Casey Anthony: Judgment Day

0:04State of Florida vs Casey Marie Anthony as to the charge of first-degree murder we the jury find the defendant not guilty

0:21You cannot convict someone until they've had their day in court. It began three years ago with a mystery. My daughter's been missing for the last 31 days. That turned into an unthinkable crime. This morning, a bag of bones was found, a skull detached. They believe it to be the body of Kaylee Anthony. A community outrage. Thank you, Kayla! She's a criminal! Thank you, Kayla! A family torn apart. What we've been through. Shut up! Shut up! Has been hell. And a nation. A horrific discovery. Two-year-old Kaylee Anthony. Focused on one woman. People hate her. She's been portrayed as an evil person. Tonight, on a special edition of 48 Hours, we will take you inside one of the most dramatic murder trials in recent memory.

1:19Is the state ready? Is the defense ready? Casey Anthony is guilty of murder in the first degree. This is not a murder case. This is a sad, tragic accident. It's better than any soap opera. The problem is, it's real. 91 witnesses, 30 days of testimony. You're looking at a human skull. It has a darkened band at the portion of the hair. The chloroform was shockingly high. It's young science and it's never been tested. Stunning revelations. There was a dead body in the back of Casey Anthony's car. It smelled like something had died in the car. She threw the garbage in the trunk of her car. That's where the smell comes from.

2:03And a family accused. Casey was eight years old and her father came into her room and began to touch her inappropriately. This whole family has been on trial. Have you ever sexually molested your daughter? No. Disturbing evidence. The pelvis and the lower legs more than likely was dragged to this area. It's a fantasy of forensics is what it is. and even more disturbing behavior. Did the defendant participate in the hot body context? Yes, sir. I think the most difficult part of this case is obviously Casey Anthony's behavior. There is no evidence linking her to anything to do with the death of this child, period.

2:54Three years of questions. Casey did not murder Kaylee. It's that simple. Finally, a shocking verdict. My daughter will ask me, what did you do today? And I can say I saved her life. Not guilty. So say we all.

3:18Madam Clerk, you may publish the verdicts. State of Florida versus Casey Marie Anthony. today's verdict was not what most of the impassioned observers outside the Orlando courthouse were expecting. We the jury find the defendant not guilty. Casey Anthony was acquitted of murder. It's like an OJ, you know, it's just ridiculous. We the jury find the defendant not guilty. Acquitted of manslaughter. Acquitted of child abuse. This is crazy. She was convicted only of four misdemeanors, all of them about lying to investigators. I think she probably needs to hide because a lot of people are very angry.

4:01Minutes after Casey's fate was read aloud, the man in charge of her case, who sat beside her for the past six weeks, spoke out. Casey did not murder Kaylee. Our system of justice has not dishonored her memory by a false conviction. It's been three long years since attorney Jose Baez began fighting an uphill battle to save his most notorious crime. Here comes Casey Anthony.

4:35I admire her greatly. I think she has courage, strength, intelligence. The Orlando, Florida woman first became a national obsession in July 2008 when she claimed that her two-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Kaylee, had been kidnapped a month earlier, but she didn't report it. While her daughter was supposedly missing, Casey partied and told her family and friends that Kaylee was with a nanny. That October, Casey was charged with murder. Two months later, Kaylee's skeletal remains were found not far from the family home. After years of damaging pretrial publicity, Baez was practically the only person left defending her.

5:24Get away! Get away! You can only use flattering terms to describe the true Casey Anthony. The drama moved to the courtroom in May, when a demure-looking 25-year-old defendant finally faced a jury. This isn't just a case about Casey Marie Anthony. It's a story about Kaylee Anthony as well. Prosecutor Linda Drain Burdick argued that Casey killed Kaylee and then concocted elaborate lies to conceal it. No one else lied to their friends, to their family, to investigators. No one else benefited from the death of Kaylee Marie Anthony. The stakes were high. If convicted, Casey Anthony possibly faced the death penalty, a harsh reality that undoubtedly weighed heavily on her parents, George and Cindy, as they listened to the prosecutor's opening statement.

