Mistakes made that led to Casey being aquitted...

[ExpectingUnicorns]

"Burdick's opening came at the start of the day and she launched into Casey Anthony's lying for 31 days about where she was, where Caylee was, what they were doing.

"It's with her back against a wall...that Casey Anthony first says these words: 'Caylee was kidnapped by the babysitter.' The babysitter that no one has ever seen," Burdick said. Cindy Anthony's first response, directed at Casey: "What did you do?"

Cindy Anthony then went into an all-out panic, Burdick said, and calls 911 for the third time.

(http://articles.orlandosentinel.com...-attorney-jose-baez-casey-anthony-duct-tape/2)

. . . so why did the prosecution not cross examine Cindy on this point when she was all into defending Casey?

 

[ExpectingUnicorns]

I will never, never understand why HHJP allowed the jury to smell the velveeta box from the garbage but not the smell of demcomp that the prosecution had canned.

As I recall, he claimed that the act of smelling the decomp would make the jury, themselves, witnesses of sorts (which never made sense to me). But if he claimed that was true for the decomp scent, then why was it not also true for the velveeta odor?

Like it was alright for them to smell the velveeta and think, "Yeah, this is foul smelling; it could have been mistaken by LE for the odor of decomp." But then they were incapable of smelling another other odor from the trunk and determining whether or not it could have been decomp?

This should have been challenged, imo.

Perry may have focused more on trying to avoid appealable issues than in being fair handed ~ all at the expense, in the end, of allowing the truth to shine through.

 

[skbsoccermom]

I just got finished discussing on another blog all the unfortunate events that happened and wound up helping to set FCA free, so I copied and pasted it here, and added at the bottom where I thought the prosecution went wrong:

- She dumped Caylee’s body in the most careless way … only a few feet from the road, but no-one could find her because of the hurricaine
- the cop first called by kronk slipped in the mud and refused to go any further
- the tow yard called her parents instead of law enforcement
- cindy cleaned the trunk and washed her pants so evidence was lost
- her family lied and covered up for her
- the DCF report wasn’t done on time for the trial
- she managed to find the sleeziest lawyer willing to lie and obstruct justice (IMO)
- because of the media attention, a jury couldn’t be selected from Orlando
- Judge Strickland was recused and Judge P was assigned the case (I would need a whole page for how judge P contributed to the acquittal)
- OCSO missed the fool-proof suffocation search
- she managed to wind up with the 12 laziest, greediest people in the country that REFUSED to convict her on ANY charge.

As far as where I think the proseuction went wrong ...
- not addressing the timeline on 6/16 to prove a drowning couldn't have possibly happened
- speaking to the jury as if they were intelligent, thinking, rational people.

 

[nssherlock]

After hearing Baez making wild non substantiated claims about George molesting Casey and George doing this and that..I told my husband..You know, this Girl is gonna walk. It should not be allowed to make up something like that ..to accuse others without fact, or without proof. I mean seriously I would have sued had someone done that to me. I think it should be not allowed, it tainted the jury...Baez should have been stopped, reprimanded on it etc. A new jury should have been selected at that point JMO.

Or a very clear jury instruction stating that if accusations by the attorneys during argument are not proved they should be considered NOT TRUE

Also think a better search effort earlier would have found that baby when better forensics could have been achieved. If I lived on hope spring and lost my child that wooded area would be the first place I'd head......

 

[dog.gone.cute]

JMO and MOO ... but I still wonder IF there was any jury "tampering" ?

I am still :fence: about the possibility of jury tampering, and still lean in that direction. I know ... it may seem far-fetched to still think this ... but ya never know ... I still can't shake the feeling that there was some jury tampering.

On the other hand, many mistakes were made during the Trial :

1. Judge Perry ... it was "his" court and he had CONTROL over it ! He should have NEVER allowed many of those "shenanigans" by the defense team in "his" courtroom, but he did :furious:

Y'all listed many great points above and I totally agree with them !


2. Jose Baez and the ENTIRE Defense Team's shenanigans !

Again, y'all listed many great points above and I totally agree with them !


3. The ANTHONY Family ... I truly believe Mr. Ashton was DUPED by George Anthony -- he "trusted" him and he should have NEVER trusted George ... I think that Mr. Ashton MAY have felt "sorry" for George because Jose was accusing George of molesting FCA and implicating him in covering up for FCA with the drowning story, which he knows did NOT happen ...

