Casey Anthony has spoken out publicly for the first time since she was acquitted of killing her toddler daughter Caylee in July 2011.
The interview she gave to the Associated Press is not likely to help the public perception of her … not that she seems overly concerned.
Eight and a half years after her daughter died, and five and a half after she was controversially found not guilty of murder, she insists:
“I’m still not even certain as I stand here today about what happened.”
Now 30 years old, Casey says it’s not lost on her that much of the world still believes she is responsible for the death of Caylee Anthony.
“Based off what was in the media,” she says, she’s keenly aware.
The media portrayal of her was not good, but this is also a woman who could not account for a month in which her child was missing.
Moreover, she lied to investigators and her defense theory involved an accidental drowning for which there was no eyewitness testimony.
How can she expect to be a sympathetic figure after that?
“I understand the reasons people feel about me,” she admits.
“I understand why people have the opinions that they do.”
Still, she says she was convicted in the court of public opinion from the beginning, and nothing she did afterward could alter that stigma.
“The queen is proclaiming: ‘No, no, sentence first, verdict afterward,"” she said. “I sense and feel to this day that is a direct parallel to what I lived.”
“My sentence was doled out long before [the] verdict. Sentence first, verdict afterward. People found me guilty long before I had my day in court.”
“I don’t give a s–t about what anyone thinks about me, I never will,” Anthony said. “I’m OK with myself, I sleep pretty good at night.”
Whatever works.
Caylee’s skeletal remains were discovered back in December 2008, six months after the little girl was mysteriously reported missing.
The defense team posited that Caylee Anthony’s death was an accident and that she drowned accidentally in Casey’s parents’ pool.
George Anthony, Casey’s father and Caylee’s grandfather, found the body and helped dispose of it – according to the defense theory.
Asked about that, Casey said, “Everyone has their theories, I don’t know … as I stand here today I can’t tell you one way or another.”
“The last time I saw my daughter I believed she was alive and was going to be okay, and that’s what was told to me.”
The prosecution, conversely, claimed that Casey Anthony dumped Caylee’s body in the woods and then resumed her life of partying.
Casey eventually pleaded guilty to lying to the police, and was released after three years in jail awaiting and during her murder trial.
Asked by the AP why she lied to law enforcement, she says:
“Even if I would’ve told them everything that I told to the psychologist, I hate to say this but I firmly believe I would have been in the same place.”
“Because cops believe other cops.”
“Cops tend to victimize the victims. I understand now … I see why I was treated the way I was even had I been completely truthful.”
“Cops lie to people every day.”
“I’m just one of the unfortunate idiots who admitted they lied. My dad was a cop, you can read into that what you want to,” she laments.
The AP reports that Casey’s bedroom walls are decorated with photos of her daughter and that she cried showing off Caylee’s artwork.
She lives at the home of South Florida home of Patrick McKenna, a private detective who was leading the investigation on her defense team.
Casey works with him, helping to investigate cases and said she would love to get her PI’s license. “I’ve lived it firsthand,” she said.
“I didn’t do what I was accused of but I fought for three years,” she says, adding that she fought “not just for me, but for my daughter.”
Anthony spends her time outside of her work taking photos of nature, hanging out with friends in bars, and thinking about her daughter.
Casey notes that “Caylee would be 12 right now … and would be a total badass. I’d like to think she’d be listening to classic rock, playing sports.”
