http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1207/05/ijvm.01.htmlJANE VELEZ-MITCHELL
Casey Anthony Acquittal, One Year Later
Aired July 5, 2012 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL: One year ago today the nation watched live as Casey Anthony was found not guilty of her daughter`s murder. Tonight, a look back at the trial of the century`s most remarkable moments.
Also, what`s next for one of the most hated people in America?
BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tonight it was the verdict heard around the world. One year ago today Casey Anthony was acquitted of the murder of her precious toddler. Little Caylee`s death captivated the nation and changed Florida justice forever.
So where is Casey now? And what happened to the unforgettable cast of characters in this murder mega drama? I`m going in depth tonight.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Camera.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is disgusting. The baby, what about her?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Justice for Caylee! Justice for Caylee! Justice for Caylee!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Justice for Caylee! Justice for Caylee! Justice for Caylee!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Justice for Caylee! Justice for Caylee! Justice for Caylee!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As to the charge of first-degree murder, verdict as to count one, we the jury find the defendant not guilty. Not guilty.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolute crying shame this is. They call this justice? They say the American flag flies today? It does not. It does anything but fly today. It`s been trampled on.
CASEY ANTHONY, ACQUITTED OF MURDER: I just want to let everyone know that I`m sorry for what I did.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Casey`s lies.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She got away with it. And you know it. And people are saying that it was OK; she didn`t get away with this. They -- I can`t even talk. I`m appalled.
JOSE BAEZ, CASEY ANTHONY`S ATTORNEY: There are no winners in this case. Caylee has passed on far, far too soon.
JUDGE BELVIN PERRY, PRESIDED OVER CASE: I will judge you to be not guilty of the crime -- not guilty.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: She has been ordered back to the city where she is public enemy No. 1.
CASEY ANTHONY: Can someone let me -- come on.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Without a shadow of a doubt she did it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She`ll get her judgment, some day.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a business ploy. She`s playing the cute card again.
NANCY GRACE, HLN ANCHOR: Instead of using her time to put herself in a low-cut tank top back into the national media, maybe she should be out helping missing and murdered children.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tonight, an in-depth look at the trial that electrified the nation.
Good evening. I`m Jane Velez-Mitchell.
Casey Anthony, acquitted of murdering her 3-year-old daughter, Caylee, three years after her death. Where were you one year ago today when you heard these unforgettable words?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Charge of first-degree murder, verdict as to count one, we the jury find the defendant not guilty. So say we all. Orlando, Orange County, Florida, on this fifth day of July 2011, signed foreperson.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And with that, one of the most hated people in America was found not guilty of a horrific crime that so many were absolutely sure she, in fact, committed.
The case centered around Casey`s repeated lies to police and one astonishing fact: for 31 days Casey said nothing, zero, zip about little Caylee missing. Yes, her own daughter.
Finally, when confronted with her by her mom, she makes up a story claiming Zanny the nanny had taken her little girl. From that moment on, Casey`s every move was watched, scrutinized. The frenzy culminated in her murder trial last summer, where people camped out for days, sometimes duking it out just to get a seat in court.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Keep going! Keep going! Keep going!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I dropped the camera.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: The moment Casey was released from jail she went into seclusion. But just three weeks ago, Casey broke her silence and talked to CNN`s Piers Morgan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PIERS MORGAN, CNN ANCHOR: "Obviously, I didn`t kill my daughter." She said that very firmly. "If anything, there`s nothing in this world I`ve ever been more proud of, and there`s no one I loved more than my daughter. She`s my greatest accomplishment."
Clearly, a lot of people in America believe she killed her daughter, but I was struck by that was what she wanted to get over straight away loud and clear: "I didn`t kill my girl."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: What is next for Casey Anthony? When will she show her face? And will it mean a big payday for her?
Straight out to Robyn Walensky, author of "Beautiful Life?: The CSI Behind the Casey Anthony Trial."
Robyn, we`ve heard all the rumors. OK, here are some of them. Casey`s gained a ton of weight. Then she`s moving to Costa Rica. That she`s trying to sell a sit-down exclusive interview to a major network.
Casey and her lawyer deny all of those published reports. So bottom line, what are Casey`s options, realistically, when her parole ends in August?
ROBYN WALENSKY, AUTHOR: Good evening, Jane. Realistically, her options are extremely limited. And here`s why.
In the past year I`ve been back to the Orlando area a bunch of times. And, Jane, there`s still a palpable sense of hatred toward this woman, because the average person on the street believes that she murdered her adorable little daughter. And they have not forgotten. Memory is long on this case.
