May Justice Be Served

Caylee Anthony 2005-2008

May justice, finally, be served.

Opening statements in the murder trial of trial of Caylee's mother, Casey Anthony, begin this morning.

Order In the Court

Kudos to Judge Belvin Perry. Looks like there will FINALLY be a jury sworn in on Friday. The "Perry Plan" is working.

Casey spent the majority of Thursday with her face frozen in unpleasant lines. Casey's expression grew even nastier when one woman juror's voice broke as she described hearing of Caylee being found with duct tape wrapped around her head. Mother of the Year can't be bothered to shed a tear over her dead daughter, however.

Jury Selection - Day 10

Mother of the Year, Casey Anthony, sporting a Semi-Snooki Bump in court on Wednesday, May 18, 2011.


Justice for Caylee - yes, I said it, take THAT George and Cindy Anthony - is slow in coming. Jury selection is limping along. Hizzoner Belvin Perry, who has done a masterful job of sheparding the process, is clearly frustrated. The defense is determined to drag the process out as long as possible.

Seating a jury of 12 seems like a goal that will never be achieved. The prosecutors and defense spent an entire morning questioning a single prospective juror, only to have the state strike the man at the end of questioning.

The blog at WFTV was ablaze with commentary; more so when the moderator, Craig, posted a picture of the laptop of one of the lawyers. There, on the screen, was WFTV's blog, being read in real time by the defense team.

After lunch brought a Nancy Grace "BOMBSHELL" moment. Jose Baez was nowehere in sight, Judge Perry enigmatically asked Mason if Casey understood what was going on, and Perry announced court was recessed till 8:30am Thursday morning.

Over at another excellent blog, The Caylee Daily, commentary was exploding as quickly as it was on the WFTV blog, as everyone speculated on the day's events. Hopefully the mystery of the early dismissal will be known this morning.

What are the possibilities? Did Casey fire Baez? Did Baez quit the defense team? Will Casey take a plea deal? Was Baez sicker then most of the hacking, wheezing defense team?

As of last night, no documents had been filed regarding the case. Baez took the time to text members of the media, saying that he left due to a private matter.

Time to hit the blogs and await the WFTV live feed to see if we get any answers this morning. Stay tuned...

UPDATE - 8:19am - Kathi Belich from WFTV is in the courtroom & texted Bruce, our blog moderator for today, Jose Baez IS there.

Manufacturing a Victim and the "Mitigation Specialist

Let's start by solving the mystery of the dark-haired woman hovering over Casey. Her name is Rosalie Bolin, a "Mitigation Specialist".

For those not familiar with the term/profession, a mitigation specialist is someone who is a member of the defense team who gathers information about a defendant, in order to persuade a jury not to impose the death penalty, should the defendant be found guilty.

The addition of Rosalie Bolin add a distinctly unsavory and convoluted twist to an already ugly case. At one time, Ms. Bolin was married to an attorney and raising her four daughters. At some point, Bolin met Oscar Ray Bolin, a former carnival worker, who was sitting in the Hillsborough County jail, awaiting trial and sentencing for the rape, torture, and murder, of three women.

Not deterred by Oscar Bolin's heinous crimes (for which he was convicted and sentenced to death), Ms. Bolin ditched the lawyer hubby and four kids, announced she had found her "soul-mate", and proceeded to MARRY Oscar Bolin, the convicted serial-killer, by telephone.

Those following the case probably noted Ms. Bolin's absence in the courtroom on Saturday. Bolin uses the weekends to travel to the pokey to visit her prince of a spouse.

Apparently, Ms. Bolin's function on the defense team is to compile information to be used to argue against the death penalty for Casey Anthony, should Casey be found guilty and sentenced to death.

The defense has tipped their hand a bit, as to how they are going to proceed with Casey's defense. Baez and Finnell asked each potential juror if they could consider possible "mitigating factors" through out the trial. Their favorite question was asking potential jurors if the could consider age as a mitigating factor. Then they also trotted out tidbits about sexual abuse, family relationships, coping skills, and brain development.

Let's review a few known facts about Casey Anthony. Casey was a reckless, selfish young woman with an aversion to gainful employment, and a penchant for partying. She is either unwilling or unable to identify Caylee's father. She stole money from her grandmother's checking account, and wiped out a friend's checking account while the friend was on vacation. Her relationship with her mother was poisonous, to say the least. She loved having her picture taken, as evinced by the raunchy pictures of her floating about the internet. Since sitting in prison, she has written letters from jail, where she writes that she now "remembers" that her father and brother attempted to sexually molest her. It took 31 days for Casey's mother to track her down, only to have Cindy discover Caylee was nowhere to be found.

