Read Online Presumed Guilty: Casey Anthony: The Inside Story by Jose Peter; Baez Golenbock - Free Book Online Page A

backyard and that they brought in the other dog, and that dog did not alert in the back yard, either. I had a hard time believing the prosecution did not deliberately hide that information from me and from the judge at that hearing.
    Forgey did say, “We went back the next day.” But the prosecution didn’t question him any further. A case of “what they don’t know won’t hurt them”?
    I voiced my objections throughout. As far as I was concerned, everything the cadaver-dog handler said was hearsay. I objected to the information about what the dog found. Strickland overruled me every time.
    I objected to Melich’s testimony. What did his testimony have to do with whether Casey would show up in court or not?
    The judge asked for arguments, and I said, “The law is the law, and we’re here to enforce the law, to follow the law. And under the law, she’s entitled to bond.”
    I said, “Sure, there’s possible evidence of a possible homicide here, but they aren’t charging my client with that. If they want bond commensurate with a homicide case, they need to charge her with a murder. So long as the charges are what they are, you have to give her a bond. Treat her like anyone else. She has no prior criminal record, she has significant ties to the community, and she’s not a danger to anyone.”
    I requested the standard bond amount, $1,500.
    I argued, “If she’s free, she can also help search for her daughter. And it will also give me an opportunity to go over things with her,” which more than anything was really what I wanted. I wanted Casey to have unfettered access to her attorney so she and I could communicate better. We couldn’t talk in the jail. I didn’t trust the police to give us the privacy I needed when I spoke with her.
    The case wouldn’t have dragged on as long as it did if I had been able to meet with her more and build trust so she could feel more comfortable talking to me. But we were in the Wild, Wild West of Central Florida. Nothing doing.
    Burdick, the prosecutor, rose and said, “Now that she’s a person of interest, she may run. I request a bond of $500,000.”
    I almost laughed. Then I became angry.
    “If that’s the case,” I said, “why are we standing here going through the motions? If you’re going to enter a $500,000 bond, that amounts to no bond at all. Why not make it a kajillion dollars? Why don’t we just pack up and go home?”
    The judge ruled in favor of the prosecution, setting Casey’s bond at $500,000. Then Strickland did something very odd. He gave extra commentary. In open court he said, “Casey has not helped in any way to find her daughter.” When he said that, I thought to myself, She’s not obligated to. She may be morally obligated to, but that’s not how the law works.
    Then the judge said, “Not a bit of useful information has been provided by Ms. Anthony as to the whereabouts of her daughter. And I would add that the truth and Ms. Anthony are strangers.”
    The next day the headline “The Truth and Casey Anthony Are Strangers” was on the front page of the Orlando Sentinel .
    Doesn’t Judge Strickland care about the Fifth Amendment? I asked myself. It was such an interesting statement considering the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution ensures a defendant’s right against self-incrimination. To make a statement like that to someone who’s about to stand trial in his courtroom was absurd and disturbing. Considering that Casey had never taken the stand or testified, he had zero ability to judge her statements or her ability to tell the truth.
    A judge is not supposed to show any type of prejudice against a defendant, and to say in front of a national audience that Casey was a liar didn’t exactly strike me as maintaining a neutral position.
    Strickland didn’t instill a lot of confidence in me that Casey was going to get a fair trial. I didn’t object, but for the first time, I thought about recusing him.
    When George, Cindy,