Casey Anthony Jury Selection Recesses For The Day

CLEARWATER (CBS4) – After hours and hours of questioning of potential jurors for the upcoming trial of Casey Anthony, an Orlando mother accused of killing her 2-year old daughter,  the judge called a recess in the jury selection process early Wednesday afternoon with only 11 jurors.

Judge Belvin Perry had expressed his hope on Tuesday that a 12-member jury could be sworn in on Wednesday so they could begin the trial in Orlando on Friday.   Jury selection, which has so far lasted nine days, is being held in the Tampa Bay area because of intense pretrial publicity in Orlando.

Anthony, 25, is charged with first-degree murder in the death of her daughter Caylee, whose decomposed body was found with duct tape over the mouth of her skull in December 2008 not far from where she had lived with her mother. Anthony has pleaded not guilty in the death of her daughter and said a baby sitter kidnapped the child. If convicted, she could face the death penalty.

Questioning has focused on prospective jurors' exposure to pretrial publicity, possible hardships of a prolonged trial and personal beliefs on the death penalty. At the beginning of Wednesday's proceedings only a pool of about 20 prospective jurors remained and they hadn't been through pretrial publicity and death penalty questioning.

When the selection process started last week Perry said he wanted 20 total jurors, including eight alternates. But he has since indicated that he may settle for fewer alternates.

Once the jury is chosen, Perry will grant them one day off before transferring them to Orlando to be sequestered for an expected eight-week trial.