Casey Anthony Juror 'Haunted' By Decision: 'I Didn't Know What the Hell I Was Doing'
“I think now if I were to do it over again, I’d push harder to convict her of one of the lesser charges.”
A juror on the Casey Anthony case revealed the decision to acquit the mother of first-degree murder in the death of her 2-year-old daughter a decade ago still “haunts” him “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,” the anonymous male juror told People on Friday. “I didn’t know what the hell I was doing, and I didn’t stand up for what I believed in at the time.”
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“My decision haunts me to this day.”
In 2011, Anthony, who is now 35, was found not guilty in the murder of daughter Caylee, whose skeletal remains were discovered in a wooded area near their home five months after she disappeared in Florida. Investigators were unable to establish a cause of death, but prosecutors argued Anthony used chloroform and duct tape to suffocate the toddler. Anthony was also acquitted on charges of aggravated child abuse and aggravated manslaughter of a child. She was, however, found guilty on two counts of lying to the police.
During the highly-publicized trial from May to July 2011, the jury of seven women and five men were sequestered in a hotel.
“I think of the case at least once, every single day,” the juror told the outlet. “It was such a strange summer. I knew that there was public interest in the case, but it wasn’t until after I was sequestered that I realized that the whole world was watching.”
“Every time I see her face or hear her name, I get a pit in my stomach,” he added. “It all comes flooding back. I think about those pictures of the baby’s remains that they showed us in court. I remember Casey. I even remember the smell of the courtroom.”
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As for why the jury decided to acquit the young mother, the juror previously told People a month after the trial ended that the prosecution did not supply enough evidence to convict Anthony.
“They gave us a lot of stuff that makes us think that she probably did something wrong, but not beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Speaking with the AP in 2017, Anthony claimed she is “still not even certain” what happened to Caylee.
“I understand why people have the opinions that they do,” she said at the time, adding, “I don’t give a s— about what anyone thinks about me, I never will.”
The juror also said on Friday that he wished he 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.”
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