Casey Anthony's former fiance takes stand out of jury's presence

(CNN) - Casey Anthony's former fiance testified outside the presence of jurors in her capital murder trial Tuesday, saying she once told him her brother Lee Anthony had groped her while she was sleeping.

Jesse Grund said he had a conversation with Casey Anthony about her brother in 2005, as he noticed Lee was "standoffish" and "sullen" and wanted to know why.

He said Casey Anthony told him she did not want her then-newborn daughter Caylee around her brother, adding that "at one point in recent years," she had awakened to find her brother standing over her staring at her, and that on another occasion he was groping her.

He said he did not want to hear more, and believed her. "Anything that Casey said, I took as truth and fact," he testified.

The state objected to Grund's testimony, saying it was hearsay and is not admissible.

Defense attorney Jose Baez told Orange County Chief Judge Belvin Perry Jr. the defense may have additional arguments on Wednesday morning, so Perry did not immediately rule on whether Grund can testify before the jury.

Casey Anthony, 25, is charged with seven counts, including first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse and misleading police, in 2-year-old Caylee's 2008 death. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against her.

Anthony's defense team is trying to discredit the prosecution theory that the Orlando woman rendered Caylee unconscious with chloroform, duct-taped her mouth and nose, and stored the body in her car trunk for a few days before dumping it in the woods.

The defense says Caylee accidentally drowned in the family pool and that Anthony and her father panicked and covered it up. George Anthony has denied that theory.