- In new tell-all, former defence attorney Jose Baez accuses father George Anthony of sexually abusing Casey
- Also says that Casey suspected that George had fathered Caylee
- On July 5, 2011, a jury sensationally acquitted Anthony of all three charges which together carried the death penalty
Casey Anthony Dad Says Caylee Died of Drug Overdose, Casey Anthony, dubbed the most hated mother in America, had suspicions that she and her daughter Caylee shared the same father, according to her former defence attorney. Jose Baez blames George Anthony,
Casey was sensationally acquitted of murdering her daughter after a highly-publicised trial last July.
In his book, Presumed Guilty, Casey Anthony: The Inside Story, Baez reveals aspects of the Anthony’s private lives that were not looked into during the trial. Casey Anthony dad says Caylee died of drug overdose,
George, through a family attorney, denied ever abusing Casey.
However, Casey and her father have reportedly been estranged since October 14, 2008, the day, CF 13 News notes, that he testified against her, leading to the grand jury indicting her for murder.
He testified in the trial: ‘I would have done anything I could to save my granddaughter.’
Someone in the Anthony house conducted several suicide-related searches on the family computer, including ‘fool-proof suffocation’ and ‘venturing into the pro-suicide pit’ on the day little Caylee Anthony vanished, Casey Anthony’s defence attorney Jose Baez said.
The attorney revealed that the searches were conducted around an hour after Casey’s father George Anthony said she left the home. Casey Anthony's Father Admits Suicide Attempt, Denies Molestation,
While last year’s trial famously revealed that the family computer also had searches for ‘chloroform,’ the suicide searches were not revealed, Baez said, because they were discovered after the fact.
He told Good Morning America: ‘I have a hard time believing that law enforcement wouldn’t check the internet history of the day that the child went missing. That would have been bombshell evidence in the trial if it had come out.’
Baez said during the trial - repeated again in his book - that Caylee accidentally drowned in a family swimming pool and that her father, George Anthony, hid the body. Baez also claimed George Anthony sexually abused his daughter.
George Anthony denied both allegations, and there was little brought up about them during the trial. Baez said the defence wasn't required to put on any such evidence because proving the case is the prosecution's burden, not the other way around.
George Anthony tried to commit suicide in January 2009, and was found in a Daytona Beach hotel after overdosing on prescription drugs. A five-page suicide note was also discovered at the hotel.
Baez told GMA that it was hard to determine who in the Anthony family conducted what searches on January 16, 2008, but said it was possible to infer who searched what, based on the terms searched.
For instance, one of the terms searched was ‘foolproof suffocation.’ Baez noted that the terms were spelled incorrectly, and that George struggled with good spelling.
He wrote in his book: ‘By looking at the websites being researched, all concerned with suicide and death, it certainly appears that the one who felt the blame was a guilt-ridden George Anthony.’
In his book, Baez also lashes out at several entities - calling the media a 'monster', the police 'careless' and the prosecution 'scheming and ruthless'.
He wrote: 'This was not real life, it was the media's Casey Anthony reality show, a show that depended on name-calling and controversy for television ratings.'
'I don't think the lies are indicative of innocence or guilt,' he said. 'The lies were there long before Caylee passed away.' In the book, he says Anthony had built a 'fantasy world,' and her lies weren't evidence of guilt but signs of someone with 'serious mental health issues.'
Baez said one piece of prosecution evidence he was most concerned about was that police cadaver dogs had indicated a body may have been in the trunk of Anthony's car at one point and also that a body may have been in the backyard. None was discovered in the backyard and there was nothing but rotting bags of trash in the trunk.
But, he said, people - and jurors - believe in dogs.
'That concerned me a little bit. Most people really think dogs can do magic,' Baez said.
Baez said prosecutors offered in 2008 to allow Anthony to plead guilty to aggravated manslaughter of a child and serve up to 13 years in prison. He said that in those early days he thought taking it might be in Anthony's best interest.
'There were times, difficult times, when the evidence didn't look good for Casey,' Baez said, adding that it was his obligation as a lawyer to convey any such plea offers.
The prosecution's flaw, he added, was that regarding the car search the dog and handler were focused only on Anthony's vehicle and did not include others in a lineup to give the dog options.
Overall, Baez attributed the strong public backlash against the jury's verdict to a lack of understanding about the judicial system and because 'a lot of people bought into the hype' that Anthony must have been guilty.
He noted that jurors who gave media interviews after the trial said they waited for weeks for strong evidence that never came.
'We need to talk about whether an actual murder occurred,' he said. 'That's where the focus should have been, and it never was.'
'She's doing a lot better than she was in prison,' Baez said, but then added: 'She's a prisoner of her own freedom.'
Anthony, he said, 'would not entertain it for a second'. As he became more familiar with the state's mostly circumstantial case, Baez said he grew convinced she would be acquitted by a jury – as she was a year ago today of all charges except for four misdemeanors of lying to investigators.
'There was nothing in the trial that ever made me think Casey was guilty of anything as related to the murder,' Baez said. 'Every single piece of evidence favored us.'
He told CBS' Crimesider: 'I think Casey Anthony's story, the whole case, was a media phenomenon. And I say that because she was young, pretty and white.
'If it didn't have those elements to it I don't think it would have taken off.'
Prosecutors claimed Anthony suffocated Caylee with duct tape so she could spend time with her boyfriend and be free for Orlando's nightlife.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2169906/Casey-Anthony-thought-father-George-fathered-Caylee-killed-hide-evidence-abuse.html#ixzz206yK31SM
