Florida court officials on Tuesday released the names of the Casey Anthony trial jurors, after the expiration of a three-month “cooling-off” period that a judge imposed because of concerns for the jurors’ well-being.
CNN - noting the judge’s concerns that jurors might face threats from elements of the public after acquitting Anthony in the high-profile murder trial - will not name any jurors who haven’t come forward to identify themselves.
Anthony was released in July after being acquitted on charges of murder, aggravated manslaughter and child neglect in connection with the death of her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee Anthony, whose skeletal remains were found in 2008 in a wooded field in Orange County, Florida.
Casey Anthony was convicted on four counts for misleading law enforcement and was sentenced to four years in prison, but was released after serving nearly three years in prison while awaiting trial.
Only three of the 17 jurors – one who was among the 12 who deliberated, and two who were among the five alternates – have revealed their identities voluntarily since the trial ended. A few others, including the jury foreman, have given interviews on the condition of anonymity.
Though the trial happened in Orange County, the jurors came from Pinellas County – about 110 miles to the southeast - because authorities hoped to find a jury pool less likely to have been swayed by the intense media coverage surrounding the case.
Cecilia Barreda, a Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman, said she is aware of no requests for security by any juror.
“Our deputies are aware of the release of the names, and we’re prepared to address any complaints or concerns as needed,” Barreda said Tuesday.
The law required Orange County Superior Court Chief Judge Belvin Perry Jr. to release the jurors’ names, as media outlets had requested, but he ruled in late July that he’d delay the release for at least three months, citing contemptuous remarks about the jurors.
In his ruling, Perry cited public anger about the verdict and several signs, including "Juror 1-12 Guilty of Murder!" He also cited a restaurant in the jury's home county saying members were not welcome.
"More importantly," Perry wrote, "it was publicly reported that one juror had been forced to quit work and leave the state because of the threats she had received."
The deliberating juror who came forward, Jennifer Ford, told CNN’s Gary Tuchman in July that she received hate mail after the verdict, and that Anthony was acquitted because a “lack of hard evidence.”
“There was not enough to make anything stick. … Obviously it has not been proven that she’s innocent, but it certainly hasn’t been proven that she’s guilty,” Ford told Tuchman. She separately told ABC News that jurors were sick to their stomachs over the decision.
Anthony’s attorneys have claimed that Caylee died accidentally when she drowned in the family’s pool.
Tuesday was the first day that court officials could release the jurors' names, according to Perry's order. Karen Levey, chief of due process services for the Orange County court where the trial took place, said she called the jurors in late July to tell them that the names could be released starting October 25. Nancy Walent, jury manager for the Pinellas County clerk of court, said her office did not send notices to the jurors.
Don't you Casey Anthony haters have lives? You people are sicker than she ever was. That's why we have a jury system ....to prevent you sickos from lynching anybody you don't like.
Well said. So many of them sit here talking about all these violent things that should be done to her. There are a bunch of angry psychos out there, crying about Casey being freed.
I hope your family has to go through this.
JeffinReno Likes this!
Innocent until PROVEN GUILTY you bunch of idiots. If you want someone to be punished based on your opinions and assumptions then you all can move to the middle east and take that idiot Nancy Grace with you.
Can you pro-Casey retards come up with something original instead of the tired old "Nancy Grace" go-to? It's no wonder lazy azzes like you would actually support that idiotic jury.
Why is the state releasing the names of any juror who hasn't already publicly identified themselves anyway? What purpose does it serve? It just sounds like a bad idea all the way around.
So that a "jury of your peers" doesn't become a "jury of 12 anonymous people that you've never seen before, and will never see again after they are paid for their votes and shipped back to another state". Our legal system relies on openness just as much as it relies on freedom of the press, both of which are checks on corruption.
Poor Jurors. Feel sorry for you all. Good luck. You like is screwed/
I, too, think that Casey did it.
You have to prove it.
P-r-o-v-e, with proof.
Some kind of proof.
And "some kind of tie." (Film was _____?)
They DID prove she was guilty - the jurors just thought they were starring in an episode of CSI. They're Idiots.
Jeff: No, they didn't. You're the one living in a fantasy world if you think there was proof beyond a reasonable doubt.
Jeff – you and anyone else with even one brain cell in their head knows that Casey murdered Caylee, whether accidental or intentional, and that the retarded, lazyazz, selfish, money-hunting jurors just wanted out. Millions of us are right, so don't listen to the few idiots who refuse to acknowledge the truth.
Jurors welcome to hell/
They just shouldn't sequester juries.
And on&on&on&on&on&on&on JEEEEEESH
She is a KILLER ... and her true judgement will come – KARMA the jury that always does its duty.
Karma is a joke perpetuated by people who want to make themselves feel better. It doesn't exist.
Fnord..that's what O.J. said too, look at him now.
Proof he actually said that WoW.
I hope those same court officials are at least partially held responsible if a jurer gets killed or hurt from one of those crazed Nancy-Grace-Like lunatics.
You Casey fans are sick freaks and those jurors are freaking retards that didnt understand that just because CSI didnt make a show about Casey doing it and showing how she did it she could still be guilty.
Yay! The lynch mob can go after the jury now! Tar and feather them! Hang them from the nearest street lamp! . . . Oh wait, you people are just trolls who are all tough talk and no action, so the jury members will go about their lives and be forgotten with the rest. Why don't you idiots pull your thumb out of your nose and move on to the next shiny thing?
YOU are the idiot – brainless turd!
Beyond a reasonable doubt does not mean NO doubt. These jurors were cowards.
Simply put, they did not use their common sense on any level whatsoever. They were either star struck or simply zoned out when the prosecution made its case. I don't fault the prosecution. I listened to almost all of this trial. The jury and ONLY the jury is at fault here. That is why they are a pathetic bunch. I didn't think another bunch of stupid people could be herded into the same room as the OJ jurors but I was wrong.
You're a shrieking harpy.
100% correct, Mitsy.
That one stupid woman on the jury who spoke to the press said she could not "connect the dots". Lady, it was your job to connect the dots and they drew you a clear map of what happened. Casey murdered that poor little girl & you voted not guilty. As far as I'm concerned, all of the jurors have blood on their hands.
Put the names of these jurors just below the names from the OJ Simpson trial. Another 12 jurors who apparently slept through the trial.
What happens in Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas!