MaryAnnDVC
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Video of an Orlando Sentinel reporter discussing the book.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news...n-casey-anthony-book-20111114,0,5256447.story
The article that goes with it:
Jeff Ashton interview: 'Caylee did not die by accident'
By Anthony Colarossi, Orlando Sentinel 5:48 a.m. EST, November 15, 2011
Soon before her murder trial began, Casey Anthony told two mental health experts that not only had her daughter Caylee drowned in the family pool, but that her father deliberately killed the child, retired prosecutor Jeff Ashton writes in his new book released today.
Anthony also told the doctors she had been sexually abused by her father George and was worried about him molesting Caylee.
The two doctors never testified at trial neither did Casey Anthony but Ashton's book shows how the drowning and abuse claims, called the "Nuclear Lie," made it from Casey's mouth to her attorney Jose Baez's opening statement to the jurors.
The prosecution, Ashton explains in the revealing book Imperfect Justice: Prosecuting Casey Anthony, never bought the latest iteration of Anthony's story, dubbing it "Casey 4.0" the fourth version of what she claimed happened to her daughter.
"I've written a book to let people know the truth about the case from my perspective," Ashton told the Orlando Sentinel in a phone interview from New York Monday. Even without a cast of characters like Jose Baez and Cheney Mason, he said, Casey Anthony's case was fascinating from forensic and investigative perspectives.
The ever changing nature of Casey's stories explain why Ashton wrote early on: "I have seen my share of liars, but never one quite like this." Near the end of the book, he observes, "In many ways, I think the defense came to mirror the client they represented."
The book is undeniably Ashton-esque relentless, scathing and blunt in its criticism of Casey Anthony, her defense team, the Anthony family and the jury that found the young woman not-guilty in the 2008 death of her daughter.
Ashton's 322-page book goes on sale today for $26.99.
Quoting almost directly from his book, Ashton said, "This jury felt it was reasonable to respond to a child drowning by placing duct tape over her mouth and throwing her in a swamp. Is it reasonable to believe that would happen? I disagree."
Here are some choice details from the text:
When Baez first announced the defense would focus on an accidental drowning, Ashton said he was "dumbfounded." And after Baez told him they were going to implicate George Anthony, Ashton said, "Just bring it on I can't wait to cross-examine Casey."
In late June, during the trial, defense attorney Cheney Mason approached prosecutor Linda Drane Burdick about a plea deal a guilty plea to second-degree murder and 30 years in prison. But Casey Anthony refused to even listen to this idea.
While Ashton thought the prosecution could legally pursue the death penalty against Casey Anthony "in good faith," he did not find it necessary in the case and never thought they would actually win a death sentence.
In a book largely spent questioning the defense team's tactics, Ashton acknowledges, "I genuinely dislike Jose Baez." He calls Anthony's lead defense attorney, "smarmy" and a "consummate salesman" with "unearned arrogance."
On Monday, Ashton said, "Most attorneys would find many of the things we talk about in the book to be ethically objectionable," and he suggested the text could lead to more formal ethics inquiries.
In writing about Casey Anthony defense attorney Cheney Mason, Ashton wrote that he hoped his late joining of the defense team "would class up the defense team's tactics" and raise Baez to Mason's level of professionalism. Instead, he wrote, "Baez seemed to bring Cheney down to his."
State's case 'incredibly strong'
Ashton recalls in the book how he was recruited by colleague Linda Drane Burdick to join the case in the summer of 2008. On Monday, he said he had ticked off political types in the State Attorney's Office and felt his "skills were not being fully utilized."
He eagerly joined Burdick's team, took over scientific aspects that he found rewarding and challenging and came to believe the state had an "incredibly strong" case. He saw the duct tape discovered with Caylee's remains and other evidence tying the recovery scene to the Anthony home along with scientific evidence of decomposition in Casey's car as chief elements proving it was a murder.
Ashton said he was"stunned" and numb upon hearing the jury had not convicted Casey Anthony of murder or manslaughter in early July.
Late in the book, Ashton wrote that Baez did one of the cruelest things he had ever seen a lawyer do by telling Cindy Anthony about her daughter's claims regarding George Anthony and suggesting her husband was under investigation. Ashton wrote that he told their attorney, "That's a [expletive] lie."
Ashton said Monday that his retelling of the accounts Casey Anthony gave the mental health experts "is based on my recollection and my notes," as their depositions have been sealed.
"Casey agrees with us," Ashton told the Sentinel. "Caylee did not die by accident."
