Casey AnthonyMIAMI – Casey Anthony’s attorney said he strongly considered early in the case whether she should plead guilty to a lesser charge to avoid the death penalty if convicted of murdering her 2-year-old daughter Caylee, but Anthony adamantly insisted she had nothing to do with the toddler’s death.
In his just-published book “Presumed Guilty, Casey Anthony: The Inside Story,” attorney Jose Baez said prosecutors offered in 2008 to allow Anthony to plead guilty to aggravated manslaughter of a child and serve up to 13 years in prison. Baez said in an interview with The Associated Press that in those early days he thought taking it might be in Anthony’s best interest.
“There were times, difficult times, when the evidence didn’t look good for Casey,” Baez said, adding that it was his obligation as a lawyer to convey any such plea offers.
Anthony, he said, “would not entertain it for a second.” As he became more familiar with the state’s mostly circumstantial case, Baez said he grew convinced she would be acquitted by a jury – as she was a year ago Thursday of all charges except for four misdemeanors of lying to investigators.
“There was nothing in the trial that ever made me think Casey was guilty of anything as related to the murder,” Baez said. “Every single piece of evidence favored us.”