Not A Lawyer

Casey Anthony, the Florida woman accused of murdering her two-year-old daughter, Caylee Anthony, made an appearance in a Florida courtroom on March 2. At issue during this hearing was the release of reportedly thousands of photos Anthony had stored on various web accounts.

A defense motion to prevent the release of the jailhouse video revealing Anthony’s reaction as she heard the news the remains, which would turn out to be her daughter, had been found yards from the Anthony family home was also heard.

Anthony appeared at the hearing in ankle shackles, looking a few pounds heavier than before. She has put on a bit of weight while behind bars and is visibly plumper than she was in the party photos that were taken after Caylee disappeared.

In those photos, the world has already seen Casey Anthony at what was presumed to be her worst. However, at the latest hearing, her attorney said the release of thousands of additional photos of Anthony would be embarrassing to her. News outlets are now questioning the content of the photos and speculating as to what they contain that could be worse than what we have already seen.

So far, reporters are dancing around the subject. All are afraid to say that the thousands of photos may seem to chronicle Casey Anthony’s career in Internet porn. News reports are currently characterizing the mystery photos as “party pictures.”

Armchair sleuths have long speculated that Anthony may have been involved in online pornography. Some even believe that Anthony could have involved her daughter in child porn. I have uncovered inside information that may put an end to some rumors, or may fuel many more.

After Anthony’s arrest for suspicion of murder, a professionally done and explicit picture, seeming to depict Casey Anthony involved in a sex act surfaced. Mainstream media had no knowledge of the picture or refused to publish it because of its graphic content – this photo has never seen the light of day, until now.

This picture is likely one of the thousands of photos that could be released to the public in the coming days. The judge has denied Anthony’s motion and dismissed the argument the photos were irrelevant to the case. Anthony’s criminal defense lawyer, Jose Baez, claims these photos will taint the jury pool and deprive Anthony of a fair trial.

The photos in question, if they are in fact Casey Anthony’s body of work in the porn industry, may be more relevant than anyone realizes.

A forensic professional examined the photo contained in this post. It was her opinion Casey Anthony is the subject in the photo. Simply put, the XXX picture is not believed to be a work of fiction concocted in Photoshop.

Many people object to pornography for moral or religious reasons, but the fact remains that Internet porn is big business. The photo quality of the sample is professional. I spoke with a person in the industry, who shall remain anonymous, who gave me an insight into the world of online porn.

People who produce high-quality Internet porn generally operate professionally and strictly within the law. They make an enormous amount of money and will not risk being shut down or arrested by violating laws within the operation of their businesses.

Porn models are strictly screened for age requirements and a copy of legal identification is kept on file, along with a legal release giving the company the rights to use the images for the desired purpose. Models generally do not retain rights to the photos or film, but may have copies of their work to compose a portfolio.

Given the professional nature of this photo, it is likely the model was most likely working with an adult business that operates within the law. For this reason, it is not likely or probable that the porn company was in any way involved with Caylee Anthony. In the coming weeks, we can expect more details to come out about Casey Anthony’s alleged porn career and the companies for which she may have worked to be exposed.

In order to work in the porn industry, Anthony would have had to have a babysitter. Since the nanny she alleges babysat Caylee does not appear to exist, it has been speculated the child could have been drugged during her mother’s working hours. This could be one possible explanation for the chloroform and Xanax connection to the case and other evidence reportedly found in the trunk of Anthony’s car. Many believe Caylee might have died of an accidental drug overdose while her mother was working. It is evident Anthony had been terminated from her job at Universal long before her child’s death.

Each night, Nancy Grace announces “bombshell” developments in the Casey Anthony case. On Monday night, she tried desperately, with no success, to drag a porn connection from her expert panel. As of yet, no one claims to have seen the pictures Anthony’s lawyer, Jose Baez, is trying to keep under wraps with claims that they are irrelevant to the case.

Under the public access law in Florida, evidence in criminal cases is made available to the media and the public. Since the judge has denied Anthony’s request to keep the photos private, the world may soon see for themselves how she occupied her time while supposedly working at Universal. From there, conclusions may be drawn as to how an alleged career in porn might have led to her daughter’s death.

The video, reportedly of Anthony having a panic attack, hyperventilating, doubling over and breaking out in hives when she learned of the discovery of a toddler’s body near her home, may remain more of a mystery than the photos. The judge ruled to delay the release of the tape amid objections by Anthony’s attorney that making the tape public would violate her medical privacy rights and right to an attorney.