6:24Casey Anthony appeared to be what her parents thought she was, a loving mother working hard to provide support for her daughter. George and Cindy were key to this highly circumstantial case. That's good. Casey was 19 and still living with them when Kaylee was born. She and her child never moved out. I saw her with Kaylee every day and I saw the type of mother she is. She's less like me and I could never harm a hair on any of my children's head. In this 2009 interview, the Anthony's told 48 Hours that Casey left the house with Kaylee in June 2008 and unexpectedly did not come back home. I think it was a couple weeks into it when I started really pushing to talk to Kaylee because, you know, I really missed her.

7:22In his opening argument, attorney Baez said Casey had a reason to lie about Kaylee's whereabouts. And for the first time in public, he revealed it. She never was missing. Kaylee Anthony died on June 16, 2008, when she drowned in her family's swimming pool. That awful event, he said, overwhelmed this deeply disturbed young mother, a woman who had learned to keep secrets because she had been sexually abused by her own father from an early age. It all began when Casey was eight years old and her father came into her room and began to touch her inappropriately. And it escalated. And it escalated. Jose Baez's opening statement was stunning.

8:11Wow. Wow, wow, wow. Linda Kenny-Bodden was once a member of Casey's defense team. It turned the case on its head? It turned the case upside down. what the reason was as to why somebody would not report her beautiful daughter missing. Baez accused George Anthony of being the real villain in this case, a brutal man who intimidated his daughter for years. Baez told jurors that George found Kaylee in the pool that day, and then Casey found him holding the body of her lifeless child. She immediately grabbed Kaylee and began to cry and cry and cry. And shortly thereafter, George began to yell at her.

8:54Look what you've done! Your mother will never forgive you, and you will go to jail for child neglect for the rest of your frickin' life. Baez contended that Kaylee's accidental death became one more ugly family secret. A secret, just like George's alleged sexual abuse. Casey was raised to lie. She could be 13 years old, have her father's penis in her mouth, and then go to school and play with the other kids as if nothing ever happened. Throughout Baez's accusations, George Anthony remained stoic. Later on the stand, he would unequivocally deny the allegations against him. Certainly the opening statement put pressure on the defense to prove the allegations it made against George.

9:43Yeah, but defense doesn't have to prove those allegations. They have to give a hint to the allegations. This is not a murder case. This is not a manslaughter case. This is a sad, tragic accident. The state insisted. Homicide. This was no accident. And the physical evidence proves it. As the state reaches that level of desperation. But by his promise, he would discredit the state's forensic experts, police investigators, and even Roy Cronk, the man who found Kayleigh's remains. What did Cronk do with her? Why did he place her there that way? And can you trust anything this man has to say? I would tell you, you can't.

10:25After nearly three years of relentless publicity, damaging evidence, and scandalous photos, Is Casey okay? The defense was now on a mission to show that Casey Anthony wasn't the person everyone thought she was after all. I think the public still hates Casey Anthony. But I think the public also knows that they haven't been given the whole truth.

11:01What happened to Kaylee? It was the question in the trial of Casey Anthony, a question the prosecution team was convinced the physical evidence would answer. The evidence is overwhelming. Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi. I think when you add the evidence up, piece by piece, no one else could have murdered little Kaylee other than her mother. From the evidence that you will hear in this case, There is no other conclusion. One of the first pieces was also one of the most controversial. A foul smell, which the state claimed was a clear indication of foul play.

11:51Casey's car, which had been abandoned sometime after Kaylee went missing, left an impression on everyone who came in contact with it. George Anthony goes to retrieve the call. And as they approach the vehicle, an overwhelming smell is emanating from it. And it's coming from the trunk. It was an odor that could take your breath away. I said it smelled like something had died in the car. It was very potent. It was eye-opening. When investigators tested the air in the trunk, They discovered the presence of chloroform. The chloroform was shockingly high, unusually high. Chloroform is one of the chemicals produced when a body decomposes.

12:43Do you have an opinion as to whether there was a decomposing human body in the trunk of that car at some point? I can find no other plausible explanation other than that to explain all the results we found. Also found in the car's trunk, a hair possibly belonging to Kaylee. It has a darkened band at the root portion of the hair, and this is consistent with apparent decomposition. For Prosecutor Jeff Ashton, all the expert testimony added up to one conclusion. That there was a dead body in the back of Casey Anthony's car. But Casey Anthony's defense team came to a very different conclusion. Defense attorney Cheney Mason.

