Casey Anthony: She ‘hurt herself severely with tapes,’ Geraldo Rivera says - Hal

Casey Anthony: She ‘hurt herself severely with tapes,’ Geraldo Rivera says
posted by halboedeker on June, 3 2011 6:28 PM

Casey Anthony’s lies to her family in jailhouse tapes from 2008 were devastating to her case, TV analysts agreed tonight.

“The jury’s not going to like her much for that,” WFTV-Channel 9 legal analyst Bill Sheaffer said tersely.

“The cumulative effect of this is starting to really wear on the defense, and it’s going to wear on her,” said veteran attorney Jeff Deen, who was supplying analysis for WESH-Channel 2. The jailhouse tapes of caring George Anthony talking to Casey undermine the defense’s allegation that he had sexually abused his daughter, Deen added.

Fox News’ Geraldo Rivera told WOFL-Channel 35 that the jailhouse tapes may not seal Anthony’s fate but they ”portray her as a pathological liar, a narcissist, self-involved, selfish.”

The crucial moment in the tapes, Rivera said, was Anthony’s dismissing the idea that Caylee drowned — which her attorney now says is what happened. ”She hurt herself severely with these tapes,” Rivera said. “Clearly, today was a good day for the prosecution.”

Yet Rivera repeated a familiar theme for him: There’s “no way” they will get a capital-murder conviction because “the prosecutor in Orange County overreached.” And Rivera called the case against Anthony “fatally flawed.” Anthony is charged with first-degree murder in the death of her daughter, Caylee.

WESH’s Bob Kealing said that through the tapes “the prosecution has shown Casey Anthony at her worst, lying at will, spewing profanities at the people who were trying to help her find Caylee.”

How did the 2008 video visits go over with the jurors?

“They were taking a lot of notes,” Kealing said. “We caught a number of jurors reacting, especially to Casey’s constant self-pity inside the jail.” Two female jurors smirked at Anthony’s whining, and a male juror shook his head when Anthony quoted the Bible, Kealing added.

Anthony seemed “transfixed” when she watched the tapes of herself, WFTV’s Kathi Belich said. “She avoided eye contact with jurors, but some stole glances at her as they watched her lie to her family time and again,” Belich added.

WKMG-Channel 6’s Tony Pipitone focused on the close bond between Casey Anthony and her father suggested by a jailhouse tape.”So remember the jurors are looking at these two, father and daughter, and saying, ‘These are the two who conspired and who knew that Caylee had been drowned?’ It doesn’t quite fit,” Pipitone said of another allegation that Jose Baez made in his opening statement.

How to explain Anthony’s behavior?

WESH’s Amanda Ober talked to a Winter Park mental health counselor who said that Anthony could believe the lies that she’s saying. “Any time anyone is going to lie elaborately, there’s going to be a line someone crosses along the way where they do believe what they’re saying,” Monica Taffinder said. “They have to believe what they’re saying or else they can’t pull it off.”

In the afternoon, crime scene investigator Gerardo Bloise of the sheriff’s office testified that he smelled human decomposition when he opened the driver’s side door to Casey’s car. But WKMG’s Pipitone said he couldn’t smell anything when the trunk liner was displayed in court today. ”It has been in a box for nearly three years,” Pipitone added.

The prosecution revealed this afternoon that its case should take two more weeks and is likely to end June 17.

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_tv_tvblog/2011/06/casey-anthony-she-hurt-herself-severely-with-tapes-geraldo-rivera-says.html