Imperfect Justice_ Prosecuting Casey Anthony - Jeff Ashton [102]
Ultimately, Judge Strickland did recuse himself, as he should have, given the circumstances. In his order, he said, “At its core, defense counsel’s motion accuses the undersigned of being a ‘self-aggrandizing media hound.’ Indeed, the irony is rich.” On that, we agreed.
The fact that Baez and Mason had Judge Strickland removed from the case only to be replaced by Judge Belvin Perry was the stupidest move anybody in the Florida legal community had ever heard of. I loved the news.
For a while I had been frustrated that Judge Strickland wasn’t doing enough to rein in Baez. Jose would take any opportunity to use a hearing as a forum to bash the sheriff’s office or us. I knew that Mason wasn’t going to be any better. Judge Strickland’s style was laid-back and hands-off, which would be fine for most cases, but I was having nightmares thinking about what a circus the real hearings and trial would devolve into with Jose and Cheney in the ring.
I confess that I am a fighter. It’s one of my faults and one of my strengths. If the judge wasn’t going to control the defense, I knew the task would fall to me, which meant a free-for-all with everybody’s gloves off. I wasn’t going to let Baez or Mason own the courtroom. It is not in my character to take punches. During one venting session with Linda, I commented, “Can you imagine what this would be like if Belvin Perry was the judge?” Wishful thinking at the time. Little did I know I’d actually get my wish.
When Judge Strickland recused himself, Judge Perry, the chief judge of the Ninth Judicial Circuit, had the power to assign a new judge. He picked himself. It amazed us that Mason would have Judge Strickland recuse himself without the foresight that he was going to end up with Belvin Perry, a much stricter, letter-of-the-law kind of judge. Judge Perry and I had done many high-profile cases together over the years and I had always found him to be extremely fair and knowledgeable about the law. Furthermore, he loved complex, high-profile death penalty cases. Even as chief judge, he had continued to take those cases when the opportunity arose. It seemed like a no-brainer that he would assign himself to this. Linda, Frank, and I were delighted.
Some people go into law because they love law, and Judge Perry is one of those people. He lives and breathes law with every case he hears. In 1977 he got his Juris Doctorate degree from Thurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas Southern University. After, he became an assistant state attorney for the Ninth Judicial Circuit Court of Florida. He was elected a circuit court judge in 1989 and chief judge in 1995, and again in 2001. His father was one of Orlando’s first African-American policemen.
Judge Perry is a big man for standing only five foot two. He is a huge presence, and it always surprises me how controlled he is, even when he is exasperated—Lord knows I have exasperated him more than once. He is a unique mixture of the legal mind of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, the charisma of Rat Pack sensation Sammy Davis, Jr., the fire of actor Jack Nicholson, and the facial expressions of Bill Cosby thrown in for good measure. He doesn’t take any crap from attorneys, regardless of whether they’re on the defense or the prosecution. But his patience was about to be tried with the likes of Jose Baez and his “dream team.” Of course, he was going to have his fair share of exasperation with us on the prosecution, too.
IN EARLY 2010, BEFORE MASON and Judge Perry came on board, we became concerned that the discovery stage of the case could go on interminably if Baez were left to his own devices. We suggested to Judge Strickland and the defense that the court enter an order setting a deadline for everything from depositions to filing the hearings on motions. Linda and I spent a great deal of time breaking down all that needed to be done by both sides prior to trial and assigning each to a category. The deadlines were staggered based upon the complexity of the issue. We then submitted it to the defense,