But they did not agree about who was responsible.
One of Casey Anthony's mental health experts, Dr. Jeffrey Danziger, was very concerned about sharing what Casey had told him about her father, worried he was becoming a mouthpiece for "very, very serious allegations against someone in a situation where there is no other evidence he actually did anything."
Casey later told another defense expert, Dr. William Weitz, that she was concerned George might be Caylee's father until DNA testing by the FBI ruled that out. Casey told Weitz "Caylee could not have died by accident and that George had murdered her," Ashton wrote in the book.
When the prosecution wanted Casey interviewed by its mental health expert, the defense pulled their two experts from their witness list, meaning Danziger and Weitz would not testify at trial. Ashton claims Baez had wanted those two "to get Casey's story in front of the jury without having Casey actually testify."
The depositions of those experts were sealed because they were "too sensational" Ashton wrote. "Until now their contents have never been discussed publicly."
The prosecution detailed the depositions for George and Cindy out of a sense of "moral obligation," and George told them "none of this is true," the book states.
If Cindy Anthony had chosen Caylee over Casey, Ashton said, the prosecution might have been able to make a better case that Casey was a bad parent and had a motive to kill her daughter. Cindy Anthony "was in denial about her daughter on a colossal scale." Ashton called her and Casey's a "lethally toxic co-dependent relationship."
On Monday he called Cindy's denial "very significant" in its impact on the state's case. He acknowledged that her reluctance to explain a volatile relationship with her daughter before Caylee's death "might have involved some feelings of guilt on her part."
"Cindy believed in Casey no matter what the evidence was," Ashton said Monday.
In the end, Ashton wrote, the verdict reflected the work of a jury that didn't believe Casey Anthony deserved to be punished at all.
"What I find truly baffling is that somehow they did not see proof enough to convict her of a lesser murder charge or even manslaughter," Ashton wrote. The biggest legacy of the case won't be that she failed to be convicted of first-degree murder, but that "she got away scot-free," he said.
"My worst fears from jury selection manifested themselves in the verdict," Ashton wrote. "This jury needed someone to tell them exactly how Caylee died.
"In a sense," he wrote, "we lost before we started."
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news...n-casey-anthony-book-20111114,0,5256447.story
The article that goes with it:
Jeff Ashton interview: 'Caylee did not die by accident'
By Anthony Colarossi, Orlando Sentinel 5:48 a.m. EST, November 15, 2011
Soon before her murder trial began, Casey Anthony told two mental health experts that not only had her daughter Caylee drowned in the family pool, but that her father deliberately killed the child, retired prosecutor Jeff Ashton writes in his new book released today.
Anthony also told the doctors she had been sexually abused by her father George and was worried about him molesting Caylee.
The two doctors never testified at trial neither did Casey Anthony but Ashton's book shows how the drowning and abuse claims, called the "Nuclear Lie," made it from Casey's mouth to her attorney Jose Baez's opening statement to the jurors.
The prosecution, Ashton explains in the revealing book Imperfect Justice: Prosecuting Casey Anthony, never bought the latest iteration of Anthony's story, dubbing it "Casey 4.0" the fourth version of what she claimed happened to her daughter.
"I've written a book to let people know the truth about the case from my perspective," Ashton told the Orlando Sentinel in a phone interview from New York Monday. Even without a cast of characters like Jose Baez and Cheney Mason, he said, Casey Anthony's case was fascinating from forensic and investigative perspectives.
The ever changing nature of Casey's stories explain why Ashton wrote early on: "I have seen my share of liars, but never one quite like this." Near the end of the book, he observes, "In many ways, I think the defense came to mirror the client they represented."
The book is undeniably Ashton-esque relentless, scathing and blunt in its criticism of Casey Anthony, her defense team, the Anthony family and the jury that found the young woman not-guilty in the 2008 death of her daughter.
Ashton's 322-page book goes on sale today for $26.99.
Quoting almost directly from his book, Ashton said, "This jury felt it was reasonable to respond to a child drowning by placing duct tape over her mouth and throwing her in a swamp. Is it reasonable to believe that would happen? I disagree."
Here are some choice details from the text:
When Baez first announced the defense would focus on an accidental drowning, Ashton said he was "dumbfounded." And after Baez told him they were going to implicate George Anthony, Ashton said, "Just bring it on I can't wait to cross-examine Casey."
