How Will Casey Anthony Defend Herself?

How Will Casey Anthony Defend Herself?

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Now that Caylee's body has been found, will her mother's defense team explore different strategies?

December was a landmark month in the case of Caylee Anthony and the fate of her mother Casey Anthony. The prosecution -- with no recovery of a body, despite exhaustive searches -- faced an uphill battle to convict Casey. They took the death penalty off the table on December 5th. Then six days later, a breakthrough -- the remains of a body presumed to be Caylee's was found, and by December 19 they were positively ID'd. Now, a new chapter unfolds in the gripping story. Will Casey's lawyer Jose Baez and his team change their strategy now that Caylee is no longer missing?

The good news for the defense, says Judge Jeanine Pirro, is they don't have to pick one defense. "If they are saying that she did not do it, the babysitter could have done it, or it could have been some other person who took her from the babysitter."

The Anthony family may have been laying the groundwork for that defense strategy for months, employing a private investigator to follow up on various "sightings" of their granddaughter allegedly kidnapped by an ever-illusive nanny. But pinning the blame on some unknown culprit might be extremely difficult because of one piece of evidence that, says experts, collects evidence: duct tape.

"The beauty of duct tape -- no matter rain, snow, sleet -- that fingerprint will stay there," says Michael Baden, a FOX news contributor. DNA evidence can also show up if the tape was ripped using teeth.

In that case, would the defense opt for an insanity plea? That's tricky says Pirro. "Casey has no history of mental illness. You don't turn on an insanity plea on like a light bulb -- insanity isn't something you reach for when all else fails." Another reason to not opt for an insanity plea, says Pirro, is because the ploy is only successful in about "2% of the cases that it's used."

New York-based defense attorney Sanford Rubenstein said he would focus his efforts on analyzing the prosecution's evidence."You attack the evidence," Rubenstein told FOXNews.com. "You attack the DNA experts and you scrutinize the manner in which the bones were identified -- that would be the avenue of defense in my mind."

What has changed significantly for the defense, says Pirro, is the introduction of Roy Kronk, the meter reader who discovered the Caylee's remains. "The defense can claim that Kronk knows something and is trying to cover it up."

Do you think the defense will be able to convince a jury Casey Anthony is innocent?

36 comments so far | Post a comment now >>

casey anthony should fry. or take her out to the woods & do what she did to her innocent 2yr old precious angel. what kind of sick sadistic person could ever harm ANY CHILD thats totally defenseless. Such a sad ending it really breaks my heart & im so sad for little caylee!!!!!!

- tana

Posted 12/30/08 12:44 AM

Casey killed her child in a moment of rage and anger. She will pay either way.

- Nicole

Posted 12/30/08 02:11 AM

It is what it is! She’s unbelievable!

- crystal

Posted 12/30/08 05:31 AM

As for her defending herself, umm, I wouldn’t put it past her to blame her parents or brother or Mickey Mouse and I don’t mean to be funny about any of that! As far as killing her child in a moment of rage?? Explain to me how 3 months prior the searches on her computer were what they were, neck breaking, shovel, chloroform, household weapons, one tree hill 100th episode (of a naany stealing a child)?? That’s not evidence of a moment of rage, that’s evidence of someone considering to do harm to another, then low and behold 3 mos later someone in her life comes up missing yet nobody else on earth is aware of it for 31 days!! Hmmmm! Sounds like she is the person she claimed she was to her brother the night her mom called & reported her child missing, a spiteful b&%$#!!! Casey is so stupid she will try to continue to blame “the nanny” or the meter reader or who knows! God saw what she did to her child, so blame, blame, blame away sweetheart, u will never get away with it with God!

- Crystal

Posted 12/30/08 05:43 AM

I bet Mr. Kronk is sorry he ever reported finding the bag. He deserves the $5000 … Why are rewards offered if they aren’t given out? Even if he was looking for her to try to get the reward, so what? He found her! He reported what he found and now he’s a SUSPECT!?! This is why cities across the country can’t get crime witnesses to come forward - This case is going to make even more possible witnesses to crimes keep silent. If it wasn’t for him, that poor darling child may never have been found.