Her options, think about it: can she go back to school? Can she enroll at UCF, the University of Central Florida? Absolutely not. Can she go down the block and get a job at Wal-Mart? Absolutely not. What is she going to do?
Maybe she should go the O.J. route, learn how to play golf and hide out on a golf course somewhere, Jane. Because if she goes even to another country -- Aruba, Costa Rica, Nassau, Bahamas -- they have CNN and HLN there. Everyone has seen the trial, and everyone remembers the not guilty verdict.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, we have some theories about what she might do. And we`re going to tell you them right now.
Casey went underground, of course, after her release from jail. Then early this year she resurfaced in a series of online videos. You`ll remember this. Check it out again.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CASEY ANTHONY: I just pierced my nose last night. Very excited.
A little scary because I hate being on camera.
And cuffed my ear. Boom. Very exciting.
Even if I get off probation early, I`ll still be here at least until February.
This is again the first of many. And I`m looking forward to this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Radar Online now reporting that Casey has been keeping a written journal and spends most of her time writing. And Radar Online claims she will be releasing a book.
So, Mark Eiglarsh, criminal defense attorney, how will public sentiment against her making money off her daughter`s death impact her plans to sell a book?
MARK EIGLARSH, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Well, hopefully it will impact it significantly. I hope that people choose to exercise their constitutional right not to purchase anything that she has anything to do with.
Listen, at a minimum, she lied to law enforcement. Even if there are some people living under a rock who think maybe there might have been some reasonable doubt about whether she killed her child, she lied to law enforcement. And they have a right to reject anything that`s going to help her make any money.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes, well, a lot of people have said, oh, she`ll never sell a book because no publisher would want to touch it.
EIGLARSH: Not true.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Guess what? You don`t need a publisher today. You can publish your own book.
EIGLARSH: That`s right.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And a lot of people I fear might say, "Well, I`m not going to publicly buy this book, but secretly I might just download it just to find out what`s going on" -- Holly Hughes.
HOLLY HUGHES, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Absolutely. The curiosity factor here is just still so fierce, Jane. Because even though we had a full trial, we still don`t know what happened.
She didn`t testify at that trial. We heard her defense attorney state in opening that now this is the theory; there was a drowning. We had the state present a completely opposite theory of, no, this was murder. So we still don`t know.
Of course people are going to buy it. You`re right about one thing: they`re going to be secretive about it.
But the only thing that we could even hang our hat on is that she owes the state of Florida so much money for that investigation that she purposely and fraudulently caused to happen.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Aha.
HUGHES: So the only thing we can hope, Jane, is that for the few people that are going to go out there and buy that book, that all that money is going to pay back law enforcement because of all the wasted resources.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: But you`re right. Today you don`t need to go into a bookstore and show your face to buy a book or a movie. You can download it in a second.
Twelve days after Casey`s monumental acquittal, she was a free woman. Her release from jail last July was a bizarre highly-orchestrated event.
Under the cover of darkness, throngs of media kept across the street. I was right there in the middle of it all as the hysteria escalated.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Was that her? Was that her? It must be because -- was that her? It looks like it was her because they`re taking off right now. So that had to her.
We are here at the Orange County jail. You just saw vehicles leave. A caravan. It`s just about 12:10. The Orange County sheriff`s officers are taking off. And they leave with tremendous urgency.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Jayne Weintraub, criminal defense attorney, here with me on set. You are a defender of Casey Anthony.
Many would consider her wildly lucky just to have walked out of jail like that with only a year`s probation. And yet, she has told Piers Morgan, "Oh, I`m in a living hell. I have to watch -- I`m reading `The Hunger Games` right here and I`m watching `The Three Stooges`." Should we feel sorry for her?
JAYNE WEINTRAUB, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Absolutely. She can`t go anywhere without being recognized.
But I disagree with the prior guest. I think she has her whole life ahead of her. And why shouldn`t she? She can change her name and go somewhere else. She doesn`t have to go back to UCF or Gainesville or Orlando. And she can find a life.
She`s very young. She`s smart. And she should go forward. You make fun of her reading "The Hunger Games." LeBron James read "the Hunger Games" before every game during the playoffs. And it seemed to have done him pretty good.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As to the charge of first-degree murder verdict as to count one, we the jury find the defendant not guilty. As to the charge of aggravated child abuse, verdict as to count two, we the jury find the defendant not guilty.
As to the charge of aggravated manslaughter of a child, verdict is to count three we the jury find the defendant not guilty.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They just let a baby killer, an obvious baby killer, out of jail.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Justice for Caylee! Justice for Caylee!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Justice for Caylee! Justice for Caylee!
