I only saw the briefest of clips, but by news accounts it appears that Baez did an excellent job on his closing argument. He has been trying this case under the most difficult circumstances imaginable and has demonstrated a great deal of poise and resilience.
Two particular notes. First, effectively pointing out how the prosecution’s case was so largely character assassination was brilliant. It takes what the prosecution actually did in court that everyone could see and uses it against them to undermine their credibility. It plants the seed in the minds of the jurors that it is the state that is trying to get one over on them by appeals to emotion and anger. This addresses every juror’s biggest concern – that they are going to be tricked into deciding the wrong way – and suggests very powerfully that it is the state that is trying to trick them.
Second, confronting the smirking of prosecutor Ashton was bold and effective.
There didn’t seem to be a lot that was argued to point the finger at George Anthony. Perhaps there wasn’t very much in evidence, or perhaps these aspects of the closing argument were not fairly reported, or perhaps for tactical reasons Baez didn’t go very far with that point because it had been so badly undermined by the judge’s rulings.
All in all, though, I would have to say that Jose Baez did a fine job during the trial and on his closing argument.
It is a strange period for lawyers after the case has been handed to the jury. What do you do? Go back to the office and work on something else? You can do that, but you’re subject to being interrupted at any moment because the jury has a “question”. Plus, it’s hard to concentrate on something else when an important matter is under deliberation.
You can pray. For the most part, that has been my practice. But I never prayed to win; I prayed for justice to be done. I might be weird that way, but it never seemed to me that praying to win was appropriate.
Lawyers on Strike 
I thought Baez was incredible in his closing. I hope you take the time to watch it and compare it with the prosecution. I’d like to know what you think I did not think much of Ashton, but I may be showing my own bias.
What Baez did was really bring out the character of George. (A lot of what has been discussed here in fact). He said the prosecution impeached every member of this family except George, he talked about how the prosecution only wants you to believe Cindy and Lee when it supports their case, and when it didn’t, the prosecution impeached them. But not George. I thought that was such a huge scoring point.
He brought George out as the only one person who reported the smell of decomposition in the car (because Cindy later recanted). He showed pictures of several witnesses that all said they smelled decomp, after Casey was arrested. Then he showed pictures of all the witnesses who did not smell decomp, some who sat in Casey’s car before it was towed, some the cops that showed up after the 011 call. He said, if you believe the people who smelled decomp, you would have to disbelieve the ones who said they did not smell decomp. Then he said, if you discount everyone, all you have left is George. It was extremly well-done, i do not think i am giving it justice.
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Baez was AMAZING! Even 4 hours, I wanted more! After 20 mins of Ashton.. I was looking at my watch * yawns* Zzzzzzzzz
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Hi all! I am an attorney and I came upon this web-site because I was so disguisted with the bias in the media and in the courtroom in this case. I am so glad there is somewhere out there where people who understnad what is really going on can have intelligent conversation.
Regarding Baez, he was simply amazing! I was pretty hard on his opening for making a lot of promises, but in the end it might have been genius.
After Baez was done, it was clear to me there is no case. Why was George concerned about stolen gas can that he had to call the cops and was not concerened enough about the smell of a dead body to call the cops?
The chloroform evidence from the trunk is bogus. Also, I don’t know why I didn’t get it until the closing, but the “84” chloroform searches was an out and out fraud and everyone in that court room knows it. The program designer exchanged chloroform for MySpace like no one would notice. There was only 1 chloroform search right after Casey looked at a MySpace posting related to chloroform by her boyfriend.
I guess I could go on and on, but the faked evidence got to me. I am sure if there is any guilty verdict this thing is coming back on appeal for a number of reasons, so get out your popcorn!
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Welcome Country Lawyer
I came across this site by chance as well. You’re among good people here.
I came across another site just now that will blow your mind. Fox news, the cartoon news has actually hired Mark Fuhrman as an investigator on this case and do yourself a favor and watch this for a good laugh
I guess you have to copy and paste. but it’s oh so worth it
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Thanks for the link. There is a well forgotten blast from the past. He got famous playing a bit part as a racist and now he is on Fox News doing dryer sheet investigations! Jesus Christ!? What is wrong with this Country? I don’t think the average dumb dumb can even comprehend what they are doing to themselves when they buy into this crap. What happens when it is them or their family member that gets zoned in on by the cops?
I will say that I at least heard one of the talking heads today say the major problem with the state’s closing was that they never mentioned the fraudulent evidence with respect to the computer searches.
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Hi country Lawyer
Can you explain what exactly you meant by The program designer exchanged chloroform for MySpace like no one would notice.I totally believed there was only 1 chloroform search right after Casey looked at a MySpace posting related to chloroform by her boyfriend.
As well, when it came to the duct tape, I always believed she used it to wrap it tightly around the garbage bags so the body wouldn’t slide. I’m surprised I haven’t heard anyone say that! I never believed George threw away his granddaughter even though he is a weird guy.
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I could have a few details out of place, but I can give you the basic idea from Baez’s closing. There was an initial swipe of the coputer. It showed that Casey was on Myspace, her boyfriend posted “Win her with chloroform” and then Casey looked up Chloroform on Google. The program used to do that swipe showed that Casey was on Myspace 84 times and the LE computer scientists did the swipe with a program he was used to.
The LE went to a seminar and met a gentleman who had another swiper program that the LE (by the way, that is Law Enforcement) tried to use and couldn’t get to work. The LE had the program designer try to swipe the computer and after three nights of all night work a report was generated around the time they were actually picking the jury. This report showed 84 Chloroform and NO Myspace searches. From the timing and the number 84 it was obvious Chloroform searches were exchanged for Myspace. Also, the person who actually did the report I do not think testified, the LE testified to the report like no one would notice.
It was either faked evidence, an unexplainable mistake or A HUGE COICIDENCE. I guess we will never know.
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