- Jeffycee

Posted 12/30/08 08:34 AM

I CAN’T WAIT until the rest of the foresic evidence comes back. What’s on the duct tape? What did they take from the house? Casey is as guilty as sin. It’s incredibly hard to even presume her to be innocent with all of this circumstantial evidence. I believe that she will be found guilty of murder in the first degree and will spend the rest of her life in prison. That is the only thing that anyone can do for poor Caylee is too bring her low life murderer to justice and to keep her memory alive. It’s obvious that Casey didn’t love Caylee as was claimed. She resented her because she felt that her mother and boyfriend loved Caylee more than they loved her. I would love to read the court transcripts on this case. The book will be as thick as “war and peace”.

- Valerie

Posted 12/30/08 09:47 AM

I can’t believe this whole family. Heard that big bro Lee may face obstruction of justice charges and and aiding and abetting after the fact, along with controlling GMa Cindy and patsy GPa George. LE should save all the taxpayers money and put all the family in the same cell with psycho Momster Casey. Won’t be no time before they kill each other and save more taxpayer expense. Weird doesn’t even begin to describe this family. I hope Caylee gets the justice she deserves. She would have had a better life if she had been adopted.

- Razzy

Posted 12/30/08 12:18 PM

I actually hate this chick! What a selfish, horrible person. If someone still thinks she is innocent they have to be crazy. She does not even have a nanny. Where is she if she does exist? I have a sitter for my daughter and trust me when I tell you, she would be very easy to locate. Why? Because she is real not a figment of my mind so I could plan the death of my beautiful daughter. The lies just never end. Do they? Lord I just detest this girl!

- Lisa

Posted 12/30/08 04:57 PM

I’ve played every scenario of what might have happened to this child over and over in my mind but the one thing I can never get past, is the fact that Casey waited 31 days to report her child missing. And if her mother (Cindy) had not gone and dragged her out of her boyfriends apt on 7/15…how much longer would it have gone unreported. No matter what defense her team may use…I just don’t see how they can explain away that simple fact…waiting 31 days to report your child missing is the reasonable doubt in this case. With all the transcripts they have of Casey lying to the police and all her other lies…I just don’t see how her defense team can win this case. Just so sad and the only one I have sympathy for is poor little Caylee.

- Cynthia

Posted 12/30/08 05:31 PM

Welcome home caylee an rest forever, you are home now so watch over your family down on earth caylee. Rest Forever Elissa

- elissa

Posted 12/30/08 08:16 PM

The Kronk mystery was a trap. And the desperate defense team fell right in.

- SquirrelFinders

Posted 12/30/08 09:51 PM

what kaind of mother she is she wait 31 days to report the police her chaild is missing. she shoud get deths panality.

- Lisa

Posted 01/02/09 06:29 PM

This case has a lot of flaws in it and Casey Anthony contributed to the fog by leading the investigators on a chase about town. You do not lead investigators astray so you can broaden your search. Casey Anthony, obviously, does not have much common sense. Why would you do that when you know you are going to be checked on every detail? The answer is she was desparate to continue the search and the investigators fell for it. When they decided to charge Casey Anthony that day, they used every trick in the book to extract a confession. I recognize the methods and believe they are typical of the line of statements/questions made in cases the resulted in a false confession. The sheriff knows there are issues. He has been spreading the responsibility for the investigation far and wide. He included in his lauding of those responsible for the investigation everyone he could, including the FBI, local police, investigators, and volunteer searchers. If nothing else, it gets searchers to identify with the authorities and if things go wrong, those outside his management. We heard nothing about the deputy who was lead to the site in August and failed to find, or perhaps search, because of a “rattlesnake” that might have been present. If nothing else, being in public safety, he should have gotten rid of the snake. Then there is the fact that they excluded the Defense team or any independent authorities from viewing the autopsy. You cannot do an autopsy without disturbing and contaminating the evidence. In regard to the identification of Caylee, the medical examiner was certain to mention the FBI and did not mention how many loci were used in that. I doubt they found all 13 of the 13 they use in their database. Were that so, she would have mentioned it. There are many challenges in the courts right now regarding how many loci are required for identification. The use of five loci was rejected by a jury and they found a “Not Guilty” in that case. Three states have found over a 1000 matches at the level of 9 or more loci. Since Maryland had separate individuals match in three cases in a database of 30,000, it is easy to make the case that could translate to 638 in the FBI’s full database. If they can find those in the Maryland database, I

- JohnLloydScharf

Posted 01/04/09 12:52 PM

If they know what we all know, and if fingerprints come back on the duct tape, plus if the toxicology show some type of drug in her system, then it should be easy to convict that cold hearted murderer.

