September 2011 Issue

We know what you’re thinking, Casey! That sentiment is the majority sentiment hands down. We didn’t say that that public opinion was unanimous, but rather that most people believe that notwithstanding her innocent verdict, she killed her daughter. Within this group of people is a subset of people who believe that Casey “caused” the death of Caylee, but not intentionally. They believe that Caylee did something, or failed to do something, that resulted in Caylee’s death and that then Casey went into panic mode and was not quite sure how to proceed. Hence when people started asking questions all she could mutter were half-baked lies that were unbelievable to everybody, probably even herself once she reflected on the dumb things she said. Lying so badly lends credence to those that believe that Casey negligently caused the death of Caylee because a premeditated murder would contain lies that were at least better thought out and palpable.

If we follow that logic a little further and assume that Caylee’s death was an accident, then the obvious question is why didn’t Casey own up to it, report it and perhaps face other types of charges, if any, but nothing compared to facing the death penalty. But it is fairly easy to see in Casey’s personality, established by her conduct and lies, that she is not the brightest light in the sky, lucky maybe, but not too sharp. But something else that stands out about her and perhaps more importantly, is that she appears to be the type of person that makes wrong decisions after wrong decisions, but is so caught up in her own world and stubbornness, that she doesn’t admit or correct it. In this case, again assuming it was an accident, she opted for cover-up and continued down that road until she went past the point of no return and felt that telling the truth was no longer an option. If this theory is true, her gamble paid off, but it was not a good bet because losing would have cost her life.

As the trial started and the facts poured in, there was a sense that this case was going to solidify the widely held public perception about just how broken our justice system is. In other words as the Prosecution began to highlight their evidence, most of which was circumstantial yet very damning, the case quickly looked like one of those cases, O.J., where guilt was not the question as much as how to get to that verdict was. As we now know, Casey Anthony was unanimously declared innocent by 12 jurors after “only” about 11 hours of deliberation. The feeling that Casey Anthony was going to get away with murder, literally, was realized. No human being, except for perhaps the Dahmers of the world, could do the things this “mother” did while her child was missing and even worse, under our negligent theory, while she knew Caylee was dead. Gut checks were mostly against Casey, but as the “talking heads” pointed out, the law and lack of real evidence weighed heavy. The lack of fingerprints or cause of death of the child were widely talked about. There was no timeline or set of events that outlined exactly how the murder of Caylee Anthony happened, only clues that we could piece together as spectators, but that the jury would be instructed against.

Among the now infamous would-be “nails” in Casey’s coffin was the fact that she was not even the one who called and reported her daughter missing, it was in fact Cindy Anthony, the child’s grandmother, who called immediately upon hearing about Caylee’s disappearance. Then there was the stench coming from the trunk of Casey’s Pontiac Sunfire. Grandma told the 911 dispatcher, “There is something wrong, I found my daughter’s car today and it smells like there’s been a dead body in the damn car.” Casey had investigators meet her at an office in Universal Studios which she claimed was her place of employment, not. When investigators asked Casey why she had not reported her toddler daughter missing, her excuse was because she was conducting her own investigation into her daughter’s disappearance. Casey told investigators and her family that Caylee was taken by her nanny, Zenaida Fernandez Gonzalez, which when trial began was shown to be completely false and in fact that Ms. Gonzalez had never even met Casey. Because of the accusations by Casey, Ms. Gonzalez and her daughters received death threats. She has filed a civil suit for defamation against Casey for alleging that she was responsible for Caylee’s disappearance.

Nothing Casey said added up: the imaginary nanny, her employment, nothing. On top of that her callous partying during that time and her obvious lack of sympathy for her missing child, like her first jailhouse phone call when she told a family friend, Kristina Chester, “everyone is just worried about where Caylee is at”, and when Kristina sobbed and said, “if anything happened to Caylee I’ll die, I’ll die if anything happens to that baby”, Casey replied unsympathetically “oh whoa, oh my God calling you guys a waste, huge waste.” When Kristina reassured Casey “You’re family is with you 100%” Casey replied angrily, “Nobody in my family is on my side. They just want Caylee back, that’s all they’re worried about right now.” This phone call took place 31 days after Caylee went missing and five months before her remains were found near the Anthony home in a wooded area.

We can only guess as to what we think happened to that child and we may never know. This is why this trial in particular caught the attention of so many; the lies and the uncertainty as to what really happened. Being a liar, deceitful and generally just a bad human being is not supposed to get you convicted of murder charges, yet it does all the time, but not in Casey’s case. We have seen innocent men and women serve decades in prisons, only to finally be released after being exonerated by DNA. There are people in prison whose cases had even less evidence connecting them to a crime or murder than Casey had in hers, yet the actual reasons why that happens cannot easily be established, however the most obvious reason for the discrepancy is the money available to defend oneself. Casey was acquitted of the crime because the jury came to the conclusion that there was not enough “proof” beyond a reasonable doubt. They couldn’t place her there and didn’t even know how it happened. A good defense budget “purchased” the doubt. One thing is certain, that if she doesn’t assume another identity and continues as Casey Anthony, then she will not be able to have a normal life. As far as any role for her in print, television or other media like a reality television show would be an all-time low for “entertainment”.

If the Jury was right, then who did it? The meter reader who found the body, Casey’s father, Caylee’s father (whoever that might be), the rather mean-looking grandmother, Cindy Anthony, the “Mexican Maid” (of course she did it) or some drifter passing through?