Apr 01 2009
The Latest In The Casey Anthony Case: April 1/2009 – The James Hoover Deposition
In the defamation lawsuit against Casey Anthony by Zenaida Gonzalez, the Anthony’s volunteer private investigator, James Hoover, had to give a sworn deposition. Here are some of the main details from the deposition that was taken with James Hoover on March 25/ 2009.
-Hoover first learned about the Casey Anthony case from watching the news sometime in July/2008.
-Being a former body guard, Hoover went to offer free protection to the Anthony family after watching how they were being harassed by the public.
-Hoover was never retained nor paid by the Anthony family. Hoover only volunteered his services to the family because he felt sorry for them. He does admit in the deposition that he did not feel sorry for Casey Anthony.
-After meeting the Anthony family for the first time in their front yard, Cindy Anthony had their private investigator, Dominic Casey, run a check on him. Dominic Casey verified him and thanked Hoover for offering his services.
-Hoover says he has never met Casey Anthony.
-Hoover says he has had no contact with the family since January 14/2009, and says that there was no falling out between himself and the Anthony’s.
-The deposition then goes on about Hoover meeting with Dominic Casey to look for Caylee’s remains in the same area where they were found about two weeks later. You can read more about this in one of our previous posts here.
-Hoover says that George and Cindy Anthony returned home from California after Caylee’s remains were discovered. They were transported in a police van from the airport, jumped into a limo and went to the Ritz Carlton Hotel. This is where George and Cindy met with Hoover and Dominic Casey on December 11/2008. Hoover said his role there was to protect George and Cindy.
-Hoover then says that he was told that ABC was paying for the rooms and dinner that night. Lee and his girlfriend were also at dinner and Jose Baez showed up half way through dinner.
-Hoover says that he heard that Baez could have received up to $200,000-$225,000 for video tapes that were released to ABC, but then said he did not know for sure.
-The day after the dinner, Hoover drives the Anthony’s to get fingerprinted so that the prints could be compared to the crime scene. Dominic Casey was also fingerprinted along with Lee Anthony who showed up a little later.
-Hoover says that he does not know who the father of Caylee is, but Dominic Casey had told him that he thought it was Jesse Grund.
-Hoover says that George and Cindy Anthony had never mentioned the name Zenaida Gonzalez to him. He does say that the Anthony’s private investigator, Dominic Casey, had mentioned that he checked the name out and that there were several in the area.
- When Hoover was asked if George ever told him that he and Cindy would be divorced when the whole thing was over, Hoover said that the term George used was ‘wouldn’t be together.’
-Hoover says that George and Cindy said that they felt like they threw Casey under the bus. (This statement is in reference to when George and Cindy talked to investigators about the dead body smell in the car)
-The deposition then goes on to talk about the two meeting in the woods to look for Caylee’s remains in more detail. The link to our previous post again in case you missed it above is right here. Casey Dominic told Hoover that he had received a tip about where Caylee’s remains were, but would not tell Hoover who gave him the tip.
-Hoover says that Dominic Casey told him that Jose Baez was supposed to pay him (Dominic Casey) for his services out of the $225,000 that Baez allegedly received from ABC. Dominic allegedly also told Hoover that when Baez went to see Casey Anthony in jail, that Baez was having or trying to have an inappropriate relationship with Casey Anthony.
-Hoover explained that Dominic Casey told him that Baez had brought some licorice to the jail, put the licorice in the little holes in the visitor window, put one end in his mouth, and Casey Anthony put the other end in her mouth.
-Hoover says that when Cindy Anthony was getting fingerprinted, that she had held hands with Dominic Casey. He says that Cindy told Dominic that he was her “rock,” and that the whole thing was uncomfortable. When everyone drove back to the Ritz hotel after the fingerprinting, Cindy drove back with Dominic. Hoover says that he and George waited a long time in the lobby for Cindy and Dominic to meet them, and that he was unable to reach Dominic by phone. Dominic later told Hoover that they had gotten lost. Hoover found this statement odd, as Dominic lives in the area.
-For a third time the deposition moves back to Hoover’s and Dominic’s search for Caylee’s remains in the woods. In this part of the deposition, Hoover was asked if he thought it was odd that Dominic Casey was chasing down every lead given to him by the Anthony’s except for the Zenaida lead. Hoover said that he did think that it was odd.