VELEZ-MITCHELL: We`re going to chase him down. Hold on. We`re chasing him right now. Let`s see if Jose Baez wants to say anything. Hey, Jose, quick comment?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She got away with it. And you know it. And people are saying that it was OK. She didn`t get away with this -- I can`t even talk.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They honestly let her just walk out and let everyone see. I just thought it was unjust. I think they should have hidden it, let her go on her way without anybody seeing her. There`s no justice done.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a big spectacle for somebody that everybody hates. This is our justice system. And that`s the way it is.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She spins tales, but all these crazy stories about all this stuff. She also made up a story about her parents, her dad cheating on her mom.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is going to be the point where you stop all the lies and you stop all the fibs and you tell us exactly what`s going on.
CINDY ANTHONY, CASEY`S MOTHER: I need to have something to go on.
CASEY ANTHONY: Mom, I don`t have anything. I`m sorry.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I know and you know that everything you told me is a lie, correct?
CASEY ANTHONY: Not everything that I told you.
STAN STRICKLAND, JUDGE: Information`s been provided by Miss Anthony as to the whereabouts of her daughter, I would point out that the truth and Miss Anthony are strangers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there anything about this story that you`re telling me is untrue? Or is there anything that you want to change or divert from what you`ve already told me?
CASEY ANTHONY: No, sir.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Now, even though Casey was found not guilty on the most serious charge, she was convicted of lying. And she appealed her convictions for lying to cops. The four lies were that she worked at Universal Studios, that she left Caylee with friends, that she talked to Caylee on the phone and, of course, the non-existent Zanny the nanny took her daughter.
Well, there was a real Zenaida Gonzalez. You`re looking at that woman there, who`s suing Casey Anthony, Matt Morgan is with us tonight. He`s the attorney for the real Zenaida Gonzalez.
Where does Zenaida`s lawsuit against Casey Anthony stand? And how many times is Casey Anthony going to be able to take the fifth when you depose her and refuse to answer any questions, because she`s appealing these convictions?
MATT MORGAN, ATTORNEY: Well, Jane, first of all, as you know we just had a large victory in our case. And that was we obtained service on Casey Anthony through her attorneys. So originally at the onset of this thing her attorneys didn`t want to accept service on her behalf.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Spell it out in English for those of us -- the Americans who are not lawyers, all of us who are not lawyers. Tell us what you`re saying there. You`re saying that you were able to hit her with a subpoena?
MORGAN: So -- a subpoena to come to court. So originally we wanted to serve her through her attorneys, meaning we wanted to get a trial subpoena to her attorneys so she would be present in the courtroom. And so her attorneys said at the onset that they didn`t want to accept service on her behalf, and we would have to serve her personally.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And you didn`t know where she was.
MORGAN: Exactly.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: She was in hiding.
MORGAN: Exactly. And so we put an entire investigation team together. And we literally went around the state tracking her whereabouts. And so we had her location pinned down. And right around the time that we were about to obtain personal service, her attorneys informed us that they would accept service for her. Meaning that now she has to come to trial. Which was a huge victory because that puts her in the defendant`s chair. And for Zenaida that`s a big win.
WEINTRAUB: What`s the point of this lawsuit? She`s already come out and her lawyers have already come out and said that it`s not your client, Zenaida Gonzalez, she was referring to. So aside from ka-ching, ka-ching, what are you suing her for? She has no money. You can`t even find her. She`s not going to admit it. You`re not Perry Mason. What`s the point of this lawsuit? I don`t get it.
MORGAN: We have found her. She potentially will have...
WEINTRAUB: So?
MORGAN: ... in the future -- I`d say there`s a high likelihood that she`ll have money in the future.
WEINTRAUB: What are the damages?
MORGAN: What are her damages?
WEINTRAUB: What are your client`s damages?
MORGAN: What if I took your picture and I broadcast it to the world, and I said you`re a kidnapper and presumably a killer?
WEINTRAUB: No, Matt. No, Matt. Because from the minute that -- from the minute she was identified, her parents came out, Casey came out through her lawyers and said it was not this Zenaida Gonzalez. Game over.
MORGAN: That`s false information.
WEINTRAUB: Case should have been done. That`s the way I see it.
MORGAN: That`s false information. That`s false information. When Cindy went to the jailhouse to visit Casey, she said, "Casey, tell us. Everybody`s saying that this Zenaida Gonzalez is the one that kidnapped Caylee. Tell us it`s not true. Tell us what`s going on."
And she didn`t deny it. She didn`t say that woman from Kissimmee did not take her child.