Once police were brought on to investigate Caylee's disappearance, Casey continued the Trail of Lies, falsifying employment, creating a fictitious nanny, and refusing to cooperate with the police.

I know, I know, George, Cindy, and Lee Anthony's susequent behavior in the wake of Caylee's disappearance is highly questionable, as well, but they are not on trial here, except in the court of public opinion. And, frankly, my opinion of the Anthony family, et al, ain't that great.

The defense team is clearly trying to eradicate all memory of the true victim in this case - CAYLEE. Casey sits at the defense table, day in and day out, looking stoic or annoyed at the mention of Caylee's name. Since the beginning of the jury selection process, Casey only manages to drum up tears for herself. None have yet been shed by Casey for Caylee.

My words to the defense? Good luck - you're going to need it. Trying to obliterate the mention of Caylee isn't going to work. Nor is trying to present Casey as a victim. You're defending a narcissistic sociopath. Throwing George, Lee, and Cindy Anthony under the bus (unpleasant as Casey's family is), isn't going to raise sufficient reasonable doubt. You can't manufacture an additional victim, when only victim in this case, CAYLEE, is dead.

Oh, and you might want to rethink your choice of a mitigation specialist. A "specialist", married to a serial killer, isn't a good candidate for building a credible defense team, not that you were before Ms. Bolin came on board.

One Long, Boring Morning

Casey Anthony in court this morning, Thursday, 5-12-11

Looks like someone on the defense read the blogs. Casey has either been instructed about her body language or given something to calm her down. There's very little hair-fiddling going on. She looks bored.

Pity poor Prospective Juror Number One. He has been on the stand for over two hours. The state dispatched with their questioning fairly quickly. Jose Baez has droned on...and on...and on.

Prior to taking a lunch recess, Judge Perry reminded the attorneys that there are still 36 more potential jurors to question, and that he intends to get through them today. In what appeared to be a veiled admonition to the defense attorneys, he reminded the attorneys that they are qualifying the potential jurors, not pre-trying the case.

It also appears that Baez has tipped his hand as to how the defense is going to approach the case. He grilled the first potential juror about how he would feel about hearing someone had been sexually abused, was a liar, a child dying by "accident", etc.

For the last week or so, there has been growing speculation that the defense was going to throw George Anthony under the bus, somehow implicating him in Caylee's death, and/or alleging that there was sexual abuse committed by George.

I'll say it again - I don't like either Cindy or George Anthony. Their behavior the summer Caylee disappeared was utterly repugnant. Despite the web of Casey's lies, I feel that George and Cindy are guilty of obstruction of justice, due to their antics the summer that Caylee disappeared. But I do NOT believe George or Cindy were in any way responsible for Caylee's death. Certainly, there was a mighty unhealthy Anthony family dynamic years before Caylee disappeared.

It's mind-numbing to watch Team Casey d-r-a-g the jury selection process out as they are doing. Worse to realize that the cold, soulless, Casey Anthony sits in the courtroom fully prepared to sacrifice her parents for a shot at her own freedom.

Hair Don'ts and Stupidity

Casey Anthony's most recent mug shot, courtesy of the Pinellas County jail.

Day Three of jury selection in the trial of Casey Anthony was certainly eventful.

First up - Casey entering the courtroom, sporting a new 'do, and looking like one hot mess. Someone should let her know those long, bedraggled bangs aren't a good look for her. She strutted to the table, and proceeded to fiddle annoyingly with her new bangs most of the day. She left off the preening to try to drum up her usual round of fake tears as the charges against her were read in front of prospective jurors.

After lunch, Judge Perry announced that a prospective juror had approached one of the media outlets, attempting to strike up a conversation about the case, and admitting he was looking to get out of jury duty. Judge Perry questioned him, found him guilty of contempt, and slapped the poor fool with a $450 fine. After that, Casey stopped fiddling with her hair, straightened up, and looked quite serious.

But, true narcissist that she is, Casey had to get the attention back on her, and her alone, somehow. So everyone was treated to Casey having some sort of "episode" later in the afternoon. She arranged her face in lines of distress, and appeared to be whining about one of her hands. She was led out, and Judge Perry announced that jury selection would continue without Casey, should she agree to that. But, after a spell out of camera range, Casey returned, and jury selection continued.

Throughout the day, I have been following the excellent, and entertaining live blog on WFTV. Shout out to Bruce, who did a wonderful job of getting posts out to all who were following. Toward the end of the day, there were close to 15, 000 following the blog, and roughly 2,000 people posting comments.

