Casey Anthony Latest News: Prosecutor Condemns Jurors, Defense Team In New Book
Retired prosecutor from the Casey Anthony murder trial, Jeff Ashton, heavily criticizes jurors and Anthony's defense team in a new book released today, Imperfect Justice: Prosecuting Casey Anthony, which offers a behind-the-scenes look at what many are calling the trial of the century.
In the book, Ashton writes that the jurors were "coddled, pampered and unemotional" when it came to Caylee. He also states that the verdict "was the work of a jury who didn't believe Casey deserved to be punished at all."
In addition, he offers a very "unflattering view of the jurors," according to the AP. Ashton wrote that the jury "seemed to give a lot of thought and discussion about which movies they wanted to watch or which restaurants to go to while they were sequestered," yet none of them asked any questions about the evidence during deliberation.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
Ashton spoke about the book in an interview with Matt Lauer on NBC's Today show.
"The jurors heard the instructions the judge gave them, and those instructions give jurors a lot of latitude in deciding what's reasonable doubt or what isn't, and this jury decided that there were reasonable doubts," he said when asked if he felt Anthony's acquittal was the jurors' fault. "Obviously I don't agree, but that was their decision."
In addition, Ashton takes shots at Anthony's defense attorney Jose Baez in the book, calling him "smarmy" and criticizing him for encouraging Anthony to be uncooperative with police, in addition to being sloppy with the facts of the case and being late.
"There is an unearned air of arrogance about the man that is incredibly frustrating to witness," Ashton wrote. "The word I used in describing Jose is smarmy: somebody who is slick, underhanded and doesn't shoot straight."
The Casey Anthony trial, which was broadcast throughout its six-week duration and captured national attention, came to a shocking conclusion in early July when jurors found the Florida woman not-guilty of first-degree murder, aggravated manslaughter and aggravated child abuse in the death of her daughter, Caylee, in 2008. Anthony was found guilty of four misdemeanor counts of lying to police, and was released from prison not long after conclusion of the trial.