And then, Cindy Anthony went out and broadcast that to the world. And then essentially said that Zenaida Gonzalez, the one that was broadcasted all over the news for the world to see, was the one who in fact, kidnapped her child. So she never absolved her at that point in time when she could have. She could have said, "Cindy -- Mom, that`s not the woman that took my child." Instead, she denied it.
WEINTRAUB: But at some point very close there, too, that statement was made. And it was broadcast to the world that, in fact, it wasn`t this Zenaida Gonzalez. As a matter of fact, I think you guys have shown her face more than it was shown to begin with.
MORGAN: Well, if you`ll remember, there was never an official statement that was made to the world until her -- until her criminal trial began, in which Zenaida was completely absolved.
WEINTRAUB: Correct. But the statement was made. Game over.
MORGAN: It`s not game over. The damage is done. Once your face is put onto live television for the world to see that you`re a kidnapper and presumably a killer, the damage is done. If it`s for a day, it`s for a day. If the whole world sees it for one day, that`s damage. And that`s a lot of damage.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Oh, I`ve covered so many trials. O.J. Simpson, Michael Jackson child molestation, the trial of Dr. Conrad Murray. Nothing was like this. This was insanity. It was just once-in-a-lifetime kind of scene outside that courtroom.
I want to go to Linda Kenny Baden, who`s my very special guest tonight. You were once on Casey Anthony`s defense team. Let`s cut to the chase. What can we learn from this Shakespearean tragedy?
LINDA KENNY BADEN, FORMER MEMBER OF CASEY`S DEFENSE TEAM: Hi, Jane. How are you?
One year later, I don`t think we`ve learned anything. I -- I think it`s like back to where we were in the Dark Ages or Christianity where it was the Coliseum, the lions and the Christians. OK?
We just don`t -- and by the way, I don`t want to offend lions, because I know you`re an animal rights person. They, too, were...
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Or Christians.
BADEN: ... manipulated. Or Christians. Victims of manipulation. It`s ridiculous.
Why don`t we take this energy and put it to something that is good? Why don`t people say, OK, let`s deal with the person, another young lady who may be found? Or the poor black child or African-American child who`s missing in another state? Let`s start having the hate go away and using this energy that everybody has to do something good in the world instead of hating Casey Anthony.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. But Linda Kenny Baden, I think a lot of people were just scandalized by that moment in the trial that came on day one. In his opening statement, Casey Anthony`s attorney, Jose Baez, dropped a bombshell that offended so many, claiming Casey was molested by her father.
Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BAEZ: This child at 8 years old learned to lie immediately. She could be 13 years old, have her father`s (EXPLETIVE DELETED) in her mouth and then go to school and play with the other kids as if nothing ever happened.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Now, there`s George. Casey`s sobbing at the defense table.
One thing I can never figure out, Linda, was that prosecutors told me they knew Jose Baez was going to make this claim of molestation and claim that Caylee drowned accidentally. And yet prosecutors didn`t seem to have an effective strategy to counteract that, even though they knew it was coming before the trial started.
BADEN: Well, it seems to me, Jane, that they were so relying on the hate that we`re talking about that they figured this would be a slam dunk and forget the burden of proof. Matter of fact, let`s forget any proof.
I mean, if you have an allegation of molestation -- and remember, she had this allegation in jail letters which she wrote to other jail people. And you know about it. Maybe that should have been investigated, no matter what you feel about Casey Anthony. That needs to be investigated.
Haven`t we learned anything from recent events in this country`s history dealing with sports athletes? We have to take this stuff seriously.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: You have a "Justice for Caylee" sign. Why did you decide to come down here today?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: To be a voice for Caylee. I`m outraged at the verdict. I believe in our justice system. But this time I believe it`s failed us.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I do not want Casey Anthony to actually make money off of her daughter`s death.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Justice for Caylee. She was left in a swamp. Nobody there to defend her. And we`re out here to say, "Caylee, we remember you. We will stand up for you even when the jury failed you."
VELEZ-MITCHELL: This gentleman is outside the area where the protesters are supposed to be. And he`s saying essentially that he thinks it`s fair, and he`s not upset with the verdict. And he`s not upset with the sentencing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tell me about your sign here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Casey, will you marry me?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is this a legitimate proposal to Casey Anthony?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Let her know, hey, I`m available.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She definitely didn`t deserve the death penalty or to be locked up any further than she is. So justice was served.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The prosecution had to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that she committed this crime. And they failed -- and they failed to do so in this process. So a jury of her peers proved that she was innocent. She wasn`t sentenced to the death penalty by law, but I feel like publicly she has.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I just think the court system is just messed up. And I just think she should get more time than a year or two.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think that it`s just not right what she did.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Really?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because she obviously didn`t do the murder because that`s what the jury said.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The judge did what he had to do because the judge went on the sentencing of the jury, and the jury said she wasn`t guilty. So he only had the lying and could only do the maximum sentence there.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Is there any comfort in the fact that she`s not getting out today?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.