One poster wittily asked who was the woman in black who was "petting" Casey all day, much as one would pet a nervous animal to calm them down.

Casey has good reason to be nervous now. Like many sociopaths, she has lived in her own bubble, confident she can simply lie and lie and then lie some more to get out of any mess she has created. Now she's cornered.

My armchair analysis is that once she killed Caylee, that Caylee was for all intents and purposes eradicated from her mind. Caylee simply no longer existed to Casey. So, it was off to the clubs and the boyfriend du jour, blissfully spending stolen money, and figuring she could avoid explaining away Caylee's existence.

I don't think Casey ever thought this day would come. A day where she would sit in a courtroom and have nowhere to run. Somewhere, between the legal proceedings and posturings, somewhere between Casey's preening and histrionics, there's a small shadow that won't go away. That shadow is the memory of Caylee Anthony, a little girl, who deserved so much more then only being remembered for her disappearance, death, and being unfortunate enough to have Casey Anthony for her mother.

Shout Out - WFTV

For excellent coverage of the Casey Anthony case, go to www.wftv.com. You can follow the process online, as well as join their live blog.

Better Luck Today

Following the jury selection for the Casey Anthony trial...

After an agonizingly slow Monday, it looked like the jury selection process was moving along smoothly on Tuesday. Unfortunately, the jury pool was tainted by a discussion about Casey Anthony prior to the prospective jurors entering the courtroom. Judge Perry dismissed the lot.

Casey Anthony - wow. A complete narcissistic sociopath. Currently, she's mad at her attorney, Jose Baez, and has chosen to spend her time in the courtroom pointedly ignoring him.

Baez is thoroughly enjoying his 15 minutes of fame. His incessant smirking is driving me nuts. He and the rest of the defense team are going to do any and everything in their power to delay the start of the trial. I feel for the jurors who are selected, as I am sure Team Casey will drag this trial out well beyond the estimated 8 weeks.

Casey spends her time preening. She's constantly fiddling with her hair, smoothing her eyebrows, tugging at her clothes. She did look like she was going to pull her Day One crocodile tears routine, carefully arranging her face into somber lines as the second round of jurors were brought in. She even had her package of tissues handy. When the 50 jurors were dismissed, she went back to her usual look of annoyance. And the self-absorbed fiddling resumed.

By now, it's easy to gather that I think Casey Anthony is guilty as hell. I have followed this case from the very beginning.

This is a miserable cast - Casey Anthony has the lead - Classic Tramp. She's an out-of-control, pathological liar, saddled with a child she didn't want, Caylee. Work? Out of the question. Easier to sleep with many men, steal from friends, party every night, oh, and get rid of her daughter, whom she clearly viewed as an impediment to the finer life of bumping and grinding the night away at clubs.

George Anthony - The Spineless Father/Grandfather. George is still clearly grieving the loss of his beloved Caylee. I keep hoping at some point he'll find his spine and stand up for his granddaughter. Yes, I do feel for him...Caylee is gone, he knows what a horror his daughter, Casey, truly is, his life has disintigrated around him, and he's married to...

Cindy Anthony - Rivals Dina Lohan for Worst Mother EVER. Let's bastardize Sheakespeare for a moment...this is one shrew that can never be tamed. Lying, grasping, in complete denial as to Casey's true evil. My belief is that Caylee was the love of Cindy's. Casey knew that, and killed Caylee, both to gain her own freedom to work on her career as a grifter, and to deliver the ultimate f-u to her mother. Cindy is as accomplished a liar as Casey. At the start of this entire mess, it was patently obvious that Cindy was glorying in her own space in the spotlight.

Lee Anthony - The Enigma. Where does Lee stand? What does he know? What does he really think of his sister and her actions? Is he going to be the one to step out of the shadows and blow the lid off the box of lies his family has delivered?

Jose Baez - Smarmy Bozo. As mentioned earlier, Jose is loving the cameras in the courtroom. He hasn't shown himself to be that great a lawyer, but he's sure got the bloviating down pat. Listening to him drone is agony.

Judge Perry - The MAN!!! Yes, I'm biased - what a great judge. He keeps Bozo Baez in check and keeps the insanity moving right along.

More to come...

Jury Selection - Day Two

The second day of jury selection for the Casey Anthony trial. Yesterday saw lots of posturing by the defense, crocodile tears from Casey, and many instances of the financial hardship many of the jurors would have to endure spending 6-8 weeks in Orlando.

58 Years!

Happy 58th Anniversary to my Mom & Dad!

Nearly Three Long Years

Jury selection in the trial of Casey Anthony started early this morning. Having followed this case for nearly three years, it will be interesting to see how the trial progresses.