Imperfect Justice_ Prosecuting Casey Anthony - Jeff Ashton [120]
JUROR 5: The “roach coach lady.” Her job was working on one of those mobile lunch wagons, thus the nickname. An older woman with very little education. We would have struck her if we’d had anyone better. She had grown kids and had worked hard all her life. I hoped she would bring that life experience to bear when listening to Casey 4.0.
JUROR 6: The baker. A married father, he clearly did not want to serve, but he didn’t have a good reason not to. His kids were young, as I recall, and I thought he would not buy into any excuse for a mother partying shortly after her daughter died. He was okay but still not the leader that we needed.
JUROR 7: A white female in her early forties. I believe she worked in some occupation related to children or child welfare. I liked her, as she seemed fairly well-educated and levelheaded. She was the only juror I recall who showed much emotion throughout the trial, and at the end of it all, when the clerk read the verdict, she was the only one who shed a tear.
JUROR 8: A white female in her fifties. She worked for AT&T in a job she’d had for many years. She also did not have too much formal education, but we hoped life experience would play a role.
JUROR 9: A white male in his fifties. He had never married, but he spoke with great affection about some nieces and nephews. Originally from Indiana, where he’d managed a sawmill, he referred to himself as “semiretired.” Rather mild-mannered and not forceful, he was a very thin fellow, who actually looked rather frail. I knew he was not going to lead anyone and would probably follow the majority.
JUROR 10: A white male in his forties who’d never married, lived alone, and also worked at the phone company. He was fairly tall, very friendly, but a definite follower. He was the guy who sits in the cubicle next to you for years and never makes waves. He’s always pleasant and easy to manage—every supervisor’s dream.
JUROR 11: The one we referred to as “the coach.” He was a high school sports coach who was working in special education. He was from Pittsburgh—same hometown as Linda, so she liked him—and he seemed like a good-looking, stand-up guy. He hadn’t heard much about the case. I figured that as a high school teacher he probably had experience of being lied to. I also thought that as a high school teacher, especially as an attractive male, he must always have had in the back of his mind the possibility of a false allegation of a sexual nature by a female student. If they made the allegation against George, that might help us. Linda pushed hard for this guy. She thought he would be the leader we were looking for.
JUROR 12: My favorite. The defense had exhausted all of their challenges. She was pro death penalty, which in itself was not that big a deal, but I thought it showed she was strong in her opinions. She was in her sixties. Retired but working at a local supermarket chain. I wasn’t sure that she had a lot of formal education, but I hoped she’d have a lot of common sense.
When we got to the end, we had these twelve jurors as well as five alternates. We could have struck four more of the existing jurors and replaced them with alternates, but when it came to the five we had remaining, I just didn’t see that any of them was an upgrade over what we had. In fact, a few were much worse, and going to them would also have resulted in bringing in a new panel and extending our stay another few days.
I wouldn’t say we were happy with the jury. They were very bland and not all that impressive. They were not the jury we’d wanted when we set out to do this, but they were the jury that would ultimately decide the fate of Casey Anthony.
CHAPTER TWENTY
SEARCHING FOR TRUTH
The day before the trial began, Monday, May 22, 2011, I met with George Anthony for the final time. He came to my office with his attorney, Mark Lippman, looking as worn down as I’d ever seen him. I just wanted