- Shelly

Posted 01/05/09 08:12 AM

I predict that Casey will go with ‘the baby drowned in the pool & I panicked’ She will cry & break down and play her role of a lifetime to get sympathy. She will say she hid the body because she was afraid her parents would never forgive her and she was scared. Then they will get Dr’s to say she was suffering from PTSD and the brain refused to accept reality of seeing her baby drown, blah blah blah AGAIN, it will be one lie after another because that is who Casey Anthony is. She has lied, cheated & stolen from everyone she could. She has destroyed the lives of everyone that she touched including her entire family, The Grund Family and everyone else. She is an evil Psyco that is beyond control. Life would be good but they allow prisoners to have sex in jails. Charlie Manson had 3 children in jail, all on welfare too. THIS COUNTRY HAS TO REGROUP. Prisoners get Free,Health & Dental without deductibles or co-pays. Law abiding citizens can’t buy health insurance if they have a pre-existing illness. SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH THIS PIC

- KIMI

Posted 01/06/09 12:29 AM

I predict that Casey will go with ‘the baby drowned in the pool & I panicked’ She will cry & break down and play her role of a lifetime to get sympathy. She will say she hid the body because she was afraid her parents would never forgive her and she was scared. Then they will get Dr’s to say she was suffering from PTSD and the brain refused to accept reality of seeing her baby drown, blah blah blah AGAIN, it will be one lie after another because that is who Casey Anthony is. She has lied, cheated & stolen from everyone she could. She has destroyed the lives of everyone that she touched including her entire family, The Grund Family and everyone else. She is an evil Psyco that is beyond control. Life would be good but they allow prisoners to have sex in jails. Charlie Manson had 3 children in jail, all on welfare too. Prisoners get Free,Health & Dental without deductibles,co-pays or exclusions. Law abiding citizens can’t buy health insurance if they have a pre-existing illness. Employees that lose their job lose their health plan too. GO FIGURE? GOD BLESS AMERICA-we are in troubled times……………

- KIMI

Posted 01/06/09 12:36 AM

A jury would have to be brain dead to find Casey Anthony innocent with all the evidence against her: skeletal remains with duct tape on the skull, DNA showing the remains are Caylee’s and that those remains were in Casey’s car trunk between June 15 and July 15 along with chloroform and computer searches for chloroform, neck breaking and household weapons. Mommy Dearest has acted like a murderer from day one. For 30 days Casey lied to friends and family saying Caylee was having fun with the nanny while she partied it up and had “Beautiful Life” tatooed on her body. When Cindy called 911 to report Caylee missing, Casey lied to the police about having a job, Caylee calling her on the phone that day and a nonexistent 24 year old Hispanic nanny who lived in a vacant apartment and a senior home running off with Caylee. Casey has given three variations of how the nanny stole Caylee. An innocent person whose child has been kidnapped sobs and shakes and does everything they can do to help find her child. Casey shed only tears for herself because she was caught and never lifted a finger to search for Caylee. She did give her brother Lee clues to where the body was so he could make sure the cops didn’t find it.

- Sally

Posted 01/06/09 09:13 AM

I’ve been watching this from the beginning. I really feel the so-called “dream team” of lawyers ought to be ashamed to even defend such an egotistical liar, who might have killed and disposed of her child in such a manner. Also, the poor baby had duct tape on her mouth, was that because she was asking to go home or for her Grandmother instead of “Mommy” It’s just one of the most disgusting cases I’ve ever heard. Tar and feathering would be too kind.I think right now she is the most hated person in America.

- nancy

Posted 01/06/09 05:10 PM

Just wait until it is finally revealed that Lee is Caylee’s father and that Caylee is a product of incest and that her family knows. Then it will get interesting and provide her with some sort of defense.

- Bob Lubrank

Posted 01/06/09 09:22 PM

The duct tape is key….if a finger print is found and does not belong to Casey then she will not be convicted. She may have worn gloves since her dad was a cop…..she would know not to leave evidence. The tape may have the finger print of the person that used the tape before her………now if that person does not have prints on file then she goes free and we never know who did it.

- Anonymous

Posted 01/09/09 11:44 AM