The evidence against Casey Anthony is extensive and incriminating:Computer searches for “chloroform” and “neck breaking,” photos ofher partying in the weeks after the disappearance of her 2-year-old daughter Caylee, testimony from multiple witnesses about a “dead body” smell coming from the trunk of Casey’s car.
But, in the eyes of the jury, it might not be enough to convict.
“This is definitely not a slam-dunk case,” Karin Moore, a former criminal defense attorney and law professor at Florida A&M University, tells PEOPLE in this week’s cover story. “The state doesn’t have an eyewitness. They don’t have a confession, so most of the evidence is circumstantial.”
“People hear ‘circumstantial’ and think that means it’s a weak case,” says the source. “But what it means is that we built a case using a lot of evidence.”
As for Casey’s parents, George and Cindy Anthony, a family friend says that having heard the state’s case, they are not sure what to believe about their daughter’s guilt or innocence.
“Honestly, I think they’re all over the place with that,” says the friend. “What they want, and what they’ve always wanted, is to know what happened.”
BY MICHELLE TAUBER AND STEVE HELLING
