A sexual allegation in the state of Florida is a huge. There is no statute of limitations and if a person is convicted of this crime, they will never see the light of day. They will get life without parole. In fact, they can get many life sentences without parole, depending on how many counts are leveled against them.
Several months ago, I served as a jury consultant for a case of this nature in central Florida. I saw first hand and how serious this situation can be after the defendant received multiple life sentences. Picking the jury was a huge challenge, since the majority of the jury pool was either molested themselves or had a close friend or relative who was molested. Many in the jury pool cried when they heard the charges against the defendant, who may very well not have committed the crime for a myriad of reasons including: a disgruntled wife in a nasty divorce, his not fitting he profile of a child predator, signals of deception on the child’s deposition tape, multiple changes in the story, and most of all a significant anatomical variant that would point to his not having molested the child. Nevertheless, a jury found him guilty of all counts and he is now behind bars for life.
If George Anthony is accused and tried for sexually molesting Casey, he could easily follow the same fate. So Mark Lippman, the Anthony’s defense lawyer , filed a motion if to force Jose Baez to proffer to the court how he believes he will establish the allegation George molested Casey to support his defense theory.
If Casey or someone who knows of this allegation doesn’t get up on the stand and attest to this, then Judge Perry can refuse to allow Baez to ask questions about George’s alleged sexual misconduct towards Casey . That means that their defense of Casey is pretty much over. They will have nothing to hang their hat on, in terms of explaining why Casey behaved so badly and constantly lied about everything. That means Casey would have no other choice but to take the stand. I believe most of us would like to see Casey take the stand and hear what she has to say for herself. It may even work in her favor to help spare her life.
Since Casey has already lied so much , who is to say she hasn’t lied about George or Lee for that matter? But who is also to say that on this issue, Casey may not be lying?
For many jurors it may be the explanation they need about why she was so promiscuous and why her behavior was so aberrant. Other jurors, may take allegations of sexual molestation to a very personal level. Who knows who on the jury pool has been sexually molested or has had someone they loved who was sexually abused? In this case, they may feel for Casey.
George and Cindy’s sudden turn around on the stand may reflect their concern over the seriousness of this matter . They are no longer willing to protect Casey as they see how dangerous it would be to do so. Now, it seems that since they have come to grips with Caylee’s death, they will not allow Casey to destroy them.
It is no wonder Cindy can no longer look at Casey. It is no wonder George no longer supports Casey. There have been some pretty serious allegations leveled at him, that he not only molested Casey but that he was there at the alleged drowning and knew about Caylee’s death. Even if found to be false, he has to live with these allegations. For an emotionally fragile man, this is no doubt, a living hell for him. www.drlillianglass.com