After enduring a trial spanning over six weeks, the 12 jurors in the Casey Anthony case took just 10 hours to declare the Orlando mother not guilty of killing her 3-year-old daughter, Caylee.
It’s been 12 years since the verdict, but the decision to acquit Anthony continues to haunt at least one juror. According to The Messenger, the juror, who wants to remain anonymous, says he still gets hate mail daily and still gets nauseated when thinking about the acquittal.
“I wish I had never been on that f—ing jury,” he said. “People have no idea the hell we’ve gone through for 12 years.”
As CrimeOnline previously reported, according to a 2011 Florida Department of Corrections statement, Anthony was once considered “one of the most hated women in America.” The nickname came after the masses blamed Anthony for Caylee’s death.
For weeks in 2008, Anthony lied to police, claiming she left Caylee with a nanny who turned out to be fictional. It took Anthony 31 days to report Caylee missing, despite the insistence of her parents, who were close to the child. Anthony stalled her parents by claiming she was too busy at work, although her job also turned out to be fictional.
Local media picked up the story and soon after, national media caught on, creating one of the most high-profile searches of the decade, as volunteers from across the nation flocked to Florida to help find Caylee.
In December 2008, a local meter reader located the remains of a young child close to the Anthony family’s Orlando home. Officials later confirmed that the remains were of Caylee. Police arrested Anthony and charged her with murder.
Twelve jurors and 5 alternates were ultimately sequestered in a hotel, and confined to their rooms without access to computers or phones. They engaged in small talk, avoiding any discussions related to Casey Anthony, although the notoriety of the case was apparent.
The juror said he remembers into the courthouse each day, amid protestors, and once inside, seeing famous faces in the galley, including CrimeOnline’s Nancy Grace.
“We were brought in the back, but we could see the protestors out front,” the juror said.
“We’d look in the [courtroom galley] and there would be Nancy Grace. The pressure was ridiculous.”
The juror said he still has dreams about the case, which causes him panic. If he could take back “the whole thing,” he would.
“Vivid dreams, where I wake up and I have to convince myself that it was just a dream. The panic is real…I’m still sick to my stomach about the whole thing. I wish it had all never happened.”
“Also, people don’t think about this, but we were looking at autopsy photos and skeletons of a 2-year-old girl. Pictures that stay in your mind forever. Things that no one should ever have to see.”
On July 5, 2011, Anthony was acquitted of murder, aggravated child abuse, and aggravated manslaughter of a child. She was found guilty on four counts of providing false information to a law enforcement officer.
“I wondered ‘what the hell did I just do?’ the juror said. “I still don’t know.”
Most jurors still carry the weight of the case with them. The majority of them have lost touch, and for those who remain in contact, the trial is a subject they never discuss, the juror said.
“It’s been a long time…I’ve gotten married, I’ve lost my mother. I became an uncle. Life has gone on…But yet this is still something that I can’t shake. I wonder all the time if I did the right thing.”
Meanwhile, no one has been charged and no new suspects have been named in Caylee’s death.
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[Feature Photo: Caylee Anthony/Handout]
