OK, we were not going to go near the Casey Anthony case for a number of reasons.
But since the major networks and even a prestigious law blog jumped on the Trials & Tribulations, golly Jose Baez is the most incompetent lawyer E-V-E-R bandwagon, and in view of the stunning NOT GUILTY verdict, we could not resist a brief post.
Having second chaired a death case early in our legal career and dutifully attended the 3-day death-penalty-boot-camp sponsored by the California Appellate Project, we are aware that the realities of death litigation are so grim that counsel are urged to set aside all lofty notions of an outright win in favor of a strategy of saving your client’s life.
Second, jurors that are “death qualified”, that is swear under oath that they could and would impose a death sentence if the facts warrant it, are more prone to convict during the guilt phase than a panel that includes jurors philosophically opposed to the death penalty--which question cannot even be asked of potential jurors unless death is on the table.
Third, death penalty appellate specialists stress that—other than avoiding the death of your client as your overarching objective—your goal is object, object, object—even if the law appears settled against you on a particular point. You just don’t want to be that lawyer whose client gets the needle after the United States Supreme Court decides that the death penalty is unconstitutional because you did not make that motion at trial, thereby waiving it for later review. Likewise with any number of lesser "waivable" but potential appellate issues. Therefore, all of those “dumb” objections that Baez was ridiculed for making were actually precisely what any competent lawyer SHOULD DO in a death penalty case.
But the bottom line is this: Under a media spotlight, with a very unsympathetic client and in opposition to some very compelling and prejudicial prosecution evidence, Baez did the near impossible: Not only did he save his client’s life, she was acquitted not only of murder but of the other serious charges as well, suffering a conviction only for lying to police—and local police at that (not the FBI). The trial lawyer’s equivalent of walking on water. In the context of a capital murder case, the defendant might as well have been convicted of disturbing the peace, so stunning and complete was Baez's victory for his client.
So, to all of you in the media, the blogosphere, and the general public who bought into the party line that Jose Baez is an incompetent idiot, to quote Toby Keith “How do you like me now?”
Ha! We love it! Jose Baez was giving the prosecution the old rope-a-dope, and just about everyone fell for it! "Incompetent" defense counsel wins the "social media case of the century"! Every criminal defendant facing the death penalty should have a lawyer this "incompetent" :).
Read more: Anthony not guilty of killing daughter
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http://abcnews.go.com/US/casey_anthony_trial/casey-anthonys-lawyer-jose-baez-unknown-juannie-cochran/story?id=14002387
Casey Anthony's Lawyer Goes From 'Jose Who' to 'That's Jose Baez'
Just a few months ago Jose Baez was a scrappy, unknown lawyer practicing in South Florida.
Today, the day after a jury acquitted his client Casey Anthony of murder charges in one of the more riveting crime stories in years, Baez is the most celebrated attorney in the country.
"After I heard 'not guilty,' I had a moment,'' he told ABC's Barbara Walters in an exclusive interview. "I thought, 'My life is going to start to change.'"
And in a flash. On a trip today that took him through Orlando's airport and then Newark Airport, fellow travellers recognized and cheered Baez, holding up newspapers with his face on the front page and hailed, "Jose."
The security agent who checked his ID in Orlando's airport turned to colleagues and said, "Oh my God, that was Jose Baez." His flight attendant recognized him, too, and leaned over to offer congratulations.
During the six weeks of testimony in the Anthony trial, Baez was ceaselessly second-guessed by trial watchers and the media.
Baez had only been practicing for three years and had tried one death penalty case before he was hired by Casey Anthony, though he has handled five murder cases. "'I've never had anyone convicted of first degree murder," he points out.
Ida Mae Astute/ABC News
Barbara Walters talks with Casey Anthony?s... View Full Size
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When the jury acquitted Anthony of all of the most serious charges, convicting only on four counts of lying to authorities, Baez hugged his client.
"I was ecstatic for Casey. I was happiest after I heard the first 'not guilty,' because at that point I had saved her life," he told Walters. "The other 'not guiltys' were a bonus."
Asked by Walters if the verdict meant justice for Caylee, he said, "Caylee would never have wanted her mother to suffer this way. And Caylee certainly would never have wanted her mother to die."
Baez's courtroom strategy was stunning right from the start. In his opening statement, he said his client had lied for the past three years about her daughter being kidnapped by a mysterious nanny. Instead, he said, 2-year-old Caylee had actually drowned in the family swimming pool in June 2008.
Casey Anthony hid her daughter's death because she had been "trained to lie" by surviving years of sexual abuse by her father, Baez claimed.
Anthony's father, George Anthony, found Caylee and helped dispose of the toddler's body where it was later discovered in a swampy, wooded area, he claimed.
George Anthony has denied both accusations.
Baez, a former public defender, was a combative showman in the courtroom who traded jabs with the prosecution. His behavior, along with the prosecutor, invited more than one admonishment from the judge during the trial.
"I've always enjoyed the the theater of trial. I have 45 jury trials under my belt. That's far more than lawyers who've been practicing... 30, 20 years... I'm most comfortable in front of a jury," he said.
"If you ignore the jury, you are ignoring your audience," he said. "I am thinking of the jury with everything I do."
http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/07/05/2301017/jose-baez-casey-anthonys-lawyer.html
trial on charges that she killed her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee and dumped her body in the woods near her Orlando home.
At the time, Anthony’s father was skeptical, saying in a taped jail interview that “I hope he’s not making a reputation for himself.’’
On Tuesday, that’s exactly what Baez did.
His client was found not guilty on three of the major felony charges against her - first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse and aggravated manslaughter on a child.
Day in and day out, Anthony had been all but convicted on national TV. On Tuesday, jurors deliberated less than 11 hours.
