Casey Anthony Verdict: Alternate Juror Calls Her 'Good Mother'
An alternate juror in the Casey Anthony trial says that he believes Casey Anthony is a good mother and that 2-year-old Caylee's death was just a horrific accident.
In a bombshell verdict, 12 jurors found Casey Anthony not guilty of the murder of her daughter. She was found guilty of four counts of lying to law enforcement and could be released from jail as early as Thursday.
Mark Lippman, lawyer for Casey Anthony's parents, said on "Good Morning America" today that George and Cindy Anthony were shocked by the verdict, not because they believe Casey Anthony is guilty, but because they thought the state did a fantastic job presenting their case. George and Cindy Anthony have not met with their daughter since her trial began, but they hope to meet with her and to one day get the truth about what happened to Caylee.
"There was a slim chance that we were hoping to get some sliver of truth during this trial and that would have been by testimony from Casey…hopefully one day she'll tell her story, but who knows what to believe," Lippman said.
Russell Huekler, one of five alternate jurors who were present for all the testimony and sequestered along with the 12 other jurors, said he would have delivered the same verdict and he's shocked by the public outrage over the trial's outcome.
Defense attorney Jose Baez cast doubt on much of the forensic evidence presented to jurors and reiterated throughout the trial that there was no DNA to link Casey Anthony to Caylee's death. Caylee's remains, found nearly six months after she disappeared in the summer of 2008, were so badly decomposed, the cause of death was a "homicide by undetermined means."
Huekler said the lack of physical evidence that Caylee was murdered overwhelmed the circumstantial evidence of Casey Anthony's many lies and her hard partying in the 31 days when she knew her daughter was dead but didn't tell authorities.
"Yeah, the behavior was bizarre, but what I took from that is that the family was very dysfunctional. Because they were so dysfunctional, that was the norm for them. Casey didn't just start lying for the first 31 days [after Caylee disappeared]. She had been lying for the past two years...I felt it was the norm for her," Huekler said.
Huekler said that he and the jury only saw evidence that Casey Anthony was a good mother.
"The first number of witnesses were Casey's friend and every time that they said they saw Casey with Caylee, it was a loving relationship and no one provided evidence to the contrary," Huekler said.
Huekler also said it didn't bother him that Casey Anthony did not testify in her own defense.
Casey Anthony's defense team argued that Caylee accidentally drowned in the family pool and that George Anthony, Casey Anthony's father, helped dispose of the body. In the trial's shocking opening statement, Baez said that Casey Anthony hid her daughter's death in the same way she hid years of sexual abuse by her father and brother. (abc news)
Baez was not allowed to bring up the alleged abuse in closing arguments because Judge Belvin Perry said there was no proof any abuse occurred. Huekler said that the omission of abuse in closing arguments, did not hurt the defense's case.
Lippman, George and Cindy Anthony's attorney, denied the abuse allegations again today on Good Morning America.
"This case has destroyed everyone's reputation. Even if it's baseless, there's people out there that are going to believe...for their rest of their lives... what the defense told them."
Casey Anthony will be sentenced Thursday morning for the four misdemeanors she was found guilty of committing. (abc)
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