I feel so sorry for Mr. Ashton ... he did a :great: job as well as the rest of the Pros Team ... but he should have NEVER trusted an "Anthony" ...

Also, the Prosecution Team should have treated ALL of the Anthony's as HOSTILE WITNESSES !

And they were HOSTILE witnesses, IMO ... they did NOTHING at all to help the State ! The Anthony's were there for Casey -- NOT Caylee ... and this still makes me furious :furious:

Okay ... rant over ... Night All !

:seeya:

 

[GracieLu]

--It's been so long, but didn't Tony L. state that he told Casey that Caylee shouldn't be hanging out at his apartment because of the party atmosphere? Past boyfriends testified that Caylee slept over and hung out with them (even friends said Casey would take her to parties), yet Tony states at some point that wasn't a good idea and soon after Caylee ends up thrown away like garbage. That to me is MOTIVE and I remember screaming ASK HIM ABOUT IT while watching the trial.

--The cans,,, they should have passed out the cans!

--The pings, computer usage, phone calls, texts, etc. from the day Caylee went missing are very telling as well and I wondered why none of that came into play. Been a long time, but didn't the phone pings show her leaving at the time George states and coming back home right after George leaves as well as texts with Tony about their date and plans that night?

But, nothing would have changed the verdict imo, the jury was more interested in snacks and sporting events on TV,,, CAYLEE DESERVED SO MUCH MORE - I HOPE THEY HAVE NIGHTMARES EVERY NIGHT FOR THE REST OF THEIR LIVES (((yep, I'm still angry!)))

 

[Soulmagent]

I don't know if that would have helped, or not. Only the jurors can really answer that question, but after talking about with my husband, I don't know that proving Caylee had partially decomposed in the trunk was really that important. It was crucial when "Zanny the nanny" took her, but once the drowning story came up, I just think it didn't mattered as much.

I agree with your husband.

The drowning story or idea of it was out on the web and had been considered and the statements made to investigators and should have got the state planning a strong rebuttable case for the type of defence . Without effectively combatting that claim combined with Dr G not truely being able to back up her cod/mod with anything other then her opinion based on the way the tape was in Caylee's hair and the later testimony of kronk saying he lifted up the skull with her meter stick made it very hard to rely on the evidence as she veiwed it because reasonable doubt became a very real issue.
I also think the state underestimated Jose due to his tactics during pretrial and that might have been the biggest mistake to the case. I think Aston had a hard time listening to what was really being said by Jose and looked at the case and Jose's statements kinda one diminsional. I think Jose saw that and exploited it.

The final blow were the problems with the computer searches.

JMO.
I dont know how the state could have proved a murder in this case, as it went in court. I understand why people are upset with the verdict but the jury only knew what they heard in court,and without a baised opinion agaisnt Casey preexisting as opinion deeming her guilty conviction would have been impossible.They really didnt have much to say she really did murder Caylee as a fact.

 

[2goldfish]

I think the 2 biggest mistakes were

1. not knowing the foolproof suffocation which IMO even that jury might not have been stupid enough to discount what with, oh, the duct tap?

2. what struck me from the end of the trial was what the SA did not tell the jury, that there was evidence of what was actually done on the day of 16 june, the ping maps, cell records, the computer records, the CCTV from blockbuster which all clearly showed that what JB claimed happened was pretty much impossible. I would have thought the SA would have a board or...slideshow...or something showing exactly what was done from early morning until late evening. when they didnt I thought well, the jury will have all that with them (having no idea that unlike us at WS, the jury had no desire to actually see any evidence...)

3. had they done a slideshow of all that...or something....combined with knowing the foolproof suffocation search amidst it, we might have actually seen justice here. maybe. cause I still say this jury was dumb as a bag of rocks.

