CBS News/ July 7, 2011, 7:45 AM

Casey Anthony jurors explain their thinking

One of the jurors who acquitted Casey Anthony on charges of murdering her daughter, Caylee, says he wishes the panel could have found her guilty.

Anthony, 25, of Orlando, was found not guilty of first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse and aggravated manslaughter in Caylee's death, but guilty of four lesser charges of providing false information to a law enforcement officer.

"I just swear to God... "the juror told the St. Petersburg Times in an exclusive interview as he was, the paper says, overcome by tears."I wish we had more evidence to put her away.

"I truly do ..."

The man, known publicly only as Juror No. 2, and whom the Times says wanted his name withheld to keep himself and his family from media and public scrutiny, told the newspaper, "Everybody agreed, if we were going fully on feelings and emotions, she was done."

But the dozen jurors from Florida's Pinellas County - the Tampa Bay area - knew they couldn't go on emotions and feelings, he said.

"We just wanted to go on the evidence that was presented to us," he said.

And, he explained, there simply weren't enough pieces to convict Anthony.

He says it wasn't an easy decision. But in the end, he said, it was the only decision they could make based on the evidence.

Another juror, 32-year-old nursing student Jennifer Ford, who'd been known as No. 3, expressed similar thoughts to ABC News, saying in a portion of the interview aired Wednesday night, "If you're gonna charge someone with murder, don't you have to know how they killed someone or why they might have killed someone or have something where, when, why, how? Those are important questions. They were not answered."

She added, "In our country ... we have to prove it. You can't just be like, 'Yeah that really looks bad. Smells bad. Looks bad.' I get that. It does:smells bad, looks bad. I get that. But it's someone else's life, and if I'm wrong, and I kill someone else? I can't live with that."

Ford is quoted as saying jurors declined to talk with reporters immediately after Tuesday's verdict because, "We were sick to our stomach to get that verdict.

"We were crying and not just the women. It was emotional and we weren't ready."

Ford said the case was troubling.

"I did not say she was innocent," she said. "I just said here was not enough evidence. If you cannot prove what the crime was, you cannot determine what the punishment should be."

The prosecution didn't paint a clear enough picture of what happened to Caylee, Ford argued in the part of the interview broadcast Wednesday night.

"I have no idea what happened to that child.' Ford said.

Ford acknowledged that Casey's behavior in the weeks after her daughter went missing, including partying, "looks very bad...but bad behavior is not enough to prove a crime."

"I feel she had something to do with it," Ford said of Anthony. "I don't believe it's fair to speculate."

230 Comments Add a Comment

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charleecrat says:: ZOEY IS SO CORRECT READ THIS 1ST COMMENT SHE HAS IT JUST AS IT HAPPENED EXCEPT FOR THE FIGHT THE NIGHT OF FATHERS DAY THAT IS WHY SHE KILLED CAYLEE; reply

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zoey4 says:: Casey left on June16th from parents home. By that night Caylee was dead. She had been drugging her to get her to sleep for a long time. She was in the trunk decomposing. She went to boyfriends that night and no Caylee. After a few days the smell was so bad she had to act. She kept up her lies to by more time. She puts her on the ground in the back yard when no one is there. She gets the blanket, the laundry bag, the Henkel duct tape, trash bags. and heart stickers. She wraps the body up. She dumps her at the first lamp post on Sunburban drive. She is free no more explaining to do. High levels of chloroform from decomp, hairband from decomp. Dumps the car. The guy tows its. Smell of death. George gets the car. Smell of death. She had been living in the car because of all the trash. Only someone with a personal relationship would place her in her blanket with a heart shaped sticker. Hurricane Faye and the animals made it impossible to find DNA or any evidence of drugs. Common sense. Anyone can make chloroform very simple. Bottle with syringe found with the paper towel roll in the Gatorade botte.Knife found in bag to cut the duct tape. Her Dad knew what kind of daughter he had. The mother was in denial and still is. The evidence was overwhelming I watched from beginning to end. Her attorney is just as much a liar as she is. Maybe if the policeman who went there in August and investigated instead of leaving the scene and then getting fired, there would have been even more evidence found. A lot of blame. Not the prosecution. The Jurors were in a hurry to go. They could have charged her with Manslaugter. She should be in jail. Now she gets a chance to have another child. OMG I am sick over this. I thing the Juror is a bunch of Mindless Idiots. They just wanted to get the hell out of there.The evidence was crystal clear to me. I sat on a Jury myself and you take your time and look at the evidence. They asked for nothing. The prosecutors laid the whole story out so CLEARLY. Casey is the only one who had motive and access to that Child. Two cadavar dogs hit on same spot in the yard and in the car. Dogs are not biased they are so well trained. Shepards are the smartest breed of dogs. They are used in war, and finding dead bodies, drugs and all other areas. Their sense of smell is 10,000 times ours.NO ONE ELSE BUT CASEY KILLED HER CHILD. The jurors should be charged with derilection of duty. Its sickening. It makes me so angry. The Jury didnt even try. I hope they live with this and it haunts them the rest of their lives. They were not too swift. My only hope is Casey does something, and she will, to land her self in jail for a long time. We need justice for CAYLEE. Beautiful little girl who would have started talking about what her mother was doing to her. Did you see the bags under the childs eyes. They had less evidence on Scott Peterson and he is on Death Row. There has to be JUSTICE somewhere. Cssey ruined so many lives. She needs to pay!!!!!!!!!; reply