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In Louisiana a 41-year-old man sits on death row for the rape of a child. The Louisiana Supreme Court has upheld the death sentence amid cries that capital punishment for the crime of rape is cruel and unusual and goes against a 1977 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that found the death penalty for rape unconstitutional. However, in 1977 the Supreme Court wasn’t weighing the punishment for the rape of a child – that case involved the rape of an adult.

While rape in itself is a heinous crime, the U.S. Supreme Court found that the rape of an adult did not warrant the death penalty. Shortly they may have an opportunity to clarify their position, as the rape of a child is an entirely different circumstance.

In 2003 Patrick Kennedy was convicted of the brutal rape of an 8-year-old child while she was sorting Girl Scout cookies in the garage at her home. Kennedy was the girl’s stepfather, someone she should have been able to trust. He raped her and then bragged that he had made her a woman. The Louisiana court decided that the crime rose to the standard of aggravating circumstances and Kennedy was sentenced to die.

Had he been executed many people, including myself, would have felt justice had been served for his young victim. However, Kennedy is fighting for his life and his case may make it to the United States Supreme Court where a battle will be waged over exactly what the phrase “cruel and unusual” actually means.

“Cruel and usual” is one of those phrases often thrown around when people are trying to make a point about how unreasonable they feel something is. Much like the issue of free speech, it’s often misinterpreted and misunderstood.

To some people, the idea of putting a human being to death may seem cruel and unusual. However, in our society the death penalty is an acceptable punishment and has been found not to be cruel. In order to qualify as unusual, the court would have to single out one person or group of people and punish them specifically. This is not the case with the death penalty. While certain crimes warrant the death penalty, no specific race, gender or creed of people are specifically included or excluded from being sentenced to die. Therefore, while hard for some to stomach, the death penalty is not cruel or unusual punishment and courts are well within the bounds of the U.S. Constitution in ordering a prisoner to be put to death.

The death penalty has generally been reserved for people who have been convicted of murder. Society has generally accepted that the people convicted of the most brutal and horrifying murders should face the ultimate penalty and pay the price for their crimes with their lives. However, the public has not had an opportunity to digest that in some states, such as Louisiana, the courts have expanded the type of crime that they consider the worst of the worst to include child rapists and these people may also be put to death if convicted.
According to Law.com, Kennedy claims in his petition to the U.S. Supreme Court that his death sentence is not only cruel and unusual, but it is cruel and unique because he is currently the only person on death row for rape. Also unique about Kennedy’s sentence is that he had not previously been charged or convicted of the rape or sexual abuse of a child. In the other states that have laws allowing the death penalty for child rapists, the conviction must be at least the second conviction for the rape of a child to qualify for capital punishment.

Kennedy’s claim of being unique may not hold true for long. In Missouri, lawmakers say that a man with no previous sex crime convictions who is accused of kidnapping, raping, sodomizing, choking and assaulting a 7-year-old girl deserves to die if convicted of the crimes. In response to this case, legislation has been proposed that would allow the death penalty in Missouri for anyone convicted of the forcible rape of sodomy of a child under the age of 12.

In addition to Louisiana and the proposed legislation in Missouri, lawmakers in South Carolina, Georgia, Oklahoma, Montana and Florida have already passed laws allowing death sentences for child rapists. Texas is also considering similar legislation. These legislators are attempting to send a clear message to pedophiles that child rape is just as serious a murder and will be punished accordingly.

Expanding the death penalty for crimes other than murder may have serious consequences. The judicial system is far from perfect and already innocent people die for crimes that they did not commit. By including child rape as a capital offense, we open the door for more wrongful convictions that could end in death. The door also opens for legislators to decide upon other crimes, in addition to child rape, that may be repulsive enough to society to warrant capital punishment. And for that reason alone, many people argue that we should stop death penalty legislation in its tracks immediately rather than risk potential legislative abuses in the future.

There is also the issue of our already crowded courts. Death penalty cases go through an exhaustive appeals process. If the time comes that child rapists are routinely sentenced to die, what effect might that have on the judicial process? Certainly our already overloaded system would buckle under the pressure.

None of these reasons are satisfactory excuses for child rapists not to be sentenced to death, but these are the hurdles that the supporters of these laws and pending legislation must face. Ultimately the U.S. Supreme Court will issue a decision as to whether or not Kennedy may be put to death in Louisiana for the rape of a child, and that decision will either pop the top on a can of worms or quiet the debate for the time being. We will just have to wait and see what surprises the Supreme Court justices have in store for us on this issue.

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Ex-Cop Bobby Cutts was sentenced to life in prison for killing his pregnant girlfriend and mother of his young son. He testified that he accidentally killed her when he hit her in the throat with his his elbow.

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