Showing posts with label Anthony. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Anthony. Show all posts

Thursday, 12 January 2012

Casey Anthony Reveals New Theory for Caylee's Death

In jailhouse interviews with two psychiatrists, Casey Anthony revealed yet a different theory for how her 2-year-old daughter Caylee may have died.

Anthony, 25, told two doctors in separate interviews that she suspects her father George Anthony took the little girl from the bed mother and daughter shared, had some sort of sexual episode with her, and then drowned her to cover it up.

"She said, 'I think he held her underwater, maybe he was doing something to her and he tried to cover it up,'" Dr. Jeffery Danziger recalled Anthony saying in his deposition that was released today.

Anthony told Danziger that she called her mother Cindy Anthony four times, but could not reach her. It was not until several hours later that her mother called back and, at that point, a shocked Anthony "froze."

"I hoped he'd step up to be my dad and take responsibility," she told Danziger.

Danziger said Anthony implied that her father's eventual suicide attempt was, "his way out of the grief or guilt and I'm left to take the wrap [sic]."

"This was said with a measure of anger," the doctor said, and said she added, "I'll be damned if I take responsibility for this."

George Anthony's attorney Mark Lippman issued a statement today saying that Anthony was "made aware of these statements in the deposition prior to the trial of his daughter in 2011 and no new information has been disclosed today."

"As he has repeatedly said prior to the trial, during the trial and after the trial he never molested any member of his family including Casey Anthony and he had nothing to do with the death of Caylee Marie Anthony including what happened to her remains after she allegedly drowned," Lippman wrote.

Casey Anthony's Other Theory for Daughter's Murder

Anthony conceded to the doctor that she eventually told her mother "everything but the truth," but couldn't explain why. She said that she really didn't know at the time what had ultimately happened to Caylee.

"I was hoping she [Caylee] was somewhere, that she was still okay," Danziger recalled her saying.

For months after Anthony was confronted with Caylee's disapearance, Casey Anthony insisted her daughter had been kidnapped by a fictitious babysitter. At the opening of her murder trial, her lawyer admitted the child hadn't been kidnapped, but had drowned in the family's pool.

Anthony was acquitted of killing Caylee during a sensational trial last summer.

In interviewing Anthony, Danziger was repeatedly struck by her upbeat mood. At one point he said during the deposition, "What puzzled me was why is she so blasted cheerful."

Both psychiatrists noted in their depositions noted Anthony's unusually calm demeanor as she spoke about her daughter's death and her accusation that she was molested by her father and brother.

Danziger recounted his "puzzlement" with Anthony's "nice, sweet and pleasant demeanor" as she sat behind bars as the prime suspect in the death of her daughter.

"Her demeanor, the best way to say it, is she was calm, cooperative and pleasant as if we were discussing someone who had a parking ticket," Danziger said in an April 7, 2011 deposition.

He notes that she was in a good mood, reading books, sleeping fine and had a good appetite.

"No feeling of guilt, not hopeless," he said.

"This is someone who is sitting in jail. Her child is missing, presumed dead," Danziger said. "While she had not yet been charged with murder, obviously, she's charged with crimes and is being accused by the whole world in the disappearance of the child. You would expect that that would provoke some measure of distress."

The second psychiatrist who interviewed Anthony, Dr. William Weitz, also noticed her lack of emotion over Caylee disappearance.

He noted Anthony's "complete separation of emotion and affect from the various questions that she's asked to respond to."

"She seems detached from a lot of her feeling and emotion, even in times that one might expect they'd be more reactive and intense," Weitz said.

Weitz said that her reactions could be construed as defense mechanisms, possibly related to her accusations of years of sexual abuse from her father George Anthony and her brother Lee Anthony.

In her interviews with the doctors she detailed accusations of sex abuse that were mentioned during her murder trial.

She said her father molested her from age 8 to 11 which Danziger recorded as "disgusting, demeaning, intercourse, oral, everything."

Although the father reportedly stopped when she was 11 or 12, she claimed her brother Lee molested her from age 12 to 15. "Sometimes wake up to him or wake up bra over my head or unclasped. Wake up once his hands on my chest," the doctor read from his notes from the interview with Anthony.

