by Jose Baez
And she did. She took photos of her first sunrise of freedom.
I went to bed.
The next day we were all walking around the house cooking, talking, when the phone rang.
“Is Jose Baez there?” The person claimed to be from the media. But the house had been rented in someone else’s name. Who knew I was there?
Apparently earlier that day I had stood on the veranda to make a phone call, and someone had recognized me and called someone.
I knew I had to get Casey out of there immediately.
There were Casey sightings across the country, as if she were Elvis. An ABC News report had placed her in a rehab place in Arizona. The Today show was stalking an airport in California. The National Enquirer had her living with some rich guy in Mexico. One tabloid had her moving in with Octomom as a part-time nanny. It was beyond ridiculous.
I had one of my investigators drive Casey to New York. While the entire national media was searching for her in Arizona and California, she was within walking distance of all of their offices.
She ended up having to come back to Florida to serve her probation.
I no longer represent Casey Anthony, and I’ll tell you why. After the Casey Anthony case I landed another big case, representing Gary Giordano, who was accused of murdering his travel companion, Robyn Gardner. We got him out of prison after demonstrating that law enforcement didn’t have sufficient evidence to hold him. After working closely with an Aruban attorney, I moved on and in January of 2012 I had an incredible opportunity when Harvard Law School asked me to come and be a faculty member in its trial advocacy program. It was a tremendous honor, and I was very excited to be there. I flew to Cambridge, and I was in the middle of the program when videos of Casey talking on her computer were made public.
No one had seen a photo of her since she got out of jail, so when these videos were released to the media, I was bombarded with phone calls and requests for camera crews to come to Harvard to speak with me. Basically, I was bringing the circus to town, and I didn’t like it. Here I was trying to move forward. Lorena was with me, and it bothered me to no end when seven months after the Casey Anthony case the media was all over me wanting to know about her.
“What did the videos mean?” everyone wanted to know.
I’m never going to shake this, I told myself.
Before the trial I attended a Hispanic media event, and I was asked, “Do you think the Casey Anthony case will define you as a lawyer?”
My answer was no, and that’s because I’m going to do other cases, and some of them are going to be high-profile cases like the Gary Giordano case. And here I was in academia, moving into the next chapter of my life, and because Casey sneezed, everyone wanted to talk to me about it. And it really ruined what was supposed to be a special moment for me. I was supposed to be looking forward, not back.
This is not the way I want to pursue my career, I said to myself.
My job representing Casey, after all, ended with the verdict. Lisabeth Fryer was handling Casey’s appeal on the lying to law enforcement charges, and I had nothing to do with her civil case. I knew Casey would have no other criminal matters for me to handle.
My work was done. The only thing that really troubles me is that she is a prisoner of her own freedom.
When she was in jail, we’d talk about her getting out, where she’d go. I used to say to her, “You’d be best off leaving this country.” I’d tell her about one of the Bourne Identity movies I had seen where in the end the girl who’s in hiding is in some resort town in Greece renting mopeds.
“Go to Greece and rent mopeds,” I would tell Casey.
I don’t think she’ll do it, but it sure would be a fitting end to the story.
I just hope if Casey does stay in this country that one day she will be allowed to live in peace. She was found not guilty by a jury of her peers, by a jury that made so many sacrifices, and to attack her and to criticize her after she had the finality of a trial is not justice. It goes against everything that we as Americans believe in.
I am reminded of a quote from Martin Luther King, Jr., when he said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
Meanwhile Casey Marie Anthony is hiding in an undisclosed location in the state of Florida. She is due to get off probation on August 21, 2012.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
JOSE BAEZ is one of the most sought-after attorneys in the country. After successfully defending Casey Anthony in what became one of the nation’s most high-profile trials, he took on the case of Gary Giordano, which caught international headlines. Baez fought hard to successfully obtain Giordano’s release from a prison in Aruba where he had been held for several months. Baez continues to practice criminal defense law, handling cases throughout the country, especially those involving complex forensic issues for which he has shown strong interest and expertise.
Baez is fluent in Spanish and Portuguese, extremely active in various charitable endeavors in the Hispanic community, and enjoys traveling and spending time with his family. He currently has offices in Orlando and Miami, Florida.
PETER GOLENBOCK, one of the nation’s best-known sports authors, graduated Dartmouth College in 1967 and the NYU School of Law in 1970. He has written seven New York Times bestsellers, including The Bronx Zoo (with Sparky Lyle) and American Prince (with Tony Curtis).