In late June, during the trial, defense attorney Cheney Mason approached prosecutor Linda Drane Burdick about a plea deal a guilty plea to second-degree murder and 30 years in prison. But Casey Anthony refused to even listen to this idea.
While Ashton thought the prosecution could legally pursue the death penalty against Casey Anthony "in good faith," he did not find it necessary in the case and never thought they would actually win a death sentence.
In a book largely spent questioning the defense team's tactics, Ashton acknowledges, "I genuinely dislike Jose Baez." He calls Anthony's lead defense attorney, "smarmy" and a "consummate salesman" with "unearned arrogance."
On Monday, Ashton said, "Most attorneys would find many of the things we talk about in the book to be ethically objectionable," and he suggested the text could lead to more formal ethics inquiries.
In writing about Casey Anthony defense attorney Cheney Mason, Ashton wrote that he hoped his late joining of the defense team "would class up the defense team's tactics" and raise Baez to Mason's level of professionalism. Instead, he wrote, "Baez seemed to bring Cheney down to his."
State's case 'incredibly strong'
Ashton recalls in the book how he was recruited by colleague Linda Drane Burdick to join the case in the summer of 2008. On Monday, he said he had ticked off political types in the State Attorney's Office and felt his "skills were not being fully utilized."
He eagerly joined Burdick's team, took over scientific aspects that he found rewarding and challenging and came to believe the state had an "incredibly strong" case. He saw the duct tape discovered with Caylee's remains and other evidence tying the recovery scene to the Anthony home along with scientific evidence of decomposition in Casey's car as chief elements proving it was a murder.
Ashton said he was"stunned" and numb upon hearing the jury had not convicted Casey Anthony of murder or manslaughter in early July.
Late in the book, Ashton wrote that Baez did one of the cruelest things he had ever seen a lawyer do by telling Cindy Anthony about her daughter's claims regarding George Anthony and suggesting her husband was under investigation. Ashton wrote that he told their attorney, "That's a [expletive] lie."
Ashton said Monday that his retelling of the accounts Casey Anthony gave the mental health experts "is based on my recollection and my notes," as their depositions have been sealed.
"Casey agrees with us," Ashton told the Sentinel. "Caylee did not die by accident."
But they did not agree about who was responsible.
One of Casey Anthony's mental health experts, Dr. Jeffrey Danziger, was very concerned about sharing what Casey had told him about her father, worried he was becoming a mouthpiece for "very, very serious allegations against someone in a situation where there is no other evidence he actually did anything."
Casey later told another defense expert, Dr. William Weitz, that she was concerned George might be Caylee's father until DNA testing by the FBI ruled that out. Casey told Weitz "Caylee could not have died by accident and that George had murdered her," Ashton wrote in the book.
When the prosecution wanted Casey interviewed by its mental health expert, the defense pulled their two experts from their witness list, meaning Danziger and Weitz would not testify at trial. Ashton claims Baez had wanted those two "to get Casey's story in front of the jury without having Casey actually testify."
The depositions of those experts were sealed because they were "too sensational" Ashton wrote. "Until now their contents have never been discussed publicly."
The prosecution detailed the depositions for George and Cindy out of a sense of "moral obligation," and George told them "none of this is true," the book states.
If Cindy Anthony had chosen Caylee over Casey, Ashton said, the prosecution might have been able to make a better case that Casey was a bad parent and had a motive to kill her daughter. Cindy Anthony "was in denial about her daughter on a colossal scale." Ashton called her and Casey's a "lethally toxic co-dependent relationship."
On Monday he called Cindy's denial "very significant" in its impact on the state's case. He acknowledged that her reluctance to explain a volatile relationship with her daughter before Caylee's death "might have involved some feelings of guilt on her part."
"Cindy believed in Casey no matter what the evidence was," Ashton said Monday.
In the end, Ashton wrote, the verdict reflected the work of a jury that didn't believe Casey Anthony deserved to be punished at all.
"What I find truly baffling is that somehow they did not see proof enough to convict her of a lesser murder charge or even manslaughter," Ashton wrote. The biggest legacy of the case won't be that she failed to be convicted of first-degree murder, but that "she got away scot-free," he said.
"My worst fears from jury selection manifested themselves in the verdict," Ashton wrote. "This jury needed someone to tell them exactly how Caylee died.
"In a sense," he wrote, "we lost before we started."
Apparently I put it in a Wish List and never took it out of there. 
I have now officially ordered it and it will be here Thursday.
And I've got lawyers willing to back that up! 
And everyone puts their books in the cart differently. 
