Blog Posts and Tweets Helped Defense Team Win Acquittal for Casey Anthony in Capital Murder Case
It wasn’t just when selecting jurors that defense counsel in the high-profile Casey Anthony murder trial found social media helpful.
Her legal team also looked to opinions expressed on Twitter, Facebook and in blog posts for strategic guidance about how best to defend a client accused of capital murder in the death of her own 2-year-old daughter, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
On a daily basis, consultant Amy Singer of Fort Lauderdale analyzed thousands of messages and then reported to Anthony’s lead lawyer, Jose Baez, what people were thinking. He then took that into account when deciding how the defense would proceed.
When Casey Anthony’s father, George Anthony, came under social media attack over his alleged mistress, “the defense team beefed up their questions against him,” Singer tells the newspaper. “None of the bloggers ever changed their minds about him.”
In a triumph for the defense, Casey Anthony was acquitted last week on all major charges and found guilty of only of four misdemeanor counts of providing false information.
Related coverage:
ABAJournal.com: “Little-Known Defense Lawyer Stuns Observers with Big Win for Casey Anthony in His First Capital Case”
ABC News: “Casey Anthony Trial: Did Cindy Anthony Really Search for Chloroform?”
