A man who served on the jury during the infamous 2011 trial of Casey Anthony claims she should have been convicted of manslaughter in a new interview.
The unnamed juror, who had voted to acquit Anthony on a number of charges including first-degree murder, said his decision ‘haunts’ him to this day and he wishes he ‘did a lot of things differently,’ he told People.
‘My decision haunts me to this day. I think now if I were to do it over again, I’d push harder to convict her of one of the lesser charges like aggravated manslaughter. At least that. Or child abuse,’ he told the magazine.
‘I didn’t know what the hell I was doing, and I didn’t stand up for what I believed in at the time.’
He said: ‘It’s traumatic to think about, and I wish I had done a lot of things differently, but it’s a part of who I am. This case will stick with me for the rest of my life.’
Casey Anthony, 35, was indicted on charges for murder in the death of her two-year-old daughter Caylee Anthony in 2008. She is pictured during her trial
The unnamed juror, who had voted to acquit Anthony on a number of charges including first-degree murder, said his decision ‘haunts’ him to this day
Caylee’s body was found in a garbage bag in December2008 – months after she was last seen alive
Casey Anthony is pictured with her two-year-old daughter Caylee before her death
Casey Anthony, 35, was indicted on charges for murder in the death of her two-year-old daughter Caylee Anthony in 2008.
Caylee was last seen alive on June 16, 2008 and was reported missing to the Orange County Sheriff’s Office by Casey’s mother Cindy Anthony a month later on July 15.
A detective with the sheriff’s office started investigating the disappearance and questioned Anthony about her daughter’s disappearance. She told the detective Caylee was kidnapped by a nanny named Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez.
It was determined Anthony had no nanny and that Fernandez-Gonzalez had never met her daughter, or other family and friends.
Anthony was first arrested on July 16, 2008 and charged the next day with giving false statements to law enforcement, child neglect, and obstruction of a criminal investigation and was initially denied bail by a judge.
Her bail was set at $500,000 at a bond hearing on July 22, 2008 and she was released a month later when the bond was posted by the nephew of California bail bondsman.
She was indicted by a grand jury on charges of first degree murder, aggravated child abuse, aggravated manslaughter of a child, and four counts of providing false information to police on October 14, 2008 and arrested again.
The remains of a child were found in a trash bag on December 11, 2008 with more remains found in nearby woods, which were determined by a medical examiner to belong to Caylee on December 19, 2008.
Jury selection for the trial began on May 9, 2011 and finally ended on May 20, 2011 at the Pinellas County Criminal Justice Center in Clearwater, Florida.
Casey Anthony poses for a portrait next to a photo of her daughter, Caylee, in her West Palm Beach bedroom in 2017
Casey Anthony, then 22, smiles as she attends a court hearing at the Orange County Courthouse in Orlando, Florida in 2009
Jurors were sequestered in a hotel during the six-week trial to minimize influence from media and the public on the case.
The 12 jurors and five alternates sat through 33 days of testimony – examining more than 400 pieces of evidence while hearing from 91 witnesses – as 40 million Americans watched it all unfold on live television.
The verdict was finally announced on July 5, 2011 leaving many Americans shocked by the surprise results, as many surmised that she would be found guilty.
The jury found Anthony not guilty on one count of first-degree murder, one count of aggravated manslaughter of a child, and one count of child abuse. She was found guilty on four counts of providing false information to cops.
Anthony was given credit for time served in prison and was released on July 17, 2011.
A month after the verdict was announced, the same male juror told People that none of the jurors ‘liked Casey Anthony at all.’
‘She seems like a horrible person. But the prosecutors did not give us enough evidence to convict,’ he said at the time.
‘They gave us a lot of stuff that makes us think that she probably did something wrong, but not beyond a reasonable doubt.’
People noted that the jurors have kept a low-profile since verdict and many of them were even forced to move after they were publicly named.