Casey Anthony: ‘20/20′ puts $200,000 payment to use again - Hal

Casey Anthony: ‘20/20′ puts $200,000 payment to use again
posted by halboedeker on June, 11 2011 9:39 AM

It’s always fascinating to see ABC News wade into the Casey Anthony story, because ABC News has such a disgraceful role in the coverage.

Remember that $200,000 ABC paid to Casey in 2008 — to license photos and video — before she was charged with Caylee’s murder?

Well, you’d have to remember it, because “20/20″ didn’t bring up that fact in Friday’s report. The network should have because “20/20″ extensively used those costly photos and video in recapping the story so far. The network didn’t acknowledge the payment until 2010, when ABC News was rightly lambasted for violating journalistic ethics and paying most of Anthony’s defense up to that time.

For Friday’s report, the newsmagazine hyped that it was talking to former Anthony attorney Andrea Lyon. The more crucial interview was with ABC legal analyst Dan Abrams, who usually has intriguing things to say. Correspondent Chris Cuomo asked, “Is not liking how she behaved enough to convict her of something you’re not 100 percent sure of as a juror?”

“Shouldn’t be,” Abrams said.

Lyon told “20/20″ that she is still “100 percent convinced” that Casey isn’t guilty of murder, Cuomo said. (If Lyon said otherwise, wouldn’t she be violating attorney-client privilege?)

Lyon dismissed the prosecution’s case as “she’s a bad person, she didn’t report her child missing, she told lies, her daughter’s dead, she must have done it.” Lyon attributed Anthony’s “inexplicable behavior” after Caylee went missing to Casey’s psychological background as an alleged sex abuse victim.

Yet Abrams said nothing indicates that George Anthony abused daughter Casey, as defense attorney Jose Baez alleged in the opening statement. Abrams said that Baez’s opening statement left him baffled. Abrams also assessed the prosecution case, and said one of the hardest things to prove will be that duct tape was the weapon of death.

Still fighting for Casey Anthony, Lyon said meter reader Roy Kronk’s discovery of Caylee’s remains was “very suspicious” and hinted that Kronk may have moved the child’s remains. Kronk has denied those allegations.

At the end, Abrams said the defense may have nothing to lose in letting Casey take the stand. ABC News, however, lost quite a lot when it paid Anthony $200,000. No wonder it doesn’t want to remind you of that fact.

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_tv_tvblog/2011/06/casey-anthony-2020-puts-200000-payment-to-use-again.html