END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: It`s exactly one year since that extraordinary acquittal rocked the nation. What now for Casey Anthony? Will she still be able to score a lucrative sit-down TV interview or a book deal?
E!News is reporting now that Cindy, her mom, and Casey Anthony have reconnected during the horrific ordeal. It would seem that Cindy would do anything for her troubled daughter.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CINDY ANTHONY, MOTHER OF CASEY ANTHONY: Casey.
CASEY ANTHONY, ACQUITTED FOR DEATH OF DAUGHTER: Mom.
CINDY ANTHONY: Hey, sweetie.
CASEY ANTHONY: I just saw your nice little cameo on TV.
CINDY ANTHONY: Which one?
CASEY ANTHONY: What do you mean which one?
CINDY ANTHONY: Which one? I did four different ones and I don`t know -- I haven`t seen them all. I`ve only seen one or two so far.
CASEY ANTHONY: You don`t know what my involvement is and stuff?
CINDY ANTHONY: Casey.
CASEY ANTHONY: Mom.
CINDY ANTHONY: What?
CASEY ANTHONY: No.
CINDY ANTHONY: I don`t know what your involvement is, sweetheart. You`re not telling me where she`s at.
CASEY ANTHONY: Because I don`t (EXPLETIVE DELETED) know where she`s at. Are you kidding me?
CINDY ANTHONY: Casey, don`t waste your call to scream and holler at me.
CASEY ANTHONY: No. I waste my call sitting in, oh, the jail?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I never spoke to my parents that way. And despite that, Robyn Walensky, author of "Beautiful Life: The CSI behind the Casey Anthony trial", it seemed that Cindy would do anything for her daughter. And some said she even lied for her daughter on the stand claiming that she was the one who Googled those incriminating words on the computer.
Robyn -- your thoughts about this relationship.
ROBYN WALENSKY, AUTHOR, "BEAUTIFUL LIFE": Yes, you know, Jane, she perjured herself on the stand and here is why. Cindy was a nurse at that time. She was -- they did a forensic accounting of what was going on under the HIPAA laws in Florida.
It was crystal clear that Cindy Anthony was logged in at the facility where she was working, taking notes on patients. She was not at home in the spring when those searches were done on the Anthony home. The only person who was home in the Anthony home was -- you know who it was -- it was Casey Anthony. She was researching how do you make chloroform --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And that`s (inaudible).
JAYNE WEINTRAUB, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: That`s ridiculous.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Ok.
WEINTRAUB: You know something, when you talk --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Ok, hold on.
WEINTRAUB: When you talk about things like that with such definitive intonation and such authority, it`s very misleading because the bottom line is the jury didn`t believe that. The jury didn`t think that it was only one person capable of being at home. The jury believed that it was Cindy Anthony. And the jury listened to her.
And, you know, the only thing that troubles me about your book and your theories is that you don`t respect the jury`s verdict. And you cannot usurp the jury`s verdict, ma`am.
WALENSKY: You cannot lie with the computer evidence that was done by the Orange County Sheriff`s Office and the FBI --
WEINTRAUB: Oh --
(CROSSTALK)
WALENSKY: -- do absolutely anything for her daughter. And, Jane, toward the end of the trial you and I were there. We were in the bathroom. I personally witnessed Cindy Anthony crying before court would start at around 8:15, 8:20. She would use the ladies room up there. She was crying.
She would have done anything. She had a dead granddaughter. And her daughter was about to be on death row if she was convicted. She took the hit for her daughter. And she lied.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Let me say this. I have complete compassion for Cindy. Nobody who has not walked in her shoes should judge her. Who could forget Cindy`s frantic 911 call to report Caylee missing? It was even more heartbreaking as it was played in court with Cindy hysterical on the stand.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CINDY ANTHONY: I found out my granddaughter has been taken. She has been missing for a month. My daughter admitted she`s been missing.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ok. What is the address you`re calling from?
CINDY ANTHONY: (inaudible) Talking about a 3-year-old little girl.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 4937 what?
CINDY ANTHONY: My daughter finally admitted that the baby`s been stolen. I need to find her.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your daughter admitted that the baby is where?
