Casey Anthony no bin Laden, former lawyer says

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Casey Anthony dancing with an unidentified person. Photos of Casey Anthony partying during the time when she says her daughter was missing, prosecutors say, will be instrumental in their case.

The highly-anticipated trial of Casey Anthony is moving forward, three years after her daughter, 2-year-old Caylee Anthony, went missing in Orlando, Fla.

But because the casel has received so much attention, jury selection has been moved from Orlando where the trial will be held. Jurors are now being selected in Pinellas County, in Clearwater, Fla.




CBS News correspondent Kelly Cobiella reports that attorneys for the defense and prosecution have just five days to find twelve jurors and eight alternates.

Can impartial jurors be found on a case that's been thrust into national focus?

On "The Early Show" former Casey Anthony defense attorney Linda Kenney Baden said finding jurors is going to be "very, very difficult."

"Anyone you talk to on the street has an opinion on this case," she said. "And because it's been saturated with news media, especially in this day and age of social media, Twitter, Facebook, etc. it's going to be a very tough job."

Kenney Baden, a longtime attorney of Anthony's, left her defense team in October. She cited financial limitations in continuing to represent her. The New York-based attorney said she had incurred travel costs in Florida and elsewhere, but said, due to restrictions by the Justice Administration Commission, she could not be paid for these costs as an out-of-state attorney.

Kenney Baden told co-anchor Chris Wragge it's unrealistic to find jurors in the short five-day span they've been given.

"Usually, a death penalty case takes two-and-a-half-to-three weeks to select a jury," she said. "You want to make sure you take the time, because jury selection is the most important part of the case. If you don't take the time and get a good jury for both sides, neither side can get a fair trial."

The jurors, Cobiella pointed out, will have to give up two months of their lives sequestered in Orlando to decide whether Casey Anthony is guilty of killing her daughter and, if so, whether she should be put to death.

Kenney Baden said the problem with the jury today is sequestering them.

She said, "We haven't had a jury since (the) O.J. (Simpson murder trial) that's been sequestered for that long a period of time. And to try to take people away from their lives for two months, they're going to feel like they're in prison. The jurors are going to feel like they're subject to some type of problems. That is another problem. The people that can be sequestered for two months. Think about it. You can't have normal, real lives."

The trial is slated to begin May 17. The defense is already promising a "bombshell" on Day One.

Due to attorney-client privilege, Kenney Baden couldn't discuss the case in detail, but said she doesn't think the death penalty should be the punishment, should Casey Anthony be convicted.


"Do we see her as Osama bin Laden?" she asked. "We execute people like that. We execute people like Ted Bundy. This should not be a death penalty case. The amount of money going into this case when we have so many issues and so many real crimes out there against people that are brutal -- not that if she's not found guilty, it's not considered a brutal crime. But the death penalty is for the worst of the worst, and this is not it."

However, Kenney Baden did say the defense's biggest hurdle is the 31 days Casey waited to tell anyone her daughter was missing.

"No doubt about it," Kenney Baden said. "... Thirty one days is going to be the hardest part of this defense. That has to be explained."

Cobiella reported when 2-year-old Caylee Anthony disappeared in the summer of 2008, it was Casey's mother, Cindy Anthony, who finally called police.

At that time, Cindy Anthony told the 911 operator, "There's something wrong, I found my daughter's car today, and it smells like there's been a dead body in the damn car."

While a desperate search was launched for the little girl, Casey was taken into custody.

The 22-year-old insisted she had left her daughter with a nanny. But police have never been able to confirm that story.

In a prison call, Cindy Anthony said to her daughter, "Your gut tells you she's close or she's hiding."

Casey Anthony replied, "She's not far. ... I know in my heart she's not far."

Caylee wasn't far. Six months after she vanished, her skeletal remains were found less than a mile from her home.

In the following months, the district attorney has been building a case against Casey. Prosecutors say they have forensic evidence of hair found in the trunk of her car that they say came from the child's dead body. They also have circumstantial evidence - pictures of Casey, partying with friends while her daughter was missing. In a recent interview with CBS' "48 Hours Mystery," prosecutors said this is where the case will be won.

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi told CBS News, "The photographs, I believe, are what's going to get her. The photographs of her out dancing, partying all night long. That is the most compelling evidence of all."

But Kenney Baden said, "We don't convict people on pictures. We don't convict people on 'she didn't act right' evidence."

There is no DNA evidence tying Casey to the field where Caylee's body was found, Cobiella points out, no confession and no evidence of how Caylee was killed. The coroner's report ruled her death a "homicide by undetermined means."

Casey's attorneys say she's not guilty.

"No cause of death as indicated," Kenney Baden said. "How can you say this is a brutal, heinous murder, if you don't even know how this child died?"

Cobiella added Casey Anthony's parents, Cindy and George, insist Casey is innocent. They're both defense witnesses. The judge made the unusual move of allowing them to sit in on the entire trial even before they've testified.

So can this be a fair trial?

Kenney Baden says that's the judge's responsibility.

She said, "The judge has to make sure that he gets good jurors, that no one is infected, that people don't intimidate these jurors, especially when it goes back to Orlando. I have a great belief in the jury system, but it's going to be difficult. ... I think this is a very, very firm judge. I do think that he has to lighten up on making sure he takes the time getting a jury and not impose these deadlines that are ridiculous."