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PAMom15601 says:

Everytime I hear what another jury member says, it just comfirms what I already knew. These people had no idea what they were supposed to do. They had no clear thought about what their responsibility was. Most jury's ask questions... they ask for explanations when they don't understand something. Not one of them had a real understanding of reasonable doubt. Why didn't they ask about the lesser inclusive charges? Jennifer Ford said they were already discussing the sentence.. when they had not even entered the penalty phase. This is exactly why people are so outraged. Not only do we believe that Casey was guilty, that wasn't bad enough, but then the jury ended up being made up with a bunch of people who were so afraid to make a decision, that they could not even take their time to discuss, ask questions, until they understood what reasonable doubt meant. The prosecutors were not obligated to show how she died, nor motive. They clearly showed a direct line to Casey's guilt. Yet these 12 people refused to even consider a guilty verdict because they didn't know how she died exactly. Their observation of George was all misguided by the defenses fairytale, yet these 12 took it hook, line and sinker. So I guess, unless there was someone there taking a video of the murder, no one is guilty.. is that what these people actually think? How these 12 could not piece the puzzle together and come up with anything that showed Casey was responsible for Caylee's death is beyond me. If you wake up in the morning and the grass and driveway are wet... but you didn't see it rain, you have no idea what time it rained, how hard it rained, etc... does that mean that just because you didn't actually see it rain.. that it didn't rain? Is it reasonable to believe it didn't rain? I will not criticize our system of Justice because too many hardworking people spend everyday of their life fighting for it, but I will say these 12 + 5 failed our system, failed themselves, and most importantly failed Caylee. Casey most definitely got a jury of her peers.... they are as brainless and cowardly as she was and is. If they didn't want to make a decision, then let there be a hung jury and start over again. We all would have been better off.


starqz replies:: linkicon reporticon emailicon; I could not agree with you more. You have just said the most intelligent things I have heard anyone say about the outcome of this case so far.


rl1491 replies:: linkicon reporticon emailicon; This is the same problem as we had with OJ. When you have a long trial and sequester jurors, you end up with the dumb of the dumb that cannot think for themselves, they never heard of the word logic. Yes, from all these CSI, etc. programs, they want to see a smoking gun.

The jurors did not do their job in both cases. It would take days to discuss what was presented. How can they say the case was not proved when they did not even discuss it, at least they did not spend the time IMHO looking at things.

I might have had a hard time for first degree, since I think she just tried to have poor Caylee go to sleep, but not die, but manslaughter and child endangerment would be 100% guilty. (Too bad a report came out too late from Child Welfare.)

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brett504-2009 says:: 12 Idiots, who were looking for a body, and did not have one,
DNA, they wanted to compare to the Body, But little Caylee, Was all bones, they had plenty of evidence, And Casey was guilty. Now she will be free. A murder. the expression you can run but you cannot hide, That is going to be Casey. There is NO Rock, or place big or small, that she cannot hide. She will live her guilt.; reply

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bethisonlie says:

The body of the child Caylee Anthony was in a swamp near the home of the Anthony's. Orange County did NOT do a thorough search of the
area--MISTAKE NUMBER 1. If they would have searched as soon as the
child was reported missing they would have found the body of Caylee and more forensic evidence would have be found. MISTAKE NUMBER 2 is when somebody reported seeing a suspicious looking bag and something that might have been a skull they STILL did not do a thorough search.
THEN, the area became flooded after hurricane Fay and any evidence that could have been found in August was simply rinsed away by the time the body was found. There was no forensic evidence of cause of death that would link it to Casey Anthony. The jurors were given exact specifications on what REASONABLE doubt really means. There was reasonable doubt because of lack of evidence.
The jurors DO NOT need to be tormented and crucified by the media, you all need to leave them alone and let them get back to their lives. They have been on the fringe of true HELL and you all need to show them compassion instead of trying so very hard to ruin their lives.


catbromom replies:: linkicon reporticon emailicon; you're wrong. The jurors did not spend any time considering all the things they were supposed to. They were given specific instructions on how to process the evidence. Returning a verdict in 10 hours clearly proved they did not spend any time doing this. There is no way they could have done all they were suupposed to do in 10 hours. No one wants to ruin the lives of the jurors. I think we are all trying to wrap our minds around how they could have failed so miserably. That's all. There was evidence, primarily A BODY. The body was Caylee's. That's the proof that she was dead. 31 days is the rest of it. What is REASONABLE about not reporting a missing child for 31 days? It is not reasonable to doubt that Casey Anthony had nothing to do with the death of her daughter.

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magik1369 says:

Stupid is stupid and this jury's decision was stupid. The jury never explained how the rare duct tape found in the Anthony home got on Caylee's face. The jury never explained why Caycee borrowed a shovel from her neighbor after backing the car up to the garage. The jury never explained. nor did they dissect the other 400 pieces of evidence. This jury was plain incompetent and they allowed a murderer to go free because they did not interpret the law correctly. If you take all the evidence for quilt or conviction and put it in the left column, and you then take the evidence for acquittal, the column for conviction is 20 times the size. The jury in the Scott Peterson trial sent him to death with much less evidence. The Anthony jury was the Worst Jury Ever.


Jacey1969 replies:: linkicon reporticon emailicon; For those who believe that a serious injustice was done, please go to the following website and sign your name!

http://www.change.org/peti?tions/florida-bar-associat?ion-and-judge-perry-invest?igate-casey-anthony-defens?e-team-ethics

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suese says:

I am so tired of hearing, "We didn't say she was innocent, we said she was not guilty. Websters dictionary defintion of innocent-
a : free from guilt. Oh well........


pwgrant replies:: linkicon reporticon emailicon; that is a misquote and taken out of context. She said the state failed to prove quite and later added failed to proved guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. They followed the law.

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suese says:

What about the charge of child neglect? She didn't report her child missing for 31 days! Is that not neglect? Her own attorney claimed she died in the pool and that Casey covered it up. Why couldn't the jury charge her with that? No justice for Caylee.....so sad.


catbromom replies:: linkicon reporticon emailicon; There were at least two charges she could have been convicted on with the evidence that was presented. Shame on this jury.

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jesse2159 says:

I guess this jury believes that if you kill a baby in the privacy of your own home and there's no video of it, then the killer can go free. These dots weren't hard to follow. As any lawyer would point out, if I'm looking at an ancient mosaic and some of the tiles are missing, I can still make out the picture clearly. These jurers wanted a TV version of CSI. Too bad real life doesn't work that way. They, and the killer make my stomach sick.


catbromom replies:: linkicon reporticon emailicon; they were lazy cowards and I'm disgusted by every one of them.

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LastSuppers says:

Because many crimes don't have witnesses, or aren't caught on camera or video, many juries must decide cases based on circumstantial evidence and connect the dots, the same way police detectives connect the dots to solve crimes. The jury---and their supporters---act like they can't convict someone without a 100-percent degree of certainty, but that degree almost NEVER exists. At the very least, they had plenty of evidence to convict her on the #3 charge.---Ty Treadwell, author of Last Suppers: Famous Final Meals from Death Row

http://lastsuppersbook.blogspot.com/


sparkie1949 replies:: linkicon reporticon emailicon; The SKANK and the DEAF< BLIND and STUPID JURORS need to go back home to Mars!!!


pwgrant replies:: linkicon reporticon emailicon; The jurors stand to cash in regardless of their vote. I am grateful that the jurors verdict (although I disagree with it) chose to not to vote with a mob mentality. History is replete with suffering that grows from mob rule.