Casey Anthony's Attorney: We Need to Start Respecting the Verdict

Casey Anthony's Attorney: We Need to Start Respecting the Verdict

AP

July 17: Casey Anthony, center, walks to a SUV with her lawyer Jose Baez after her release from the Orange County Jail in Orlando, Fla.

In an exclusive interview Sunday with Geraldo Rivera on Fox News' "Geraldo at Large," Casey Anthony’s attorney, Jose Baez discussed his reaction to the public outrage surrounding the verdict.

"We need to start respecting the jury verdict and decisions that the juries make.” Baez told Rivera. 

The comment comes a day after Casey Anthony was released from an Orange County, Florida jail 12 days after she was acquitted of murder in the death of her 2-year-old daughter Caylee.

Anthony, 25, who had spent years in the spotlight's glare including two months of nationally televised trial proceedings was escorted outside by two sheriff's deputies early Sunday armed with semi-automatic rifles. She swiftly boarded an SUV and rode out of public view, her destination unknown as new questions unfolded as to what her future would hold. She was given $537.68 in cash from her jail account.

As Anthony's SUV left the jail's parking lot, the crowd of more than 100 people surged against the orange plastic police barricades and some yelled "You suck!" Mounted patrolmen and police cruisers blocked the street outside the jail so Anthony's vehicle could drive onto a nearby highway ramp unobstructed.

"A baby killer was just set free!" Bree Thornton, 39, shouted at the passing SUV.

Anthony had a handful of supporters in the crowd, including one man who carried a "Casey, will you marry me" sign.

But her backers -- at the jail and across the country -- appeared to be vastly outnumbered by her critics.

When Anthony was acquitted July 5 of murder in the death of her toddler, hundreds of thousands of people captivated by the case -- and doubtful of her credibility -- poured their rage into postings on the micro-blogging site Twitter and on Facebook, which has an "I Hate Casey Anthony" group. Those and other social media sites provided a platform and a vast audience for a decibel level of vitriol seldom seen before.

“Pundits and media personalities have no right to try and alter the life of any individual because of what they think may or may not have happened,” Baez said.

Since her acquittal on murder charges, Anthony had been finishing her four-year sentence for telling investigators several lies, including an early claim that her daughter Caylee was kidnapped by a nonexistent nanny.

For nearly two months, the murder trial of Casey Anthony was a living entity. It breathed daily across the nation's television airwaves, then was reinforced nightly on cable TV programs that dissected every word uttered in the courtroom and fueled speculation on her fate.Read more...