Casey Anthony weeps as prosecutor calls her a liar

ORLANDO, Florida (AP) _ Casey Anthony briefly wept Sunday as prosecutors told jurors during closing arguments that she murdered her 2-year-old daughter Caylee to reclaim the carefree life she had before the girl was born.

Closing arguments came in a case that has played out on national TV since Caylee's disappearance in the summer of 2008 and continued through her mother's trial, with spectators traveling from all over the U.S. to jockey for coveted seats in the courtroom gallery.

Casey Anthony, 25, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder. She could face a possible death sentence or life in prison if convicted of that charge.

Anthony also is charged with aggravated child abuse, aggravated manslaughter of a child and four counts of providing false information to law enforcement. The child abuse and manslaughter charges each carry a 30-year prison term if convicted.

Anthony, a single mother, was 22 when her daughter died. No one has come forward as the father of Caylee.

Prosecutors portrayed Anthony as a young mother who killed her daughter because she got in the way of her love life.

``Something needed to be sacrificed, that something was either the life she wanted or the life thrust upon her. She chose to sacrifice her child,'' prosecutor Jeff Ashton said during his 90-minute closing argument.

Defense attorney Jose Baez said the prosecutors' case is so weak that they tried to portray Anthony as ``a lying, no-good slut'' and that their forensic evidence was based on a ``fantasy.''

Prosecutors contend Caylee was suffocated with duct tape by a mother who then crafted elaborate lies to mislead investigators and her parents. Defense attorneys countered that the toddler accidentally drowned in the family swimming pool, and that Casey Anthony in fact was hiding emotional distress caused by alleged sexual abuse from her father. Her father has denied that claim.

Judge Belvin Perry ruled Sunday morning that there was no evidence of such a claim and that the defense could not allude to it in closing arguments.

Baez began his closing argument by telling jurors they have more questions than answers, including the biggest: How did Caylee die? Neither prosecutors nor the defense have offered firm proof of how Caylee died.

``It can never be proven,'' he said.

He said the prosecution's air analysis of the trunk of Anthony's car, which allegedly showed air molecules consistent with decomposition, could not be duplicated. He said no one could prove a stain found in the trunk was caused by Caylee's body decomposing there. And witnesses showed maggots found in the trunk came from a bag of trash that was found there, he said.

``They throw enough againsteurothe wall and see whateurosticks.euroThat is what they're doing ... right down to the cause ofeurodeath,'' Baez said. He later conceded his client had told elaborate lies and invented imaginary friends and even a fake father for Caylee, but he said that doesn't mean she killed her daughter.

Earlier during Ashton's argument, Anthony appeared mostly stone-faced for about the first 45 minutes, but she began to cry when Ashton said the story that Caylee drowned was also false.

Ashton said Caylee's death wasn't an accident because three pieces of duct tape were placed on her face _ one on the mouth, one on the nose and one over those to be ``thorough.''

The jury is expected to begin deliberating after the defense finishes its closing argument. Perry said those deliberations will continue Monday on the Fourth of July holiday if necessary.