She claimed that her father assaulted her again when she was 18. "Tried to fight back when I was older. I'm not a big person," the doctor quoted her as saying.

Anthony described to Weitz the years of the alleged sexual abuse she endured at the hands of her father and brother. Anthony told the doctor she never told anyone about her father's abuse, but told her mother about the alleged abuse from her brother.


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Friday, 15 July 2011

Casey Anthony admirers sending cash to jailhouse bank account

Casey Anthony may be attracting death threats following her acquittal for murder, but she is also receiving checks in the mail from sympathetic admirers so that she has money to spend on cosmetics and snacks while in jail.

Most of the strangers sending her money are men, but several women have also sent her cash.

Since May, at least 17 people have sent money orders to Anthony, according to jailhouse records from the Orange County Corrections Department. Strangers are showering her with more money than her parents. George and Cindy Anthony haven't sent their daughter a cent since May 8, more than two weeks before her trial began.

The donations have increased since Anthony was acquitted in the death of her 2-year-old daughter Caylee last week, the records show.

As of today, Anthony has $472.18 in her bank account, nearly $200 more than what was in her account the day she received the verdict. One stranger donated $100 this week.

The average balance in an Orange County jail inmate's account is $36.30.

Men Send Casey Anthony Money in Jail; She Doesn't Send Thank You Notes

The donors range in age from men as young as 19, to middle aged women, and to men in their late fifties. Some are bankers and others have criminal pasts including charges of aggravated assault and sex offenses. The donations have come from across the country and from Canada. Some donors have deposited multiple money orders over the past few months.

One donor even offered Anthony a place to stay when she leaves jail on Sunday.

"If she ever did contact me and wanted to live in the middle of nowhere I have three houses out here...I'm scared for her," Gary Bradfield told ABCNews.com.

Bradfield, a 44-year-old man who lives on a ranch in Texas, donated $99.40 to Anthony in February 2011 so she'd have money to celebrate her birthday in March.

"I know she was probably segregated from everybody else. I was like hell, she's got $32 in there. I'll send her a little bit of something," Bradfield said. "I believe that we're all innocent until proven guilty."

Anthony, who does not appear to have sent any thank you notes, has spent the money on things like shampoo, deodorant, toothpaste, eyeliner, ponytail holders as well as snacks like premium chicken breasts, jalapeno nacho cheese dip and spicy peanuts.

A phone call to the mother of one male donor was greeted with a scream of "He did what?" A former landlord of another male donor said his former tenant frequently writes to pen pals in jail. A donor from North Carolina said that his decision was a "private matter."

Others replied via Facebook with a simple "no thanks" when asked why they sent money to Casey Anthony.

One of her more generous male donors, a man in his twenties, asked that his name be withheld. He defended his decision to reach out to the 25-year-old Florida woman.

"I do not know Casey personally, nor am I supporting her as a person, nor am I anything like the people sending her love letters and asking her to marry them," he said. "However, what I am supporting is the jury's decision to acquit based on lack of evidence failing to overcome the reasonable doubt standard."

The man said that part of his decision to send was based on his disgust with what he viewed as an encroachment into Anthony's privacy. Investigators testified during the trial about the extensive searches into Anthony's computer and cell phone records which this donor felt infringed on her constitutional freedoms.

The man went on to say that he was also appalled with the "witch hunt" that has followed Anthony since the acquittal.

"It's wrong to continue the character assassination on someone who was acquitted of a crime," he said.

David R. Fulton said he deposited $25 on June 3 in the name of his company, David R. Fulton Computer Repair, hoping that the donation might catch the public eye and generate clients.

Fulton added, "I think she's innocent."

Bradfield, the Texas man who gave Anthony money in February before her trial began, said he felt a connection to Anthony. Having spent time in jail in the early 1990s, he said it was important for an inmate to have money in their account.

"She's just been sitting there accused and couldn't get out and is indigent...can't go to the store and get you a bag of chips and everybody else can and that's really demoralizing and she hadn't even had her day in court, you know," Bradfield said.

