The Defense That Should Have Been

It has been such an interesting week in the Casey Anthony Trial. This has gotten to be such good television that it is easy to forget a child is dead and her mother maybe executed.

I have been very hard on Jose Baez in these pages while at the same time calling for a fair trial for Casey because I fully believe when the Casey’s of the world can have a true and fair day in court we all can.

In my opinion if I had a dime for every mistake the defense has made in this case I could buy a new home cash.

I have constantly said if handled right this would have been a winnable case.

Let me make it very clear I am not an attorney, I have no legal education, and most of the time I fall asleep before Jack McCoy’s cross when watching Law & Order but I’d like to give you my take on how Casey should have been defended.

To begin with Jose Baez gave much to much away in his opening statement. He has painted himself into a corner that he’s now stuck in and he can’t get out without getting filthy if he can get out at all. The inference of Casey lying because she was molested is absurd and it was seen as the lie it was by anyone with a brain.

His opening statement should have been nothing more than, “A great deal of guess work and rumor has been floating around about this case and my client for three years now and both Casey and myself welcome the chance for not just this jury but the world to finally know what really happened on the day her daughter died and we are sure you will agree that while sad and tragic nothing sinister occurred the day Caylee Anthony died. Instead of doing what you or I would have done after finding a dead child in the pool Casey did what her family has taught her by example all her life. She lied and she hid. She placed her daughter’s body in the trunk of car and kept her there for three days while she devolved the story of a fake kidnapping. When Casey finally laid Caylee to rest she duct taped her mouth and nose to stage a kidnapping and did something that proves her stunted mentality. She placed a heart sticker over her daughter's mouth as her way of saying I love you, I'll miss you and good bye. Every bit of the states evidence will prove this to you.

He should have told a story of a young girl who grew in a home in which lying is not the exception but the norm. A young girl whose maturity level does not match her years and dealt with the tragedy of her daughters drowning by doing what she always did. By abusing her drug of choice for the past year, chloroform and living the lie she created for herself.

That would have left him the opportunity to go anywhere.

He should have stipulated Casey lied to the police and not even questioned the officers. She will be convicted of the four charges of lying to police. No way around it.

By admitting she was abusing chloroform you take away the states power to use it as a murder weapon. At that point all the states evidence of such high levels of what they call a chemical but you call her drug of choice are not just explainable but work in your favor.

As for the examination of the medical examiner I have covered that in another blog but there is line of questioning that should have been followed:

Dr. what is the accepted scientific method for testing if duct tape was applied before or after death?

Dr. did you do any test do see if the tape was applied before or after death?

So Dr. if there is no test to tell if duct tape was applied before or after death is it fair to say no matter how strong your feelings are that it is evidence of murder it is really nothing more than your own personal opinion that has no basis in scientific fact. Is that correct?

As someone who has forgotten more about computers than most people will ever know I can tell you the computer forensics could have been impeached by this simple fact, when you talk about how hard disks store data and operating systems write to a hard disk and how that effects how your browser cache determines the data written in binary code most people’s eyes glaze over and it verbal equivalent of watching paint dry. You could have completely confused the issue by talking about software revisions and known bugs in the software as well as processing speed and the amount of ram in the testing system. Did most of you understand that? Either would most people on a jury.

As to the crime scene you have already admitted this where she placed Caylee to rest and other testimony is moot.

The only question that should been asked of the FBI experts was “Is it fair to say the FBI crime lab is among the best forensic crime labs in the world if not the best”? “What evidence of murder did you find”?

Jose Baez was given a gift from god himself this week that is if he uses it properly, and that is the perjury of Cindy Anthony. This can prove his case in closing.

His closing should be very simple. I have told Casey comes from a family of liars and her mother proved that you when she sat before you and the world and knowingly and deliberately committed perjury. If you want know why Casey could lie to anyone and everyone for 31 days you need look no further than her mother. When it comes to lying Casey learned from the best.

The state has shown you great deal of evidence in these proceedings and if you look at what that evidence actually says as opposed to what the state wants it to say you will see it’s clear that states own evidence supports the defense’s account of how Caylee Anthony truly died.

I took this case because I believe in justice and because I believe in justice I will stand here and tell as Casey’s own counsel she should be punished for what she did. Casey Anthony lied to police and she is guilty of improper disposal of a body, and because I believe in justice I stand before you with a straight face and a clear conscience and ask you not punish her for she did not do. God has already punished her enough for daughter’s accident.

Would this work? It's a lot better than what we've see so far.