Pascua 1 Jasmine Pascua Professor Baird CJ 1010 Dec.

3, 2013 Casey Anthony After thirty-three days of testimony, four hundred pieces of evidence and more than ninety witnesses, the jury of the Casey Anthony case has reached a verdict. On July 5, 2011, 25-year-old Casey Anthony had been found not guilty of first-degree murder of her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee Anthony. Casey Anthony was also found not guilty of aggravated child abuse and aggravated manslaughter of a child, but she was convicted of charges on misleading law enforcement and presentation of false testimony (Lorh). Casey Anthony was born on March 19, 1986 to George and Cindy Anthony in Ohio. Casey was a good student who did not get in a noticeable amount of trouble; a girl who would be apart of what many would have thought was a typical, ordinary family. Coming to Caseys senior year in high school, Casey stopped attending her classes, which lead her to come short several credits of obtaining her high school diploma (Casey Anthony). Without a high school diploma, Casey managed to find a job at Universal Studios as a ride photographer. At 19 years old Casey met an undercover security guard named Jesse Grund. They became romantically involved with each other. By June of 2005, Casey told her boyfriend Jesse that she was pregnant with his child (Jensen 284). They became engaged although Jesse was not sure that the child was his. Jesse petitioned for a

Pascua 2 paternity test and results came in zero percent. Casey broke off her relationship with Grund in June 2006. The biological father of Caylee Marie Anthony is unknown. After Caylee was born Casey had repeatedly told her parents that she had to go back to work although Universal Studios had terminated Casey due to failure of arrival. Caylee was left in the hands of her grandparents on the days that she was working. On some days that George and Cindy were babysitting Caylee, Casey was out partying. On fathers day of 2008, Cindy found photographs of Casey partying. It was that day Casey brought Caylee over to her grandparents house. The visit allegedly ended in a loud argument between Cindy and Casey. The next day, Casey told George, Caseys father, that she would be working late at her job at Universal Studios and that Caylee would be staying with a nanny by the name of Zanaida Fernandez-Gonzalez, also known as Zanny. That was the last time the grandparents saw Caylee. (Jensen 285). Casey went on living the life she had always wanted for thirty-one days. She went out shopping, spent time with her friends, and went out partying at nightclubs. It was during this period of time when she met Tony Lazarro with who she was having sexual relations. Casey had been stealing money from her grandmother and her friend Amy. Casey also got a tattoo with the Italian phrase Bella Vita, which means beautiful life. On July 15, George received a letter in the mail from a towing company notifying then that their car had been stored in their tow yard. The car was a white Pontiac Sunfire that his daughter, Casey, had been driving (CNN). When George went to go pick up the vehicle he couldnt help but notice a repulsive stench

Pascua 3 radiating from the trunk. George looks into the trunk to reluctantly find a bag of trash, which he suspected to be the source of the smell. On the way home, the smell didnt go away. George was gagging on the stench and when Cindy caught a whiff she said it smelt like, there has been a dead body in the damn car (CNN). Cindy got ahold of Caseys friend Amy who then led Cindy to Tony Lazarros house, where Casey has been spending most of her nights since their argument. Cindy convinced Casey to come home. Cindy then called 9-1-1 to have Casey arrested because she wouldnt tell her the whereabouts of Caylee. It was then that Casey had admitted that she had not seen her daughter for thirty-one days. Casey claimed that she had been looking for Caylee by herself after leaving Caylee in the hands of Zanny the nanny (Jensen 286). During questioning, Casey told investigators that Zanny was a mutual nanny that she shared with another coworker from Universal Studios (Casey Anthony). Hoping to find Zanny for further questioning about the whereabouts of Caylee, Casey lead investigators around Universal Studios Park. After a significant amount of time of walking the investigators became annoyed. Investigators finally asked Casey where she was taking them. Casey then confesses that she no longer works at Universal Studios (Casey Anthony). On July 16, 2008, Casey was arrested for the suspicion of child neglect and multiple counts of filing false statements to the police, and obstruction of justice with a bail of $500,000 (Jensen 286). On August 27, media resources reported that DNA analysts found a dark stain in the trunk of Caseys Pontiac along with strands of hair indicating that Caylee was dead (Casey Anthony). The search for a missing child had now turned into a

