In new series, Marcia Clark investigates Casey Anthony
The next TV chapter in the Casey Anthony story: O.J. Simpson prosecutor Marcia Clark has investigated the Orlando case, finding evidence incriminating the acquitted mom. Her source: Defense attorney Jose Baez’s 2012 book “Presumed Guilty.”
Clark said it was “very inadvisable” for Baez to write about a search for “foolproof suffocation” on the Anthony family computer and blame George Anthony, Casey Anthony’s father. A programming glitch misstated the time of the search; George Anthony was at work, and the only person at home was Casey Anthony, Clark said.
In an interview with the Orlando Sentinel, Baez countered that Clark has misrepresented what he said in his book. “I had Casey’s permission to write the story. I received it well after the trial was over,” he said. “Her criticism of me is misplaced.”
In 2011, Casey Anthony was acquitted of her daughter
Caylee Anthony’s murder, but the case continues to generate TV specials and reports with regularity. Clark uses it for the premiere of “Marcia Clark Investigates The First 48” at 9 p.m. today on A&E. In the seven-part series, Clark looks at high-profile murder defendants, such as Robert Blake and Drew Peterson.
For the Anthony show, she interviews Belvin Perry, who presided over the case; Jeff Ashton of the prosecution; and Cheney Mason, another of Casey Anthony’s attorneys. Baez is not in the show. Clark say Roy Kronk, the meter reader who found Caylee’s remains, wanted $1 million to talk. (He’s not in the program, either.)
Clark’s show echoes work by Tony Pipitone, who made similar points in 2012 reports for WKMG Channel 6. He said prosecutors missed the computer evidence, which Baez first revealed in his book a year after Casey Anthony’s acquittal.
“Everyone seems to misinterpret the evidence,” Baez said. “I have the only digital copy that followed the chain of custody. It was preserved correctly.”
The activity on the computer was constant through the day, Baez said. “Either Casey left the house when George said she did or she didn’t,” he added. “I believe my experts have the accurate time.”
In the show, Clark says the Firefox searches on the Anthony family computer were deleted shortly before Casey Anthony’s arrest.
“The timing of this can’t be dismissed,” Clark said. “Her search history was deleted only after police had contacted her, driven her around to the addresses where she claimed where the nanny might be found. The nanny was never found. They drop her back at her house. During the time they left her in the house, before she was arrested, was when that browser history was deleted. Context is everything.”
The person who deleted that history was the person who searched for “foolproof suffocation” shortly before 2-year-old Caylee disappeared in 2008, Clark said. “And it was only Casey who could have done that,” she added.
Clark sees another crucial bit of evidence: the duct tape attached to the hair still on Caylee’s skull when her remains were found in late 2008.
“If her face had been intact, that tape would have covered her nose and mouth,” Clark said. “That duct tape corroborates the foolproof suffocation search.”
For trial followers, Clark’s chat with defense attorney Mason will be dramatic.
“Cheney is defending his client. He’s giving me the party line,” Clark said. “If you’re giving me a party line that doesn’t make sense, I’m going to call you on it. You’re going to tell me she was partying for 30 days because she was in Casey World. Really? She wasn’t acting like she was in Casey World.”
Mason also dismisses evidence that cadaver dogs hit on the trunk of Casey Anthony’s car. “That was bizarre. He was trying to intimate that the dogs were somehow set up to hit on the trunk, that the trainers did something shady to get the dogs to hit on the trunk, with no evidence to back that up whatsoever,” Clark said. “We know dogs are phenomenal when it comes to smelling decomposing bodies. There’s no reason to distrust what these dogs were telling us.”
Does Clark see a lesson in Baez’s example about attorneys writing about clients?
“No defense attorney should be writing a book about his client unless to say my client is so innocent,” Clark said. “The last thing any defense attorney should be doing is revealing more information about the case.”
Baez countered: “She wants to make criticisms of me, she should look in the mirror. I have a hard time taking criticism from someone famous for losing the biggest care in their career.”
Clark said she usually talks about how the Anthony and Simpson cases aren’t similar, although both defendants were acquitted.
“The Simpson case, I understood that verdict,” she said. “I didn’t agree with it, but I understood it. … O.J. Simpson was a very famous and beloved figure in the African-American community. There was a social-political feeling in the air. The jury was never going to convict. Casey Anthony was the opposite.”
In addition to the A&E series, Clark has co-created a pilot, “The Fix,” for ABC, which is being filmed. She also has a podcast with the same title as her A&E series. Her writing career continues: She is working on the fourth novel in her Samantha Brinkman series.
Clark praised the FX series “The People v. O. J. Simpson: American Crime Story” for giving a different view of the prosecution team. She raved about Sarah Paulson, the actress who played her.
“This brilliantly talented and genius actress with a giant heart plays me — it leaves me amazed,” Clark said. “I think it gave people an inside view to what it was like and what we were up against. I do think it changed people’s perceptions to a certain point.”
Did that series help offset the disappointment of the Simpson verdict?
“Not at all, not at all,” she said. “It’s a personal wish fulfillment to have people understand better what we were up against. Nothing washes away the pain of that verdict. Nothing ever will.”