CINDY ANTHONY: She just said they took her a month ago; that my daughter`s been looking for her. I told you my daughter was missing for a month. I just found her today, but I can`t find my granddaughter.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I feel so sorry for this woman. In her recent talk with CNN`s Piers Morgan, Casey Anthony said she`s, quote, "ashamed in many ways of the person I was", end quote.
Holly Hughes, criminal defense attorney, former prosecutor, Casey Anthony put her family through hell. Have we gotten any insight as to how Casey became the pathological liar and the hateful daughter that she did become? Because we have to learn from this case as a society.
HOLLY HUGHES, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: We do, Jane. And I think what we see is this sick kind of co-dependency with Cindy and Casey; they go back and forth. It`s very, very clear as Jayne just -- she loves her daughter. She was going to do what she needed to do for her daughter.
But at the same time they fight. We know that they fight. There were instances where Cindy supposedly called her a bad mother and she`s the worst mother ever and having that child was a huge mistake. So we see these, you know, I`m not a psychiatrist and somebody might be better able to define what it is, but we see this sick co-dependency and this push and pull where "I really love my daughter, I want to help my daughter." And I have to sit back and wonder if the better question and the better love might not have been, tell the truth and sort of let her be responsible for what she`s responsible for. Don`t necessarily always make it all right for her.
I`m not necessarily just talking about testimony in the court, but in the way that she was raised up. Clearly Casey was given quite a bit of latitude and allowed to get away with a lot. So you have to ask yourself, would the better part have been to sort of say, look, young lady, at some point stand up and take responsibility.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, let`s say this. I think that one of the biggest lessons we can learn from this case is the danger of kids having kids. She was a teenager. She was not through with high school. She did not have a father-figure in terms of parenting little Caylee. She was not involved with a man that was going to help her raise the child.
This is a cautionary tale about the dangers of teen pregnancy. And that to me is the big, big takeaway that we have to realize teenagers are not capable of raising a child in the complex world that we live in today.
Let`s go out to the phone lines. Lloyd, Georgia, you`ve been very patient. Your question or thought, Lloyd.
LLOYD, GEORGIA (via telephone): Jane Velez-Mitchell, I adore all you all, especially Nancy Grace. I know that the baby did drown.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: You say you think the baby did drown?
Lloyd: (inaudible)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I think this gentleman said that he thought that the baby did drown. Of course, Mark Eiglarsh, that`s what the defense claimed. The defense claimed, of course, that little Caylee drowned in the pool and that George discovered the child and then was participating in a cover-up to hide the child`s body. Did anybody outside of apparently the jurors believe that?
MARK EIGLARSH: Here`s the problem, it almost doesn`t matter. The issue and what I take away from this case is that the state after they rested their case still left open how did this exactly happen?
Here we are one year later, all of us in spite of many of us believing that she did kill her child, we don`t know how. And while to the average person in the public who cares, in the court of law to determine whether it`s first-degree murder, second degree, manslaughter or anything, you need to know how it happened. And the state just didn`t have that evidence thanks to Casey Anthony that they didn`t have the evidence.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: For the latest on all the players in the Casey Anthony case, go to hlnTV.com.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CASEY ANTHONY: My only concern is that Caylee comes back to us and she`s smiling and she`s happy.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You hear stories of this Zanny the nanny. It`s true. For two years she pretended she had a job and pretended she had a nanny.
CINDY ANTHONY: We never really got a full description of Zanny. I know she`s got brown curly hair.
CASEY ANTHONY: About shoulder length. She wears it straight. It`s curly, but she wears it straight. (inaudible)
JOSE BAEZ, CASEY ANTHONY DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Did you ever see a photograph of Zanny the nanny?
CINDY ANTHONY: No.
BAEZ: Did you ever speak to Zanny the nanny?
CINDY ANTHONY: No.
BAEZ: And you had no idea that Zanny was not a real person?
CINDY ANTHONY: No, I did not.
BAEZ: And she described to you that Zanny was -- looked like what?
CINDY ANTHONY: Over the course of the two years, Zanny had gotten her hair cut several times. But when I first heard about her, she had long black hair and was very attractive.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where did you drop her off?
CASEY ANTHONY: I dropped her off at that apartment.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No you didn`t.
CASEY ANTHONY: That`s exactly where I dropped her off.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, you didn`t. And who did you drop her off with?
CASEY ANTHONY: With Zenaida.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, you didn`t.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CINDY ANTHONY: Casey says Zanny took her a month ago. She (inaudible).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our initial suspect in this was Zanny the nanny because that`s what we were told.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: After the 15th of July you looked for this Zanny person?
CINDY ANTHONY: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Until when?
