Lyons has a long and well established history of fighting the DP, and being very against it. Which you really cannot criticize. SHe does not believe in the DP and has chosen a career path that puts this to productive use defending the accused in capital cases. Quite admirable. I assume that she took the case because it is the most public DP forum in the nation right now. Which as motives go is probably the least swarmy out of the entire defense cast of characters (ok ok it also promotes her book tha comes out soon, but at least her interests do not seem to be completely counter to he clients.)
So understand she does not need to review the evidence or case materials to personally know that it is not an appropriate DP case, simply because there is NEVER an appropriate DP case in how she looks at things. That is the basis of her lawyering.
Personally I think she is in for an incredibly rude surprise in this case though. Her normal and highly succesful approach to getting juries to choose against the DP is to appeal to their heartstrings, to try and make the defendent as human as possible, as sympathetic as possible, etc. To make them a person that the jury would not choose to sentance to death. But in this case there is no way she can overcome the victim. As soon as she starts bawling in front of the jury box all the SA has to do is pop in a video of Caylee singing or playing, and any sympathy she had is gone. Her normal approach simply cannot work in this case.[/QUOTE]
Bold mine.
I wonder what she will do to change it up. Because I agree that making Casey into a sympathetic human won't work.
The ONLY possible way that might work is if both of the A's get up on the stand and perform a 100% mea culpa and empty their closets of all the Anthony skeletons. They would have to cop to having serious mental illnesses of their own and to creating a monster in Casey. They would have to admit that they knew Casey had problems (just like they told numerous people) and that they did nothing to help her. They would have to admit that they knew she wasn't working, knew she stole and lied and yet did nothing but allow her to pretend - to create an elaborate fantasy life that they knowingly pretended to believe. Etc etc etc. And that's never going to happen. But I think it's really the only way that anyone would have enough sympathy for Casey to toss the DP. Because the same jury that convicts her will decide her fate. And by that point I imagine the jury will be so sickened that they will easily vote for the DP.
Maybe that's one of her methods. I'd love to see her in a prior case, in action. Wonder if there is anything on video that we could find.