Pascua 4 search for a body and a homicide investigation. The County Sheriffs Department announced that the air inside Caseys car indicated a decomposing body had once been inside. A week later, the FBI found traces of chloroform inside the car as well (CNN). On October 14, prosecutors presented their case against Casey Anthony to a grand jury after she was named the prime suspect in the disappearance of Caylee nearly two weeks before. They returned with an indictment for capital murder, aggravated manslaughter of a child and child abuse, and multiple counts of providing false information. She pleaded not guilty to the accusations on the 28th. The trial was set to take place in the early year of 2009, but due to the absence of Caylees body, the trial did not take place for another two years. It was on December 11, 2008, when a utility worker dialed 9-1-1 to report sight of a human skull. It was a meter reader that found the remains of Caylee in plastic bags scattered across a wooded area less than a mile from the Anthony family home. The remains had been in the woods for over several months, which was long enough for roots to grow through the skeleton and allowed animals to nibble on her bones. Duct tape with a heart sticker was put around her nose and mouth, which was still attached to strands of hair. A Winnie the Pooh blanket and other belongings of Caylee were also found around her remains (Jensen 287). A medical examiner stated that Caylees death was a homicide by unknown means on December 19. On May 24, 2011 the trial of Casey Anthony began in Orlando, Florida. Caseys defense attorney, Jose Baez, claims in his opening statement that Caseys

Pascua 5 father, George, committed sexual abuse upon Casey. Baez also stated that Caylee had drowned in the Anthonys family pool on June 16, 2008 and that George covered up Caylees death by means of his role in the disposal of her body. Sexual abuse was, however, not substantiated at trial. The prosecution argued that Casey was the only person to benefit from the death of her daughter because Caylees death would bring the freedom of duties and responsibilities that came with being a mother. They also argued that Casey drugged her daughter with chloroform and suffocated her by putting duct tape over her mouth. She stored the body in the trunk of her car until she could dump it in the woods. Expert testimonials would report the odor of chloroform and decomposition that was present in Caseys car. It had been suspicious to see the acts and behaviors Casey Anthony displayed during the duration of the last time Caylee had been seen to the verdict of the trial. Casey had not reported or confessed to the disappearance of her daughter until after thirty-one days. During those thirty-one days, there had been photographic evidence of Casey out partying. Anyone who asked about Caylee received that same response that she was with Zanny, the fictitious nanny. Casey got a tattoo saying, Bella Vita and posted on MySpace later that night that said, On the worst of days, remember the words spoken. Trust no one, only yourself. With great power, comes great consequences. What is given, can be taken away. Everyone lies. Everyone dies. Life will never be easy (Jensen 286). Casey told multiple counts of false information and lead investigators down a path of deception. Casey showed no emotion to the fact that her daughter was missing. She had waited a full thirty-one days to finally

Pascua 6 tell authorities that her daughter was missing, and when she did, her voice remained calm, unalarmed, and unworried. During the trial, Caseys face was nothing but cold, distant and uncaring. When Casey did show emotion it was convenient for her. The tears she shed were tears for herself, not to the death of her daughter. Casey craved the attention of the press during the time of investigation. Aside from all of the suspicion, there was no hard evidence that linked the murder of Caylee to her mother. After eleven hours spread over two days, the jury had deliberated. Casey would have received the death penalty of the indictment of her capital offence. Casey Anthony on the charge of first-degree murder of a child was held not guilty; on the charge of aggravated child abuse, the defendant was found not guilty; on the charge of aggravated manslaughter of a child, the defendant was found not guilty; on four counts of providing false information to law enforcement, the defendant was found guilty of all four counts. Casey Anthony was sentenced to four years in jail for four count of lying to the police and fined $1,000 for each count. Anthony served three years and a day before being released shortly after midnight (CNN).

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Works Cited
"Casey Anthony Biography." Bio.com. A&E Networks Television, n.d. Web. 27 Nov. 2013. "Casey Anthony Trial Fast Facts." CNN Wire 4 Nov. 2013. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 28 Nov. 2013. Jensen, Vickie. "Casey Anthony." Women Criminals: An Encyclopedia of People and Issues. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2012. 284-88. Print. Lohr, David. "Casey Anthony Trial Verdict." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 05 July 2011. Web. 26 Nov. 2013.