By Amy Pavuk, The Orlando Sentinel –
ORLANDO, Fla. — The defamation case filed by a Florida mother against Casey Anthony can proceed to trial, an Orange County Circuit Court judge ruled Thursday.
Judge Lisa Munyon heard several hours of arguments last month on two motions — one filed by Anthony’s defense and the other by attorneys for Zenaida Gonzalez — but reserved ruling.
Gonzalez, of Kissimmee, claims that Anthony ruined her reputation in 2008 when she told authorities a baby sitter with the same name kidnapped her 2-year-old daughter Caylee.
At issue is whether or not Anthony identified Gonzalez specifically enough when she talked to her parents in a jail visitation session.
Gonzalez’s attorneys contend that when Anthony told her family, “When they went and interviewed that girl down in Kissimmee, they never showed me a picture of her,” that the remark implicates Gonzalez in Caylee’s disappearance because she was the only Zenaida Gonzalez interviewed in Kissimmee, Munyon’s ruling said.
Gonzalez’s attorneys also argue the statement implies that she is the nanny in question.
Meanwhile, Anthony’s defense argues, “the entire context of the conversation clearly shows that the plaintiff is not implicated by the defendant but is instead exonerated,” Munyon wrote.
“This statement is susceptible to two competing inferences, both of which are reasonable, thus this issue must be decided by a jury …,” Munyon wrote.
The civil trial is slated for January 2013.
During Anthony’s first-degree murder trial last year, defense attorney Jose Baez said Anthony fabricated the story about the baby sitter and that Caylee drowned in the family pool.
Anthony was acquitted of murder and other serious charges. Her whereabouts remain publicly unknown.