13:26There is no evidence linking her to anything to do with the death of this child, period. Former member of Casey Anthony's defense team, Linda Kenny-Bodden. The prosecution had to go to novel, unvalidated science to try to get a death penalty. It's the kind of science that if you went into a hospital would never be used because it would not be considered legitimate. I want to talk about the forensics and what isn't necessarily science, but more like science fiction. And you'll see that throughout the course of this trial as the state reaches that level of desperation. In presenting his case. All right, let's return to jail.

14:10Defense attorney Jose Baez questioned the analysis of the evidence and in some cases, the evidence itself. It's a fantasy of forensics is what it is. The smell. She threw the garbage in the trunk of her car. She forgot to throw out the trash. That's where the smell comes from. The hair supposedly confirming Kelly's death. That one hair is still something that you cannot say came from a dead person. I can't say absolutely that that's the reason the characteristics are present correct. Hair banding is novel science. It's hardly ever been used. The analysis of the air in Casey's car was especially dubious, according to the defense.

14:54There's not a sufficiently reliable scientific method to be able to identify the presence or absence of human remains. Where can you find chloroform? Pretty much everywhere. It's a very common chemical in very low quantities. But there was one piece of evidence that seemed impossible to dispute. This is Oz County Utility and Emergency Dispatch. We found a human skull. Oh my gosh. Found in the woods just blocks from her home, the skeleton of Kaylee Anthony. Examination of that scene revealed that the body of Kaylee Marie Anthony had been wrapped in a Winnie the Pooh blanket. stuffed into multiple garbage bags, shoved into a laundry bag, and thrown into a littered swamp like she was just another piece of trash.

16:00The details of the crime scene shocked the entire courtroom. You're looking at a human skull.

16:11that it's tossed in a field to rot in bags.

16:18Being dragged away by an animal or animals, the trunk of the body with the pelvis and the lower legs more than likely was dragged to this area. But most shocking of all, a strip of duct tape found loosely attached to the skull. I believe that is some of the most damaging evidence. There is no child that should have duct tape on its face when it dies. There is no reason to put duct tape on the face after they die. Based on our experience, we've seen that in cases of homicide. The prosecution claimed the duct tape was used to suffocate Kayleigh. Would the single piece of tape, if applied in the position shown on the video, It would have been sufficient to have covered the nose and mouth and made breathing impossible.

17:14Yes. But because neither Casey's or Cayley's DNA was found on the duct tape. If the duct tape was attached to the face, there would have been DNA from the face on the duct tape. The defense countered with another theory. I think that the duct tape was a later, later event. After decomposition. After decomposition. This duct tape was perhaps placed there to hold the Lord's jaw in place. It's the hopper gun. Yes. And the defense questioned the motives of Roy Cronk. That was a very horrific thing for me to find, obviously. The meter reader who first discovered the skull. You were joking, you say, about finding this body?

18:05No, we were joking about the money, sir. I never joked about finding the body, sir. That's not what I said. Did his testimony bother you? Well, it's clear that he somehow moved the physical evidence. Your testimony that you put that stick in the eye socket of this skull and lifted it up to be sure of what it was? Yes, sir. I apologize for doing so. But like I said, I did not know what it was. and then you put it back. Yes, sir. But there was one theory the defense didn't address. Its own. The defense has not yet presented any evidence that Kaylee drowned. The defense doesn't have to prove its case.

18:47All they have to do is raise a reasonable doubt by showing there was a possibility that she drowned.

18:55After a parade of forensic experts testified, Neither side could definitively explain exactly how Kaylee died, but the jury would have other evidence to consider in reaching their verdict, the behavior of Casey Anthony. And it's what she did in the month after little Kaylee went missing that, again, is the most compelling evidence of all.

19:30Would she or wouldn't she?

19:37After weeks of speculation as to whether Casey Anthony would tell her own story. Is it your decision not to testify? Yes, sir. While Casey never took the stand, the jury did see her reactions to the drama playing out in court. Forensic psychologist Louis Schlesinger. Observing her through not only in court, but her behavior prior to the homicide and following it, I see somebody who is immature, egocentric, narcissistic, and very, very shallow.

20:15Her partying and carrying on after Kaylee died, that is devastating behavior.

