Earlier today, a Florida jury acquitted Casey Anthony of the murder and manslaughter of her 2-year old daughter Caylee. The jury convicted Casey Anthony of four misdemeanor counts of providing false information to law enforcement. Had she been convicted of first-degree murder, she could have faced the death penalty.
#CaseyAnthony has been in and out of custody since July 16, 2008 on various charges such providing false statements, child neglect, obstruction of a criminal investigation, and then murder, once she was indicted on October 18, 2008. It is possible she may be released from custody on July 7, 2011—the date of her sentencing–since she is only facing misdemeanors.
Caylee and her mother Casey Anthony. Dotson defense trial analysis
This case received national publicity since the disappearance of Caylee in June2008—largely because of the strange facts that surfaced after the two-year old’s disappearance. The grandparents last saw Caylee when she left with her mother on June 16, 2008. Casey Anthony reportedly told her parents they couldn’t see Caylee because there was no time to meet given her busy work assignment in Tampa. Caylee’s grandmother reported Caylee missing on a 911 call after she and the tow attendant (releasing the impounded vehicle) noticed a strong smell coming from the trunk of her daughter’s car. Both later testified they believed the odor to be that of a decomposing body.
During the missing child’s investigation, Casey Anthony provided several inconsistent and misleading statements to law enforcement, which partly led to her subsequent arrests and increased suspicion of foul play regarding the disappearance of her daughter. At first, Casey Anthony claimed Caylee’s nanny (never existed) kidnapped her. Lies about her work and whereabouts continued to ignite the media’s palate. Caylee’s remains were found in a wooded area near the Anthony’s on December 11, 12, & 15.
As it turns out, the shifting point in the trial may have been the defense lawyering involved in highlighting that the cause of Caylee’s death remained unknown. Defense called a forensic expert—forensic anthropologist Dr. William Rodriguez, with the U.S. Department of Defense Armed Forces Medical Examiner’s Office—to rebut the evidence that Caylee Anthony was suffocated by duct tape placed over her nose and mouth.
Despite this uncertainty in the cause of death, many members of the public believe the criminal justice system is unfair, since this “pretty white girl” got away with murder and lying about the circumstances leading up to her arrest. This is a clear example of Jay-Z’s complaint in Guilty Until Proven Innocent, a song featuring R-Kelly, whom was also acquitted of child pornography charges despite being found guilty in the eyes of the public–”Try to charge me but I’m not guilty.”
After Casey Anthony’s criminal proceedings terminate, she will be defending a defamation suit filed by a woman named Zenaida Gonzalez (named of alleged kidnapping babysitter). Ms. Gonzalez is seeking compensatory and punitive damages for willfully damaging her reputation. This civil trial is set for August 29, 2011.
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trial attorney Juan Dotson on Casey Anthony's jury trial