The married father said his wife is fully aware he sent the money order to Anthony.

She responded to the money order by asking, "Why did you do that?" Bradfield said his wife had already prejudged Anthony.

Christy Davis, a 56 year old Florida woman, donated $20 to Anthony in June and sent another $20 money order on Monday.

"I feel a little bit of a kindred spirit with Casey Anthony…I'm a regular person who saw the story through a different set of eyes," she said.

Davis has followed the case closely since Caylee was first reported missing in July 2008.

"The day that the story broke. … I said the baby got in the swimming pool," Davis said. Anthony's defense team claims that Caylee accidentally drowned in the family pool.


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Friday, 8 July 2011

Casey Anthony to stay in jail until July 17

AP  By MATT SEDENSKY and KYLE HIGHTOWERORLANDO, Fla. -- Casey Anthony will have 10 more days behind bars to think about her future after authorities in Florida announced Thursday that she would not be released until July 17, four days after the date initially given.

Anthony looked ready for freedom at her sentencing Thursday morning. After she was acquitted Tuesday of killing her 2-year-old daughter Caylee in 2008, there was speculation she could be sentenced to time served for lying to authorities about the toddler's death and freed.

The 25-year-old let her long, dark hair down for the first time since her trial began, smiling and playing with it as she awaited the judge's decision. But she turned stone-faced as the sentence was handed down and she learned she would not be released right away. Then late Thursday, authorities in Orange County said they had recalculated Anthony's projected release date and it would actually be July 17. Thursday's actions mean Anthony will go free nearly two weeks after she was acquitted of first-degree murder and other charges in Caylee's death.

The extra time in jail did little to satisfy throngs of angry people convinced of her guilt who gathered outside the courthouse.

But it could provide time for the public furor over her acquittal to ease somewhat and give Anthony's attorneys a chance to plan for her safety.

Two days after the verdicts, most of the jury remained silent, with their names still kept secret by the court. One juror explained that the panel agreed to acquit Anthony because prosecutors did not show what happened to the toddler.

When she is released, Anthony must decide whether to return to a community in which many onlookers long ago concluded that she's a killer, or to a home strained by her defense attorneys' accusations of sexual abuse.

Judge Belvin Perry gave her the maximum sentence of four years for four convictions of lying to authorities. He denied a defense request to combine the misdemeanor counts, which could have made her eligible for immediate release.

"As a result of those four specific, distinct lies, law enforcement expended great time and resources looking for Caylee Marie Anthony," the judge said.

With time served and credit for good behavior, she is now due out on July 17, her 1,007th day in jail.

Outside the courthouse, a cluster of protesters chanted "Justice for Caylee" as they waved signs that said "Arrest the Jury!!" and "Jurors 1-12 Guilty of Murder." One man had duct tape with a heart-shaped sticker over his mouth, similar to the way prosecutors contend duct tape was used to smother Caylee. Increased police presence included officers on horseback.

"At least she won't get to pop the champagne cork tonight," said Flora Reece, an Orlando real estate broker who stood outside the courthouse holding a sign that read "Arrest the Jury."

Anthony's parents were present for the hearing but left without speaking to reporters. Prosecutors and defense attorneys did not comment either.

Anger continued to spread online, with commenters vilifying Anthony on social media networks. More than 30,000 people "liked" the "I hate Casey Anthony" page on Facebook as of early Friday.

The page included comments wishing her the same fate that befell Caylee.

The potential for Anthony to profit from the case was infuriating to many who said they feared she could become rich by selling her story to publishers or filmmakers or signing a lucrative television contract.

"I would not read the book," Jeff Ashton, the prosecutor in the case, told CNN's John King on Thursday. Ashton said he would not believe any version Anthony provided "unless it's one that accounts for all the evidence."

"If anybody could find a rational, reasonable explanation for why you put duct tape on a child that died by accident, then I'd love to hear it," Ashton said, referring to the defense claim that the child accidentally drowned.

Whatever future she chooses, Anthony's coming release promises to mark the start of a new, probably difficult chapter for her.

