Casey Anthony, on trial for the death of her child, has told so many lies that the one truth of her story may never be believed.
Like the boy who cried wolf, Casey's wild stories may be the reason that no one would listen to her if she did tell the truth about being sexually violated by her father since she was in elementary school.
Her Lead Attorney, Jose Baez, May Be the Only One Who Believed Her
Or did he? Perhaps it was just one more piece of drama he could use in the high-profile trial. But according to Casey's jailhouse letters to another inmate, she believed her lawyer's good intentions.
"Baez told me last night that he's sorry I never met a man deserving of me, who would have taken care of Caylee and I, as we should have been. I cried."
Casey Anthony, after acknowledging that her lawyer made her cry because he "looks out for me like a father," and that her family of origin was "bunch of jerks," reverted to a childlike subject in her very next paragraph.
Did You Ever Have a Snoopy Snowcone Maker?
"I really want a smoothie or a slurpy!"
The 516 pages of Casey Anthony's prison notes that have been released to the public record fluctuate between extremely adult material, with jokes about male anatomy and oral sex veering off quickly into childish fantasies about snow cones and ice cream.
In the same vein, Casey's stony demeanor in court, as she listened to her father's tearful testimony about attempting suicide because he was so distraught over Caylee's disappearance and death, was in direct contradiction to her behavior during a videotaped jailhouse visit with her parents.
With her mother and the cameras present, perhaps still believing that her father would protect her along with himself, she assures him that he has been an excellent father to her and a wonderful grandfather to Caylee.
Later, when it became clear that her father was going to let her take all the blame for whatever happened to the child, her bluffs turned to bitterness.
I Live in My Sarcasm
Casey Anthony made frequent mention to her prison pen pal of her own reliance on sarcastic statements, to her parents as well as about her parents, in order to cope with her situation.
CNN's In-Session correspondent Jean Casarez reported that Casey Anthony was smirking, almost smiling, on June 28, 2011, as she left the courtroom after watching Jose Baez badger her father, although she had been stone-faced throughout, refusing to even look at her father when he tried to make eye contact with her during sidebars.
Yet during her mother's testimony, and her brother Lee's, when both were crying in court, Casey cried along with them. After her father broke down on the stand, she gave a grim smile as he left the courtroom.
She told her friend in jail that she had finally gotten counseling (an action she had not shared with her family) and forgiven her brother for his attempts at doing to her what he must have seen his father do: come into her room at night and molest her.
Although her relationship with her mother was certainly troubled, with Cindy Anthony calling her daughter a liar and a whore, Casey still expressed loneliness when weeks would pass in prison and there would be no letter from her Mom.
Baez is Keeping Tabs on My Family, and Exchanging Letters Between Us
"It's always nice to see my name written in my Mom's handwriting. My eyes start tearing up, and I'm done!"
The defendant's closeness to her attorneys surfaced repeatedly in her jailhouse notes. She called her defense team "my boys" and looked forward to visits with them, especially when they brought word from home.
But she seemed especially upset at one communication, when her mother brought up the idea of getting a divorce:
"My Mom isn't so sure if she and my Dad are going to stay together, after hearing/watching his interview with the FBI."
What did George Anthony say during his deposition, that would make his wife consider leaving him?
The typescript of what he said to authorities makes it clear that Casey's father was trying to make her actions on June 16, 2008, look as suspicious as possible, as if he knew that she would later be implicated in whatever had happened to Caylee. He made sure that there was a record of Casey coming back to the house, without Caylee, later that day. He also made sure to state, for the record, an account of how Casey would not let him look in the trunk of her car for a tire block that he mentioned he wanted to get.
Cindy may have immediately recognized the basis for Casey becoming the primary suspect in a murder case tried almost completely on circumstantial evidence.
The truth of the relationship between George Anthony and his daughter may never be known, since it was her word against his, and she did not testify, in the end.
As Casey Anthony wrote from prison, "I'll leave the lawyering up to my boys."
Judging from her wry expression as she watched her Dad's frequent trips to the witness stand, she viewed his testimony with her usual dose of sarcasm.
Perhaps Casey will find peace in prison religion, as many faced with life sentences do. She expressed these feelings about her Heavenly Father in one of her last notes before her secret prison letters were confiscated as evidence:
"How good is our God! He is my Daddy, not just my Lord and Savior. He is so much more."
Sources:
Bay News 9 Casey Anthony Documents Archive: Search and Discovery.
Casey Anthony Jail Letters, pages 22, 58, 410, 427, and 449.
George Anthony Deposition Transcript, Part 4.
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