How a Tennessean Helped Shape the Casey Anthony Trial

A forensic scientist in East Tennessee provided the prosecutors in the Casey Anthony trial key evidence which gave some indication as to how Caylee Anthony died and assisted the prosecutors in attempting to establish pre-meditation, even if ultimately unsuccessful. Dr. Arpad Vass and a group of scientists at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in East Tennessee were provided with air samples from the trunk of a car where prosecutors contended Casey stored Caylee’s body following her death. Dr. Vass analyzed the air samples using a technique intended to identify body vapors which are typical of decomposing bodies known as decomposition odor analysis, or “DOA”. The report indicated that an unusually high amount of chloroform was present in the air samples from the car’s trunk. Prosecutors used Dr. Vass’s testimony as evidence to then argue Casey Anthony used chloroform to put Caylee to sleep while she duct taped Caylee’s mouth and killed her. Criminal defense attorneys largely focused their cross examination on Dr. Vass on the fact that the science is relatively new and that it had never previously been used in a criminal case.