Presumed guilty: Casey Anthony: The inside story

Abstract

The book is hard to put down and is a great primer on the current state of our criminal justice system. Guiding the client through the legal system and protecting their interests, while doing it within the confines of the law, helps defense lawyers truly evaluate their clients' cases and assist them in determining if they should plea bargain or take their case to trial.

Book Details Baez, J., & Golenbock, P. (2012). Presumed guilty: Casey Anthony: The inside story. Dallas, TX: BenBella Books, 421 pages, hardback, ISBN: 978-1937856380.

Synopsis and Evaluation

The flurry of media reporting sparked by the arrest and trial of the infamous Casey Anthony, unwittingly, became an overnight sensation that would last for months. Speculations about the whereabouts of Casey Anthony's three year old daughter, Caylee Anthony, quickly spiraled into allegations of murder. Today, most people vaguely remember photos of Casey's wild nights out during the 30 days after Caylee was reported missing, Internet searches for "chlorophorm," and, of course, the unforeseeable not guilty verdict. In Presumed Guilty, Jose Baez gives readers a first-hand look into the defense and trial of Casey Anthony. Although most already know the outcome, Baez recounts the bizarre series of events that unfolded as he developed his defense for Casey Anthony's life. The book is written in such a riveting way that you might forget you are reading non-fiction.

The book is hard to put down and is a great primer on the current state of our criminal justice system. Baez certainly points out some of the dysfunction of U.S. justice, particularly with the sensational media coverage; however, the failings are not for the reasons most people would think. This book does a good job of explaining the role of prosecutors, defense attorneys, and jurors, but Baez truly excels at explaining the keystone function of the presumption of innocence. Among the Constitutional protections afforded to the criminally accused, "innocent until proven guilty" is often the most difficult for people to accept. This benefit of the doubt, especially in high profile cases with highly suspicious facts like Casey Anthony's, is quickly muddled by the media's portrayal of the accused. While Baez's seeming fight against the whole world seemed a bit melodramatic at times, having witnessed the overwhelming media coverage of this trial - it doesn't seem as farfetched as I would otherwise believe. Baez gives a convincing explanation of the events leading to Caylee's death, and while no less a tragedy, this book may convince many naysayers of Casey's innocence before even describing the trial itself. At the very least, this book provides some insight into the long, arduous task of putting up an admirable defense in today's U.S. legal system.

In the Authors Own Words

"I had spent months visiting her in jail trying to gain her trust, which is the key to the attorney- client privilege. You always hear about how defense lawyers hide behind it-that's certainly what the prosecution in this case kept harping upon-but it's a false argument. What's so important about the attorney-client privilege is that it allows the client to tell things to the lawyer, knowing that information won't go any further than their conversation. Without the attorney-client privilege, the client has no one at all to trust. Guiding the client through the legal system and protecting their interests, while doing it within the confines of the law, helps defense lawyers truly evaluate their clients' cases and assist them in determining if they should plea bargain or take their case to trial. It protects the system as a whole, and without it, individual rights cannot be protected and the system does not work" (p. 172).

References

To Cite this Review

Mitchell, A.-M. (2012, Fall). [Review of the book Presumed guilty: Casey Anthony: The inside story, by J. Baez, & P. Golenbock] . Journal of Multidisciplinary Research, 4(3), 93-94.