When the verdict was announced, a gasp was heard in the Orlando courtroom of Circuit Judge Belvin Perry and Baez went from seemingly bumbling rookie to top of the legal heap. He smiled after the verdict and hugged his sobbing client hard.
“He is the luckiest man in America,’’ said Robert Jarvis, a lawyer and law professor at Nova Southeastern University in Davie. He won, Jarvis said, not because of a brilliant legal mind, but because the prosecution couldn’t prove its case, which was solely circumstantial.
The internet was already buzzing Tuesday about Baez’s superstardom: perhaps getting his own national show, a book deal and maybe even a movie. People may hate him, or love him, but they will likely watch him, experts say.
“America is very schizophrenic. They say they hate pit bull lawyers, but when they want to hire a lawyer, they hire a pit bull lawyer,’’ Jarvis said.
Baez, who grew up in the Bronx, moved to South Florida and eventually earned his GED after dropping out of Homestead High School, was uncharacteristically subdued after the verdict was announced just before 2:30 p.m.
“This case has brought on new challenges of all of us,’’ he said. “Challenges in the criminal justice system, challenges in the media, and I think we should all take this as an opportunity to learn and to realize that you cannot convict someone until they’ve had their day in court.”
Jarvis, who has followed the case closely, said Baez threw out so many red herrings on how Caylee died that jurors’ heads were probably spinning. He dropped bombshell after bombshell, telling jurors that Caylee had drowned and that Casey Anthony had been sexually abused by her father. He referred to his own client in his closing statement as a “slut,’’ a big no-no, Jarvis said.
“He worked very hard to lose this case,’’ said Jarvis. “But, sometimes you snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. And, in this case, the victory was handed to him from the prosecution.”
Those who have worked with Baez say he worked very hard on the case and proved wrong those who expected him to fail.
Terry Lenamon, a former member of Anthony’s defense team, said Baez could be an example of what lawyers call the “Columbo factor,’’
Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/07/05/2301017/jose-baez-casey-anthonys-lawyer.html#ixzz1RNeQheBw
http://www.cnn.com/2011/CRIME/07/06/jose.baez.anthony.lawyer/
Jose Baez goes from 'Bozo' to courtroom hero
By Ann O'Neill and Ryan Smith, CNN
All of the kooks demonstrating in front of the jail protesting Anthony's release an all of the people watching trial clips over and over and over again--or even talking about the case need to get a grip. It's over. She was found not guilty. Time to move on.
Nice for Baez that he has a cheering squad here....of one. Not seeing a lot of friendly comments posted here-----maybe you could be his PR flack. After all, it worked for Spector's appeal attorney marvelously.
Neither of Phil Spector’s lead appellate counsel, Dennis Riordan and Charles “chuck” Sevilla, need public relations “flaks”—they both enjoyed National reputations as among the finest appellate lawyers in California decades before they were mentioned in this blog. Their reputations were built, not on cable TV, but through talent, scholarship, and diligence and the peer recognition that resulted from being among the very best.
This blog has never cheered Jose Baez nor have we blogged at all about the merits of the Casey Anthony prosecution. We were bored by Ms. Anthony from day one and did not follow the case.
We decided to post not out of admiration for Mr. Baez but because all of the “experts” and TV talking heads had written him off as a loser months ago and the buzzards were fitting his client for a coffin. He showed them all the best way he could: By winning.
There are thousands of effective trial lawyers around the United States who will never be known outside of their communities. Baez caught the big case, but to his credit he did not clutch in front of a national trial audience even with his client’s life at stake.
That is about it.
The drooling wacko's (primarily from the South, no doubt, who are threatening counsel (or for that matter the defendant) with death are FAR WORSE than Ms. Anthony.
No doubt Floridian’s criticize CA daily, but as a state with a revenue and tax base equal to the largest countries in the world, and with more than half of our federal tax dollars leaving CA to subsidize the losers from FL and other bullshit states....God I wish we could leave the Union and let the South have Tobacco...I mean the Southern states would be third world countries without CA, NY and other productive “blue” states.
Oh, sorry, did we interrupt your moonshine fueled nap?
tax dollars leaving CA to subsidize the losers from FL and other bullshit states....God I wish we could leave the Union and let the South have Tobacco...I mean the Southern states would be third world countries without CA, NY and other productive “blue” states.
Oh, sorry, did we interrupt your moonshine fueled nap?
Whew!
Blogonaut, you may be a sharp lawyer but what you wrote there shows you to be at least as ignorant.
Perhaps.
But we have firsthand exposure to the Southern mentality and it is bigoted, biased and ignorant--by-in-large--especially among the crowd amassing around the jail when Casey Anthony was released.
There is only so many times we are willing to extend our hand to a drooling redneck only to be kicked in the teeth before we get the message.
Don't even get me started about the courts of law in the South and the bias against Yankee litigants.
And it is a fact that a huge percentage of California's federal tax revenue goes to other states, including those states in the South that so often bad mouth California.
If California was a standalone country it would be among the 7 richest countries in the world.
If most Southern states were countries they would rank somewhere near Guatemala.
Besies, ever see Easy Rider?
If california was a stand alone country it would be in bankruptcy. But perhaps the rest of the country should thank california for the culture it brings to us all in the form of gangs and oh how wonderful hollywood is.
Not perhaps. You're an ignoramus for making that statement and now actually defending it because of a trial in orlando? Taxes? Are you really that ignorant? Are you sure you're not goofing?
Anonymous 7/31/11,
If that's all you know about California is gangs and Hollywood, then you truly are the ignorant one. The truth is, California does indeed send quite a few tax dollars to Washington DC but doesn't receive quite as much in return. If you had done your research, you would have known this. Furthermore, when it comes to education, the South lags behind other sections of the country especially the Northeast and the Mid-Atlantic areas.
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