What impact will Casey doctor depositions have? ‎- OS

4:25 p.m. EST, January 13, 2012

With the release of two mental health experts' depositions this week, another full iteration of Casey Anthony's story is
available for the public to ingest and dissect.

Some pieces of what Anthony told her doctors made their way into her
defense at trial — such as the claims she was sexually abused by her
father and that her daughter drowned. But other accounts jurors did not
hear, including Anthony's claim that her father was responsible for young Caylee Marie's death.

It's true that Anthony's criminal trial is long over and many have grown weary of her story.
Still, many others remain drawn to anything Casey.

So the full impact of unsealing these depositions remains uncertain: How will they
affect the civil lawsuits filed against Casey Anthony? Will they negate
an attempt to have retired prosecutor and State Attorney candidate Jeff
Ashton held in contempt? And do they dash any hopes Anthony had of selling her story?

Civil Suits

Attorneys who filed civil
suits against Casey Anthony want to have her deposed, but with much of
her story told through Dr. Jeffrey Danziger and Dr. William Weitz some
wonder if it's necessary to depose Anthony now?

Matt Morgan, who represents Zenaida Gonzalez, the woman suing Anthony for defamation,
says his team still wants to depose Anthony, despite her Fifth
Amendment privilege claims during the appeal of her criminal convictions for lying to law enforcement.

"We will continue to do everything we can in order to compel her testimony," Morgan said Friday.

At the same time, though, the Morgan team added Danziger and Weitz to
its witness list the day after their depositions were made public. They
also want to see the doctors' medical records and reports.

"We want the opportunity to put both witnesses on the stand," Morgan said.
"Hopefully, the doctors' testimony will be relevant and helpful."

In mid-2008, Anthony, who is now 25, said a woman with a similar name
to Gonzalez abducted her daughter. But she would later tell her doctors
her daughter drowned and her father was responsible.

Ashton's issue

Last month Anthony's criminal defense attorney Cheney Mason filed a
motion seeking to have Jeff Ashton explain why he shouldn't be held in
contempt for including details contained in the depositions, when they
were still sealed, in his best-selling book.

Ashton said he relied on his memory and notes to reference the material, not the
depositions. But now that Chief Judge Belvin Perry unsealed them, the
question is: Isn't the Ashton matter moot?

Mason could not be reached for comment Friday. But Perry's order states he had "orally
ruled the transcripts were to be sealed only until the end of the
trial." The Anthony trial ended in early July.

Ashton's book did not quote from the depositions, but included much of the substance
of the question-and-answer sessions. It was published in November.

Anthony's marketability

Some recent reports suggest Anthony was unhappy with defense attorney
Jose Baez for failing to land her a lucrative interview. They say that's
why Baez has left her case, but who knows for sure?

Baez didn't return calls to confirm any recent reports, including one that he has left Central Florida.

Last month well-known forensic psychiatrist and author Keith Ablow said
he was approached by third parties to work with Anthony on a for-profit
book, but he turned down the deal. Ablow wrote his own book called "Inside the Mind of Casey Anthony."

So now with observations of two doctors who actually evaluated Anthony released, the question is
whether she — or anyone representing her — can market her story at this point?

"Her marketability was crushed at the time Ashton came out with his book," said WFTV-Channel 9 legal analyst Bill Sheaffer.

Her doctors' depositions show "Casey Anthony would say whatever she
needed to say and do to get an acquittal," Sheaffer said. "She'll always
garner interest. I just don't think she's marketable."

That may be, but some entrepreneurial type may well risk trying to re-sell
and re-package Anthony's story in her own words, despite her being
characterized as "toxic" by some major media outfits.

As has always been the case with Anthony, when she speaks, there is seemingly
no limit to the level of detail, conflict and intrigue contained in her
stories. The final question: Can any of it ever be believed?
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