my daughter could be capable of taking the life of her daughter."
During cross examination, prosecutor Jeff Ashton, asked George Anthony, "Did you ever tell police your daughter murdered your granddaughter?"
"I didn't believe that at that time," George Anthony replied.
When Baez challenged George Anthony on some of his actions in the months after Caylee was reported missing and Casey was arrested, he insisted that his behavior was that of a panicked grandfather and father.
"Was I upset and falling apart at the moment, absolutely. My family was being torn apart…and for you to say I was doing something wrong, I'm upset," George Anthony said.
Updated evidence photos from the Casey Anthony murder trial
In another blow to his daughter's defense, he reiterated that Casey Anthony's Pontiac Sunfire smelled "100 percent" of human decomposition and he told jurors that his daughter "has a tendency to live on the edge." He briefly sobbed describing the pungent smell from the car.
"I could smell it three feet away from the passenger side...yeah it smelled like decomposition, human decomposition," George Anthony said. "I can close my eyes at the moment and I can smell that again. How dare you try to tell me I did something differently than what I did."
The more the defense grilled him, the more George Anthony fought back.
"You're trying to take this joy of my life away from me and you can't do it anymore," he told Baez.
George Anthony grew even more emotional when he admitted to a suicide attempt in 2009.
Casey Anthony shook her head no at times as she listened to her father and did not cry.
The defense's case is winding down and so far Casey Anthony's attorneys have had little luck getting witnesses to corroborate their theory presented in Baez's opening statement that Caylee drowned and that Casey kept silent about the death because she had been "trained to lie" by her father during years of sexual abuse.
It's still unclear if Casey Anthony will take the stand in her own defense. Her attorneys have attempted to bolster their theory without Anthony's testimony.
Who's Who in the Case Anthony Trial
Earlier this morning, they tried to use the defendant's mother, Cindy Anthony, to prove that Casey Anthony's brother, Lee, molested Casey Anthony.
Cindy Anthony simply replied, "no," when asked if she recalled Lee Anthony going into Casey Anthony's bedroom late at night. When Baez attempted to pursue the questioning further, he was denied by Judge Belvin Perry.
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