Mary Tate, a former public defender who heads the University of Richmond's Institute for Actual Innocence, said Anthony's defense team is probably seeking help from a variety of advisers as they seek to rebuild her fractured life.

"She's going to be bombarded with a lot of financial offers.

She's going to be bombarded with random hostility. She's just entering an extraordinarily exhausting two or three years," Tate said.

Dr. Phyllis Chesler, a psychologist who authored "Mothers on Trial," said Anthony will have to deal with an "absolutely primitive blood lust" that's been unleashed, even though she's been acquitted.

"How is she going to cope with the hatred?" Chester asked.

At a separate hearing Thursday, Judge Perry also expressed concern for the safety of jurors and postponed his decision on whether to release their names. The judge said he wanted to allow for a "cooling-off period" of at least a couple of days. The Associated Press and other news organizations have argued that the jurors' identities should be released.

"It's no big secret that some people disagree with their verdict, and some people would like to take something out on them," Perry said.

Anthony's release will come nearly three years after Caylee was reported missing. After the report was made on July 15, 2008, Anthony was interviewed by police and made the statements that led to her conviction for lying.

She lied about working at the Universal Studios theme park, about leaving her daughter with a non-existent nanny named Zanny, about telling two friends Caylee had been kidnapped and about receiving a phone call from her.

The defense claimed Caylee actually drowned a month earlier in a pool at the home of Anthony's parents, George and Cindy Anthony, with whom the child and her single mother lived.

The defense said Anthony acted without remorse in the weeks after her daughter's death because she was a victim of sexual abuse by her father, resulting in emotional problems, though her attorneys produced no witnesses bolstering the claim. The defense also claimed George Anthony, a former police officer, helped cover up the death by making it look like a homicide and dumping the body near their home, where it was found by a meter reader six months later. George Anthony has vehemently denied any involvement in Caylee's death, the disposal of her body or molesting his daughter, Casey.

"I do not believe for a moment that George Anthony had anything to do with disposing of his granddaughter's body," Ashton told CNN.

Prosecutors claimed Casey Anthony suffocated her daughter with duct tape because motherhood interfered with her desire for a carefree life of partying with friends and spending time with her boyfriend.

Jurors have mostly declined to discuss their verdict, though one told ABC News it was an emotional decision reached because the prosecution failed to show what really happened to Caylee.

"I did not say she was innocent," said Jennifer Ford, a 32-year-old nursing student. "I just said there was not enough evidence. If you cannot prove what the crime was, you cannot determine what the punishment should be."

Ford said jurors were divided initially, and that she looked for ways to hold Anthony responsible for her daughter's death under the law - perhaps for "failure to provide safety and medical care and things like that."

"I was trying to go for that," Ford said. "But there's just not enough. It's just stretching and reaching and there's just not quite enough to get there."

Near the Anthony home, at the swampy, mosquito-filled site where Caylee's remains were found, several people visited a makeshift memorial to the child Thursday. Two-dozen flower bouquets wilted in the Florida heat, helium balloons swayed in the breeze and hundreds of stuffed animals lay in a pile on the ground. Some mourners attached hand-written notes, many of which disparaged Anthony.

The Orange County Sheriff's Office has erected no-parking signs throughout the area so curious crowds cannot block the roadway. The neighborhood is being patrolled by deputies on four all-terrain vehicles and six patrol cars. Horses were being brought in for mounted officers.

Sheriff's spokesman Jeff Williamson said he could not comment on the number of officers in the area, and there is no estimate yet of the cost to taxpayers.

Authorities "don't know who will come here or what people will do," he said. "We're here to handle any problems and protect the community."

Ray DeBattista came with his family of five and said he thought the verdict was "mind boggling." The St. Cloud retiree said he watched his 2-year-old grandson recently and the child slipped away while he answered the door. He said he called 911 less than 30 seconds later.

"My heart was racing, and I ran around frantically looking for him," DeBattista said. "He was playing hide-and-seek under the pool table in a laundry basket. I just cannot understand how Casey went 31 days without reporting her daughter missing."

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