 

[robcee12]

Prosecution IMO failed to adequately control/utilize GA and CA well during trial. Their testimony was a mess and was not helpful to the prosecution case. Given the personalities involved I think prosecution had to know they were wild cards capable of sabotaging the case and used them anyway. Bad gamble MOO

This is a good post because I feel one of the keys was <modsnip> knowing that he could really get under GA's skin and knew how he would battle with him in court in front of the jurors. GA said it on Dr. Phil that when <modsnip> made those opening remarks that he wanted to jump over that little railing in court and confront him. GA hated him from the start he also said. So instead of just putting up with <modsnip>'s antics in order to get justice for Caylee he just couldn't control himself and went right back at him. He knew some of the things <modsnip> was saying about the gas cans had nothing to do with the case but he wanted to be a pain in the butt and act like he didn't remember things which made the jurors skeptical of him. Everytime I watched GA spar with <modsnip> in court I knew it was because he hated him and the acusations <modsnip> made about him, not cause he was guilty of anything. Im just baffled that the jurors couldn't just figure that out. They actually believed GA acted that way cause he was suspicious of something :banghead:. If only GA had allowed his love for Caylee outweigh his hatred for <modsnip> than maybe the jurors wouldve wouldve seen GA for what he really was and that was a loving grandfather who was on to and against his daughters antics.

 

[robcee12]

I agree with the above and add:

Perry in allowing the defense table to be right across from the jury.

Perry in allowing the theatrical comforting of Dorothy Sims.

I never did understand how nobody was allowed to make any gestures or facial reactions and things like that but FCA was allowed to comforted and coddled and lets not forget to mention all the words she kept mouthing and the shaking of her head in disagreement while prosecuters and witnessess spoke

 

[robcee12]

The prosecution not changing its strategy after opening statements. Once the defense admitted that Casey had known all along Caylee was dead, so much of their case, including the car became irrelevant. I wish they would have spent more time with Dr G explaining why they felt the duct tape was on her face before the body decomposed, and establishing a motive with Tony moving back to New York, (of course the "foolproof suffocation" search would have helped).

Before the jury came back my husband told me she would be found guilty of nothing more than manslaughter. When I asked why, he said all the state proved was that Casey was a horrible person, and she put her dead kid in the trunk of the car. He thought there was a possibility that Caylee had drown, Casey was so cold hearted she just didn't care & didn't want to deal with it, and the duct tape had been used on the garbage bags & got tangled in her hair by the animals & water. As soon as he said, my heart sunk. He's not a stupid man, and like the jurors, knew nothing about the case before the trial began.

I can buy your husbands theory except I think she came up with the kidnapping theory and therfore put the tape on her to support the kidnapping theory. But it still doesn't explain the clothing Caylee was wearing. That clothing I believe were those extra pair of clothes you always keep in the baby bag in case of emergencies or sleep overs which we see her wearing after a nite of staying at Ricardo Morales's house

 

[magnolia]

I think calling so many of Casey's friends was a mistake. So many asked the same questions over and over-I thought it would never end. Nothing gained from the testimony. Most said she seemed to be a good mother. I think it worked against them. IMO

 

[Justiceseeker35]

I agree parading friends in front of the jury was a mistake.
The prosecution should have stuck to only testimony as a means to establish motive. The opportunity which would have been the June 16 timeline. The means which should only have involved the suffocation (not chloroform) and the related searches. Then the cover up which was lies she told her family and the LE and 911 calls and KCs woeful disregard for her child's welfare. All that stuff about her teen pg and whether she appeared to be a good mom or how many boyfriends she had in 2008 just confused the jury. I think the waters got real muddy and Caylee as the victim became lost. The jury needed things cut and dry as simple as possible.

 

[magnolia]

I agree parading friends in front of the jury was a mistake.
The prosecution should have stuck to only testimony as a means to establish motive. The opportunity which would have been the June 16 timeline. The means which should only have involved the suffocation (not chloroform) and the related searches. Then the cover up which was lies she told her family and the LE and 911 calls and KCs woeful disregard for her child's welfare. All that stuff about her teen pg and whether she appeared to be a good mom or how many boyfriends she had in 2008 just confused the jury. I think the waters got real muddy and Caylee as the victim became lost. The jury needed things cut and dry as simple as possible.

I agree. BBM-and probably bored them as well. They were much more interested in the soap opera filled drama presented by Jose.

 

[rossva]

BBM Just to point out how easy it is, even now, to make mistakes, there was no hurricane. It was Tropical Storm Fay; not a hurricane.