CINDY ANTHONY: Until about six weeks ago.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`ve got to throw these lies out, ok. All these lies are out. We know everything you told us is a lie. Tell us what happened to Caylee.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CINDY ANTHONY: What do you want me to tell Caylee?
CASEY ANTHONY: That mommy loves her very much.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CASEY ANTHONY: I know we`re going to see Caylee. I know she`s coming home. I can feel it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CASEY ANTHONY: I`m not in control over any of this because I don`t know what the hell`s going on. I don`t know what`s going on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CINDY ANTHONY: What do you want me to tell Zanny?
CASEY ANTHONY: That she needs to return Caylee.
CINDY ANTHONY: What do you think her reasons are?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CINDY ANTHONY: Someone just said that Caylee was dead this morning. That she drowned in the pool. That`s the newest story out there.
CASEY ANTHONY: Surprise, surprise.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: The defense tried to put Casey`s father, George, on trial, accusing George of sexually molesting Casey and covering up little Caylee`s death. The defense claims George found Caylee drowned in the pool.
Casey`s lawyer, Jose Baez, also accused George of cheating on his wife, Cindy, with a volunteer searcher named Crystal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BAEZ: Did you at any time ever tell her not to say anything about your affair?
GEORGE ANTHONY, FATHER OF CASEY ANTHONY: Sir, I never had a romantic affair with Crystal Holloway, River Cruise, whatever name she wanted to give you or the world.
If I`m not mistaken, sir, she has a questionable past, ok. If I could clarify that with you, she also has been arrested for fraud, breaking and entering, stuff like that. She`s not a very good person, sir.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, guess what, the defense had a secret weapon. They had experts analyzing tens of thousands of social media comments. And they discovered something incredible. That the public was suspicious of George, the man you`re looking at here, Casey`s dad, from the get-go. So this turned out to be the defense`s secret weapon.
Got to go back to Holly Hughes, you`re a former prosecutor. Do you think prosecutors and DA`s offices have to start using high-tech analysis the way the defense did in this case?
HUGHES: Absolutely. Every lawyer in America whether it`s civil, criminal, no matter what you`re doing, you have to be cognizant because it`s out there, Jane. That`s how you pick juries these days. When you`ve got a jury in the box, you`re pulling up their Facebook and their MySpace page to see if they`re telling you the truth and what their affiliations are.
You cannot put on the blinders and act as if this does not exist. If this is something that`s giving 10 percent of the country the willies, so to speak, there`s a reason for it. So address it. Don`t act as if it`s not there. It`s like when you have something bad you have to bring it up.
WEINTRAUB: Holly, the prosecutors -- come on, Holly, the prosecutors had a jury selection expert. They have the same available technology. They didn`t use it the way we, as defense lawyers, use it. That`s nobody`s fault except their own arrogance. They have those tools. They hired the experts. And they put the money in their budgets.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Robyn Walensky?
HUGHES: But I didn`t disagree with you, Jayne. What I said was they need to use it. So I`m not sure what you`re hollering at me for, ok.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. Robyn Walensky, you`re the author of "The CSI behind the Casey Anthony Trial, The Beautiful Life". To me it sometimes seems like these dream defense teams are in the 21st century, but the prosecution relying on the old kind of fashioned way to do it with the government constraint of the budgets is in the 20th century.
WALENSKY: Yes. Jane, there were two very simple things that the prosecutors didn`t do. Number one, they never -- very simple, should have done what I did on my first day when I landed in Orlando, and that is put the jurors on a bus and go to the Anthony home to see the scene.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes. Yes.
WALENSKY: And then go to the swamp, the proximity tells the entire story.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes.
WALENSKY: The scene speaks. I wrote about this in my book.
That said, the second thing they did is what you just said, they underestimated the value and the power of the testimony of Crystal Holloway, a.k.a. River Cruise. And I remember sitting there in Seat 1 on the edge of my seat when she got up to testify and I thought, "What`s she going to say".
And every word that came out of that woman`s mouth, Jane, I believed her. So if you believe that George Anthony was lying about an affair, I mean, come on. What man is going to admit he had an affair in front of his wife and two kids in open court?
WEINTRAUB: Somebody under oath.
(CROSSTALK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Wait a minute --
WALENSKY: Let me make my point. If you believe that he`s lying about an affair, then what else is he lying about? But you know what Jane, just because he lied about sex doesn`t make him a baby killer.
WEINTRAUB: So the fact that Casey lied to the cops about one thing means that she didn`t lie about everything else, is that what you`re saying?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Hold on a second. Let me go to Mark Eiglarsh because I think the bigger picture is they should have taken the jury to the scene. I agree with Robyn. Once you get to the scene, you realize how close the swamp is where the body was found to the scene. It`s like, oh my gosh, this is their backyard.
