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Mock Jury Hears Casey Anthony Case
CBS News Program Suggests Weaknesses In State's Case
POSTED: Monday, April 11, 2011
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Producers for the CBS News program "48 Hours Mystery" have assembled a panel of mock jurors and shown them evidence that may be used at Casey Anthony's murder trial next month.
In a TV commercial for the news program,
the mock jury is asked whether they would acquit Anthony if the only charge was first degree murder. Nearly all of them stand up.
Producers have released few other details about the program, which airs Saturday night at 10:00, but a spokeswoman for the show confirms the mock jury rejects some of the evidence prosecutors plan on using at trial.
"This is going to have an impact on the jury," said Orlando criminal defense attorney Mark O'Mara. "It's going to be something that the defense and the state and Judge (Belvin) Perry will have to deal with and protect against."
Judge Perry has decided to select the jury from an undisclosed city outside of Central Florida in order to find jurors who have been exposed to minimal pretrial publicity about the case.
"I think he'll be noticeably and understandably upset," O'Mara said about the CBS program. "He wants to have a fair trial."
O'Mara said it is common for lawyers to use mock juries as a tool to test out their case before going to trial. But rarely are those exercises broadcast to a national TV audience.
O'Mara pointed out that the judge still has not decided whether certain evidence found in Casey Anthony's car will be allowed at trial, including a mysterious stain the the trunk and air samples that prosecutors said suggested the presense of a decomposing body.
Anthony's attorney Jose Baez has not yet explained his client's behavior, such as partying at nightclubs, that occurred during the 31 days she had failed to report her daughter's disappearance.
"Has this mock jury seen something, some interpretation of the evidence that the real jury is never going to see?," asked O'Mara.
Jury selection begins May 9.
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