I just got finished discussing on another blog all the unfortunate events that happened and wound up helping to set FCA free, so I copied and pasted it here, and added at the bottom where I thought the prosecution went wrong:

- She dumped Caylee’s body in the most careless way … only a few feet from the road, but no-one could find her because of the hurricaine - the cop first called by kronk slipped in the mud and refused to go any further
- the tow yard called her parents instead of law enforcement
- cindy cleaned the trunk and washed her pants so evidence was lost
- her family lied and covered up for her
- the DCF report wasn’t done on time for the trial
- she managed to find the sleeziest lawyer willing to lie and obstruct justice (IMO)
- because of the media attention, a jury couldn’t be selected from Orlando
- Judge Strickland was recused and Judge P was assigned the case (I would need a whole page for how judge P contributed to the acquittal)
- OCSO missed the fool-proof suffocation search
- she managed to wind up with the 12 laziest, greediest people in the country that REFUSED to convict her on ANY charge.

As far as where I think the proseuction went wrong ...
- not addressing the timeline on 6/16 to prove a drowning couldn't have possibly happened
- speaking to the jury as if they were intelligent, thinking, rational people.

 

[magnolia]

I agree with your husband.

The drowning story or idea of it was out on the web and had been considered and the statements made to investigators and should have got the state planning a strong rebuttable case for the type of defence . Without effectively combatting that claim combined with Dr G not truely being able to back up her cod/mod with anything other then her opinion based on the way the tape was in Caylee's hair and the later testimony of kronk saying he lifted up the skull with her meter stick made it very hard to rely on the evidence as she veiwed it because reasonable doubt became a very real issue.
I also think the state underestimated Jose due to his tactics during pretrial and that might have been the biggest mistake to the case. I think Aston had a hard time listening to what was really being said by Jose and looked at the case and Jose's statements kinda one diminsional. I think Jose saw that and exploited it.

The final blow were the problems with the computer searches.

JMO.
I dont know how the state could have proved a murder in this case, as it went in court. I understand why people are upset with the verdict but the jury only knew what they heard in court,and without a baised opinion agaisnt Casey preexisting as opinion deeming her guilty conviction would have been impossible.They really didnt have much to say she really did murder Caylee as a fact.

I totally agree with your post.

BBM-I understand why people are upset with the verdict as well. I was not upset, but, shocked that she was not convicted of one of the lesser charges. After the trial ended and I had a chance to reflect, I came to see what you have pointed out. The same thing my hubby tried to point out during the trial and I refused to listen.:loser:

 

[Hez]

JMO and MOO ... but I still wonder IF there was any jury "tampering" ?

I am still :fence: about the possibility of jury tampering, and still lean in that direction. I know ... it may seem far-fetched to still think this ... but ya never know ... I still can't shake the feeling that there was some jury tampering.
:seeya:

Snipped for brevity. In addition to everything else that went wrong with this case, I absolutely believe that the jury was tampered with. The only way Baez could win was by cheating. That's why he was dancing around the hallway after deliberations were over, he knew what the verdict was going to be before it was announced. Too bad there is no way of proving it. IMO

 

[Hez]

BBM Just to point out how easy it is, even now, to make mistakes, there was no hurricane. It was Tropical Storm Fay; not a hurricane.

 

[Justiceseeker35]

I absolutely believe there was tampering. Too much time spent on getting the for convictions to change their mind and not any time going over evidence. Sounds fishy to me.

 

[watcher9]

When Caylee was first discovered missing, not doing a thorough 1-2 mile search around the A home including the woods. It was a month before Fay came through.

It still mystifies me why Kronk was not believed on the first call and the area was not checked then. Nothing against Kronk himself but why not just stick to the truth? It only made him an easy target for the defense. Why did Kronk keep changing his story (relieving himself, seeing a white thing while driving by and hunting for the skull) on each call to enhance it? Why did Kronk feel the need to say he never touched the skull and then he poked at it with his meter stick and then saying he lifted the skull up?

The tow company not calling LE when they first knew that the car smelled like decomposition.

Pampering the jury by making movies, outings and food more important than the trial.

Judge Perry coming down hard on spectators and prosecutors, but allowing FCA and her defense team free latitude to do whatever they wanted.

Allowing the A's to stay in the courtroom during the trial as the victim's family when they were actually testifying for the defendant.

When CA was perjuring herself, not confronting her as a hostile witness.

When it was realized about the 84 times searches on the computer mistake, continuing to testify it as fact and letting JB call them on it in open court.

More visual demonstrations needed to actually show how difficult duct tape is to separate when stuck to itself or another piece, what happens when someone tries to put duct tape on a wet surface, how duct tape deteriorates and loses evidence over time and conditions and better explaining and showing how the duct tape was able to remain on Caylee after decomposition and through the flood.