Casey Anthony is set to walk out of prison next week after dodging a murder conviction for the death of two-year-old daughter, Caylee Marie. But the future is bleak for one of the world’s most reviled and despised women.
Although a Florida jury of seven women and five men acquitted her of cruelly murdering her daughter, citing a lack of evidence, it still doesn’t relieve her of the burdens of her actions immediately following her daughter’s disappearance.
Anthony, 25, failed to report her daughter’s disappearance for more than 30 days while she partied, and outwardly showed no signs of caring or remorse.
The cruel callous behavior alone is enough to earn her near universal disapprobation.
But she compounded her behavior by telling a string of lies that may have prevented investigators from discovering Caylee’s body earlier.
More than six months passed, before the body was found in a swampy wooded area near Casey Anthony’s home.
By then, it was so badly decomposed, investigators could not collect enough tissue to determine the cause of death.
Was that Casey Anthony’s strategy all along?
But a tell-tale sign was still evident. Police found duct tape clinging to Caylee’s decomposed face, a sure sign that the little girl had been murdered.
In the end, however, prosecutors couldn’t build a convincing case on the slim shreds of evidence they assembled.
“It all came down to the evidence,” said Florida state attorney Jeff Ashton on “The View” yesterday.
“I think ultimately it all came down to — at least from what the one alternate said — it came down to the cause of death.”
That opened the door for defense lawyer José Baez to sow the seeds of reasonable doubt.
He planted ridiculous claims that Caylee’s grand father covered up her death from drowning in the family swimming pool, and coerced Casey into silence after years of controlling her through sexual abuse.
But no evidence was submitted to substantiate either claim.
Now the latest speculation has turned to how much money Anthony will make from a wide variety of potential deals, including posing for Playboy magazine.
“Publishers have a long memory and after the public outcry that led to the canceled publication of the O.J. Simpson book ['If I Did It'], everyone will think twice before offering Casey a deal,” one senior book editor told PopEater’s Rob Shuter.
A book by Casey would likely meet with similar reaction.
Of course, books will be written about the case, but likely without her cooperation and without her profiting.
She could profit from an exclusive interview, but short of confessing to the crime, who wants to hear her disassemble even more?
Even late-night jokes are getting the cold shoulder.
Anthony could, and very well might go, the celebrity trash route; skin magazines, celebrity boxing matches, “Girls Gone Wild” videos, or even porn.
But beyond that, her future seems limited and bleak.