EIGLARSH: I don`t disagree with you. I was out there and that was my first thought to Vinny, we were out looking at the scene. Why didn`t they take the jurors here? It`s so close.
But let me just throw this out at you, Jane, I don`t think it would have made a difference. There are certain cases that innately, are not winnable. I think this could have been one but I think with the defense team coming at this and questioning everything, they still did not know how this happened.
Even without the defense asking any questions, the jurors came out and said, some of them, we believe that she`s guilty, but we just don`t know -- we don`t have -- we don`t know exactly how this happened. And that is reasonable doubt.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
::snipping2::
NANCY GRACE, HLN HOST: In the last hour, a jury delivers a stunning blow to justice, a stunning blow to police and to prosecutors. With a "not guilty" verdict on all major counts in the tot mom Casey Anthony murder trial the defense team promptly leaves the courthouse and goes to toast champagne in front of a window at a local bar. Let me just say, the devil is dancing tonight.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Nancy Grace`s famous words in the wake of the "not guilty" verdict. Casey never took the stand but she watched at the defense table as one by one, her family members were just eviscerated and brought to tears. Here`s brother, Lee.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BAEZ: Mr. Anthony, can you tell us why you were angry and who you are angry with, as to why you didn`t go and see Caylee and Casey at the hospital?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Of all the people involved in this mess, I feel so sorry for brother, Lee.
Matt Morgan, you`re the attorney for Zenaida Gonzalez; so many people had their lives shattered by this, did they not?
MATT MORGAN, ATTORNEY FOR ZENAIDA GONZALEZ: They did, absolutely. Zenaida, you know, was just one of them. But it influenced her life in such a negative way, you know. She had to sit down and talk to her children and explain to her children that she wasn`t a kidnapper, she wasn`t a murderer. But you know, this case has changed many lives.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: It has really shattered many lives and I want to give a compliment to Lee because he went through hell. And I think of all the people, he conducted himself with grace and dignity in the absolute worst circumstances and I think that is the definition of courage. Way to go, Lee.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Lifetime is now filming a Casey Anthony movie called, "Imperfect Justice" based on prosecutor Jeff Ashton`s book of the same name. Virginia Welch is going to play Casey Anthony. Look at her, what do you think? I think she`s cool. I think it`s a good pick.
She`s starred in several indie films and commercials. Up until this point I had never heard of her. But you know this film is going to be the most talked-about project.
Oh, my gosh, Rob Lowe playing prosecutor Jeff Ashton, who joked, quote, "They clearly were not looking for somebody who looked like me."
You know, Robyn Walensky, it is a tragedy but it`s also now become part of our culture.
WALENSKY: Yes, very much so, Jane. I think that the CSI effect, as it is called, is really affecting trials in our country where people watch the TV show by the same name and they expect it to wrap up in an hour and the DNA to match exactly and the fingerprints and, you know, to be on the duct tape and of course it was under water so it wasn`t there. And I think that that`s really why prosecutors are losing cases in this country.
I also want to mention that, you know, for me the worst part of this trial is something that the majority of America has never seen in the world, and that is, the crime scene photos will stay with me for the rest of my life of little Caylee. Then you saw them Jane, Caylee`s skull with weeds growing out in the swamp scene. Were the jurors really looking or were they looking away?
WEINTRAUB: And you know what this case should stand for? A jury`s verdict should be respected and you can`t replace a jury`s verdict with saying that`s why prosecutors lose cases. Prosecutors lose cases because jurors are not convinced beyond a reasonable doubt the evidence as they are.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And Mark Eiglarsh, to me, the lesson is focus on what you need to focus on. The prosecution did not explain how you make chloroform. Their whole case is that Casey Anthony killed Caylee by using chloroform. To this day, I don`t know to make chloroform. They should have explained how she could have done it. They should have given us a map with a (inaudible) where Casey was in and around the time that little Caylee died to show that, yes, she was in the area. I don`t think they presented a great case.
EIGLARSH: And you know what? I love you, Jane, but if they had won, I don`t know that your tune would be the same, regardless, I mean. Yes, there`s plenty that prosecutors always could have done and we`re Monday morning quarterbacking it. They could make their case on for months and months and months or they can keep it tight like a lean fillet, which is the preference.
In this case, the jurors listened to what they presented and it just wasn`t enough.
(CROSSTALK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: For the latest on all the players in the Casey Anthony case, go to hlntv.com.
END
