Defense rests in Casey Anthony trial

ORLANDO, Fla., June 30 (UPI) -- Casey Anthony's lawyers rested their case Thursday after she told a judge she did not want to testify in her Florida trial for the murder of her daughter.

Anthony told Belvin Perry, chief judge of the circuit court in Orlando, that no pressure had been put on her to stay off the witness stand, the Orlando Sentinel reported.

Perry told lawyers Wednesday closing statements could be scheduled Saturday or Sunday and warned them not to make any plans for the three-day July 4 weekend.

The first witness to testify Thursday was a woman who said she had had an affair with Anthony's father, George. Krystal Holloway, who also uses the name River Cruz, said George Anthony told her his granddaughter died in an accident.

The defense says Caylee, 2, drowned in her grandparents' above-ground swimming pool and that George Anthony pressured Casey into concealing the body. George Anthony has denied the story.

George and Cindy Anthony and their son Lee also testified about the family's custom of burying pets in the back yard wrapped in plastic and secured with tape. Duct tape was found on Caylee's remains, which were found months after her disappearance in a swampy wooded area near the Anthony home in Orlando.

Casey's parents have been called to testify several times, both by the prosecution and the defense.