Footage of George Anthony in the courtroom yesterday gripping a bible and appearing calm, even stoic, as Jose Baez blasted him with accusations of sexual abuse towards his very own daughter Casey, was a painful sight to behold. During a recess the Anthony’s feelings of anger were purged in a courthouse elevator.
As strong as the prosecution’s case is, as argued by Linda Drane Burdick in her opening statement, Jose Baez was even more bodacious in his shaping of an argument that can cast reasonable doubt on perceptions of his client as a mother who murdered her own flesh and blood.
This is not a ballgame, but if it were, I would say Jose Baez hit a homerun in the first inning of Tot Mom’s murder trial. He was more dramatic than Burdick, and this had to have an impact the jurors, shaking the foundations of any preconceptions they may have, as a result of a prejudicial media blitz unseen since O. J. Simpson back in 1995.
So there’s the cosmetics of our defense attorney’s spiel, so what about the substance of Jose’s counter-argument against substantially strong prosecution evidence? I believe it’s a fit with the whirly-burly of odd and suspicious behavior exhibited by Casey Anthony during the 30 days after her daughter Caylee went missing. How so, you might ask?
Well, Baez argues it was drowning accident covered up by a collective dysfunctional family. And since the coroner never determined the exact cause of death (of Caylee), drowning in the Anthony’s swimming pool is just as logical as other possibilities.
Then Baez tells you why Casey acts so crazy after June 16, 2008, lying about a nanny taking little Caylee and lying about having a job at Universal. It’s because George Anthony had abused his daughter as a child (starting at age 8), and this permanently put a wrench in the works for her future behavior.
And while Jose Baez is flinging these shocking accusations at the father, even saying Casey had his pe… in her mouth, then she’d amble over to the schoolhouse, Casey is sobbing away in a handkerchief, looking wan and innocent as 1950s Bobby Sox-er, with a plain white blouse and an inconspicuous ponytail. Good defense strategy!
Not that this clever defense cover story is a fit with the plethora of incriminating facts that the prosecution has in its grabbag. Most items we already know about, such as the cadaver dogs noticing the scent of decomposition or the startlingly new forensics of an air sample of Casey’s car trunk, with the positive odor of human decomposition.
Everyone knew in advance that Jose Baez, and therefore Casey Anthony, was going to throw the parents (George and Cindy) to the wolves in order to save her own hide (escape lethal injection in Florida).
But I don’t believe anyone expected just with how much caliber of ruthlessness and dapper abandon, lengths that Mr. Baez will incorporate to prevent his client from getting a death sentence from the State. This is what it’s all about for a criminal defense attorney!
If just one juror is stirred to reasonable doubt by Jose’s daring crescendo of blasphemies against a cruel and abusive father, then Tot Mom will walk free. Then she can get back to business as usual, entering more hot body contests over at the Fusion club.