Casey Anthony: Mark O’Mara saw bias against Jose Baez HAL

Orlando attorney Mark O’Mara provided analysis for WKMG-Channel 6 during the Casey Anthony trial. He has concerns about precedents set by legal analysts in that high-profile case.

“You need to be very careful to be impartial,” O’Mara said. “If there’s a criticism of all of us, it’s so easy to slant toward a side. I’ve drafted a Bar rule on lawyers commenting on cases, because we don’t have one.”

He hopes the rule will be discussed Thursday at an Orange County Bar Association seminar about ethics and the Anthony case. The event is scheduled to feature Jeff Ashton and Linda Drane Burdick of the prosecution and Cheney Mason of the defense. Anthony was acquitted of murder in July in the 2008 death of her daughter, Caylee.

“One lesson I learned, it was too easy for the commentators to become biased or advocates for a position. That’s not what legal analysts should be doing,” O’Mara said. “I saw bias going against Jose Baez and the defense. The bias was in favor of the state.”

Even so, O’Mara acknowledged there were times the defense did poorly in the courtroom.

“But for the acquittal, this case was handled dangerously by the defense,” O’Mara said, citing Baez’s opening statement and a sex-abuse allegation made against George Anthony without any evidence produced at trial to support it.



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