Was the scandalous death of Caylee Anthony, Casey Anthony’s two-year-old girl who disappeared back in 2008, actually an accident?
Believe it or not, the judge who presided over Casey’s murder acquittal in 2011 made that explosive claim in an interview this week.
Former Circuit Judge Belvin Perry Jr., who presided over the 2011 trial and as of 2014 works in a private practice, posed this theory:
Casey Anthony, who was acquitted of first-degree murder, may have accidentally killed Caylee when she tried to quiet her with chloroform.
It’s a theory, he said, and if jurors had come to that conclusion, they might have found her guilty of second-degree murder or manslaughter.
Anthony, now 30, was charged with murder, and prosecutors pursued the death penalty against her. Jurors ultimately let her walk free.
In a phone interview Wednesday, Perry did not find fault with the verdict, but pointed out that there was evidence to support his point.
He said Anthony had gone online to research how to use chloroform as a sedative, while a scientist found chloroform in the trunk of her car.
That’s where prosecutors said Anthony – whose story changed during the course of the investigation – likely put Caylee’s body temporarily.
Authorities were unable to determine a cause of death. The child’s remains were found five months after she was reported missing.
Prosecutors did say during the trial that Anthony used chloroform and then suffocated the child by putting duct tape over her mouth.
As for why he feels this could’ve been an accidental death, even so? In the past, Perry said, surgeons used chloroform as an anesthetic.
“There was a possibility that she may have utilized that to keep the baby quiet … and just used too much of it, and the baby died,” he said.
“As I’ve expressed, that’s just one of the many theories as to how this beautiful young lady [Caylee] tragically met her death,” he said.
“The only person that really knows what happened was Casey … for whatever reason, people are still fascinated with Casey Anthony.”
Defense attorney Jose Baez told jurors that the toddler accidentally drowned in the family pool and that someone else hid the body.
Whether the jury believed that or not, they obviously felt there was enough reasonable doubt to let the media-scourged “Tot Mom” go.
Since her trial, Anthony has lived in seclusion, though as Perry says, her case and life after acquittal remain the subject of fascination.
Last year, rumors spread that Jose Baez demanded sexual favors from her in exchange for her defense, a claim he adamantly denied.
As recently as this past December, a former bodyguard claimed Casey Anthony 100 percent murdered Caylee and everyone knows it.
