Caylee Anthony: How the victim won - Hal

Caylee Anthony: How the victim won
posted by halboedeker on June, 16 2012 7:53 AM

Victims in high-profile criminal cases are often lost in the heavy media coverage.

How often do you hear about the kidnapped Lindbergh baby or the murdered family in “In Cold Blood”?

But Caylee Anthony is different. She drowned four years ago today, defense attorney Jose Baez said at her mother’s murder trial. The 2-year-old was a victim, at the very least, of being tossed away in the woods like garbage.

Yet Caylee hasn’t been forgotten, and there’s great irony in that development.

Baez and Casey Anthony received $200,000 from ABC for licensing photos of the child, and that money helped pay for Anthony’s defense. There was public outrage about that revelation, and ABC changed its practices.

Those photos and video, though, planted Caylee in the public’s consciousness. It’s like a twist in an O. Henry story.

The mother was acquitted of murder, yet remains in hiding. In a phone interview with CNN’s Piers Morgan this week, she talked about her child being her greatest accomplishment.

She certainly was, although Casey had little to do with it. In the social media age, the child gained fame, love and attention. Legislation has been passed in her name. She didn’t get a full life, but the public is determined she won’t be forgotten.

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_tv_tvblog/2012/06/caylee-anthony-how-the-victim-won.html