Casey Anthony: Jose Baez plays the big tease on HLN in promoting book - Hal

Casey Anthony: Jose Baez plays the big tease on HLN in promoting book
posted by halboedeker on May, 14 2012 11:22 PM

Jose Baez gained a national platform, via HLN Monday night, to promote his new book. His hour visit to “Dr. Drew” amounted to a big tease for “Presumed Guilty,” his book about the Casey Anthony trial.

He wasn’t sharing a lot of details, following publisher’s orders for a book that will be out in July. He offered variations on the statement “I talk about it in the book.”

Defense attorney Baez said the book is told from his point of view, and he shares personal experiences, such as his son’s birth during the case. But the case, not Baez, will be the lure for readers. In July, Anthony was acquitted of murder in the death of her daughter, Caylee.

“This case was never about Casey’s behavior. It was about how Caylee died,” Baez told Dr. Drew Pinsky. To his critics, Baez said his role was be “an advocate, a defender — it wasn’t to sit there and judge someone.”

There was no evidence of murder, so the case became “a speculation spectacle,” Baez said.

He said the public’s impression of Anthony “is completely different than the real Casey.” He said that Anthony was very grateful to the people who helped save her life.

But his goal in writing the book, he said, wasn’t to change the public’s view of Anthony. He said they always had a “very professional” relationship.

Baez said he knew Anthony “would be able to do this probation standing on her head” — a comment that left an interesting image. He described Anthony was “an ideal probationer.”

Baez predicted that “everything cover to cover” would be surprising because his point of view has never been out there. How could any book live up to that promotion?

Pinsky wanted a detail. Baez, playing the tease, hinted at evidence that never made it to trial.

Pinsky reserved as much time for viewers to ask questions. One wanted to know if Anthony is mentally ill.

Baez pointed to “some issues” with “the entire family” and said Casey’s lying about going to a nonexistent job for two years was “phenomenal.”

Baez said he was confident in the case, but not confident that he would win because the state “had the entire public opinion on their side.” Baez added, “I wasn’t cocky in the sense we were going to win. We were very worried and concerned for Casey all along.”

A caller wanted to know about Baez’s opening statement that George Anthony had sexually abused his daughter. “The jury was free to believe George Anthony or not,” Baez said. “I cross-examined him on the sexual abuse questions. By his reaction, they could believe it or not.”

Baez also told the caller: “We completed our case in a complete and ethical manner.”

In the book, Baez talks about losing six helicopters and media trucks on the night Anthony was released from jail.

Baez said in the book he tried to put everything out there so readers can draw their own conclusions. He said writing the book had been therapeutic because it allowed him to move beyond talking in sound bites.

But will readers find it therapeutic?

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_tv_tvblog/2012/05/casey-anthony-jose-baez-plays-the-big-tease-on-hln-in-promoting-book.html