20:26The last documented time two-and-a-half-year-old Kaylee was seen was in this video, June 15, 2008, a day she spent with her grandmother, Cindy. Oh, it was amazing. It was a great day. After Casey left her parents' home with Kaylee the next day, no one saw the toddler again. That night, Casey moved in with her new boyfriend, Anthony Lazaro, alone. Did you notice any difference in Casey Anthony's demeanor? No. No, sir. Prosecutor Frank George asked Lazaro about that night together. During this time frame, did she ever tell you that her child was missing? No, sir. A security camera captured Lazaro with his arm around Casey at a Blockbuster video store that night, June 16th.

21:19How would you describe her demeanor? The way she was every day. Which was? Happy. Happy to see me. Having a grand old time. At any time that you saw her that night, did she ever cry? No. Did she ever act scared? Nope. Did she ever act nervous? No. Most notoriously, for the next month, Casey spent many nights out with friends, parties.

22:01Prosecutors call to the stand a parade of Casey's friends and acquaintances to testify about those nights. Did she ever tell you that her daughter was missing? No. Kidnapped? No, sir. That she was upset? No. Or sad? No. Did you ever notice anything wrong with her demeanor? No. Was there anything when she told you where Kaylee was that made you worried? No, sir. Casey didn't appear to be worried either. Two weeks after Kaylee went missing, she got a tattoo that read, Bella Vita, Italian for Beautiful Life. Trial consultant Richard Gabriel worked with Casey's defense and helped pick the jury. Just because her behavior is so different than what we expect, that obviously was a huge challenge for the defense in trying to explain what was going on.

22:57I asked her where Kaylee was. And what did she tell you? She told me that she was spending the weekend at the beach with the nanny. Jurors also heard testimony about Kaylee's lies. Most disturbingly, she told everyone, including her mother, that Kaylee was safe with a nanny named Zannie. I heard that she just was a beautiful person on the inside as well as the outside and had a great smile. Casey told elaborate stories about the fictitious Zannie. She said, Mom, Zannie's mother is very ill and she's not able to leave. And about where Kaylee was. Were you asking to speak to Kaylee on the phone?

23:38There was always a reason that Casey wasn't with Kaylee. Listen, I'm in front of the cameras all the time. What message do you want me to give to Zannie that she needs to return Kaylee? This Zannie individual, did you ever find her? No. The nanny wasn't Casey's only lie. She also told her family and police that she worked at Universal Studios. But when Detective Uri Mellish went there with her... She turns left, starts walking down this hallway, and about halfway down the hallway, she stops, turns, looks at us, and says, I don't work here. Enters the building with absolute confidence. Prosecutor Jeff Ashton pointed to that moment in his closing argument.

24:27Turns around, puts her hands in her pockets, and says, okay, I don't work here. Casey Anthony maintains her lies until they absolutely cannot be maintained anymore. Casey told so many obvious lies that her defense lawyer, Jose Bias, had no choice but to acknowledge them. Now, I told you in the beginning of this case that Casey reacts the way she does and lies because of the environment she was brought up in. The dysfunctional family, the secrets and the lies. She was in some environment that lying was acceptable, that she was taught to lie, that she lied with impunity, and that it also shows that something is obviously wrong with her.

25:12Just last week, Linda Kenny-Bodden, the former member of Casey's defense team, said this was a strategy used to help Casey avoid the death penalty. And if you're trying a death penalty case, what you want to do through the guilt phase of the case is to show that your client has some kind of mental issue. You're planting the seed. The defense team never expected her to walk out of that courthouse a free woman. I think the defense team would be happy as long as she doesn't get the death penalty. And she didn't. She was portrayed as an uncaring mother and a liar. And quite frankly, I'm not sure it's actually that important for a jury.

25:53And so as a result, the jury may have decided to have just said, look, let's look at what we can know solidly from the forensic evidence or from what is lacking in the forensic evidence, as opposed to speculation or guesswork or some soap opera view of who Casey Anthony is. I think the most difficult part of this case is obviously Casey Anthony's behavior. And you really have to get into that family dynamic. And until somebody does, and until somebody tells us what occurred in that family dynamic on June 16, 2008, this case is always going to be a mystery.

26:41Sometimes it feels like the news is full of things that have never happened before. And that is not exactly true. In fact, it may have happened this very week, hundreds or thousands of years ago. I'm Sally Helm, host of the podcast History This Week from the History Channel. Trade embargoes? Thomas Jefferson tried them. Rent too high? We've been arguing about that for a while. Each episode is proof. The past isn't that far away. Listen to History This Week, available now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.