ORLANDO, Fla (Reuters) ? Prosecutors argued on Sunday that Casey Anthony sacrificed 2-year-old daughter Caylee for a carefree life while defense attorneys said there remained reasonable doubt about the girl's death three years ago.
Casey, now 25, killed Caylee June 16, 2008 to eliminate what she saw as the biggest obstacle to her living the fun-filled life of her dreams, prosecutors argued in an 80-minute summation Sunday.
"Casey Anthony decided on June 16th that something had to be sacrificed ... . She took (Caylee's) life and put her in the trunk (of her car) and forgot about her," Prosecutor Jeff Ashton told jurors in the seven-week murder trial.
Closing arguments in the case opened on Sunday morning. If convicted of first-degree murder, Casey Anthony could face the death penalty.
Defense lawyer Jose Baez, banned on Sunday from arguing to the jury that Casey Anthony was sexually abused by either her father or brother, focused his closing argument on reasonable doubt.
"What happened to her? What is proven beyond a reasonable doubt?" Baez said, arguing the trial raised more questions than it answered and Casey should be cleared in Caylee's death.
During opening statements, Baez had told the jury evidence would show Casey was abused by her father starting at age 8 and that was why she showed no remorse after her daughter's death.
However, Judge Belvin Perry on Sunday ruled that Baez could not raise the sexual abuse claim and blocked prosecutors from pointing out to jurors that the defense had failed to present evidence on it during the trial.
Baez claimed Caylee accidentally drowned in the Anthonys' backyard pool and suggested Casey's father George had something to do with the fact that Caylee's death went unreported.
When closing arguments conclude, the sequestered jury will receive instructions from the judge and retreat to a private room to decide on a verdict without hearing directly from Casey Anthony, who chose not to testify in her own defense.
Prosecutors say Casey smothered Caylee with duct tape so she could live a life free of the demands of motherhood, stored the body in her car trunk for several days and then dumped the remains in woods near her family's home.
Casey lied to friends and family about Caylee's whereabouts for a month. Then on July 15, Casey's mother Cindy called the sheriff's department after finding Casey's car at an impound lot smelling, to her, like a dead body had been in the trunk.
Casey told investigators Caylee had been kidnapped by a nanny, triggering a nationwide search for the toddler. Caylee's skeletal remains were found in the woods on December 11, 2008.
Defense lawyer Jose Baez, in his opening statement to jurors, provided an alternate theory of Caylee's death. Baez said Caylee accidentally drowned on June 16, 2008, in the Anthonys' backyard pool and that her death went unreported.
Baez said Casey and her father, George, lost track of Caylee that morning at the house shared by Casey, Caylee, George and Cindy. Baez said Casey and George searched the house and yard before George found Caylee's body in the pool.
GEORGE DENIED DROWNING STORY
Baez also told the jury that the reason Casey acted inappropriately after the death -- lying about Caylee's whereabouts, partying with friends and getting tattoos -- was because she had a history of sexual abuse by her father.
The defense never produced evidence that Casey was sexually abused by George and George denied the allegation in testimony. George also denied Baez's story about a drowning death.
If the jury finds Casey guilty of premeditated first-degree murder, the trial will enter a second phase in which the jury will make a recommendation on whether Casey should be executed or sentenced to life in prison.
To show premeditation, prosecutors presented evidence of Internet searches conducted three months before Caylee died on the desktop computer at the Anthony home.
Someone -- the prosecution suggests it was Casey -- searched for the keywords chloroform, how to make chloroform, neck-breaking, internal bleeding, ruptured spleen and death, according to experts who examined the computer's hard drive.
Chloroform is an anesthetic that can knock people out or even kill them. The chemical is also released by decaying bodies. A prosecution expert testified he found a large quantity of chloroform in Casey's trunk.
In surprise testimony on June 23, Cindy said she was the one who had looked up chloroform while researching whether chlorophyll in bamboo leaves in the yard had sickened her dog. Cindy said she had skipped out on work and made the searches on the home computer.
However, records obtained last week by the prosecution from Cindy's former employer showed she had been entering data at her office work station at the same time she said she was making the Internet search at home.
(Editing by Cynthia Johnston and David Bailey)
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