ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - The jury in the first-degree murder trial of Casey Anthony began deliberations on Monday afternoon as the trial entered its seventh week with no break for the Independence Day holiday.
The jury left the courtroom at 12:09 p.m. local time to start weighing the case after receiving instructions from Judge Belvin Perry .
Casey Anthony, 25, faces the death penalty if found guilty of first-degree murder in the June 16, 2008, death of her 2-year-old daughter Caylee. Anthony, who has been in jail for almost three years awaiting trial, chose not to testify in her own behalf.
Casey Anthony also is charged with aggravated child abuse, aggravated manslaughter of a child, and four counts of providing false information to a law enforcement officer.
Prosecutors say Casey smothered Caylee with duct tape, drove around for several days with Caylee's body in her car trunk and then dumped the remains in woods near the Anthony family home.
Casey initially told detectives that Caylee had been kidnapped by a nanny, triggering a nationwide search that ended on December 11, 2008. That's when Caylee's skeletal remains were found in woods near the Anthony family home with duct tape dangling from her skull.
Defense lawyer Jose Baez provided an alternate theory of Caylee's death, claiming that Caylee accidentally drowned in the Anthony's backyard swimming pool on June 16, 2008 and that, for some unspecified reason, her death was not reported.
(Writing and reporting by Barbara Liston; Editing by Mary Wisniewski and Peter Bohan)
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