The Casey Anthony trial is happening one block away from where I work, and while I wasn't engaged in the hype a few summers ago, I'm pretty much riveted by the court proceedings, watching the stream at work.
If you're not familiar with the opening statements, the defense laid down a narrative asserting that Casey was sexually abused by her father since she was eight, and that her brother also molested her later, but that the brother's behavior didn't go as far or last as long. There's a question left hanging that perhaps George Anthony (Casey's father) is also the father of Caylee. Ostensibly the defense has a witness or two to testify to the abuse (that will be quite a day in court). The overarching theory is that the whole family suffers from dissociative disorder, which is offered as an explanation of Casey's outragous obfuscation b/c the entire family dynamic is "a lie." It's just what they do. (Possible trigger ahead) To illustrate this, the defense actually asked the jury to imagine you're 8 years old and one minute you have your father's penis in your mouth, and the next you're expected to be a normal school kid. Daring, shocking and quite effective.
I'm bringing this up for RI b/c my reading of the defense strategy is that the sexual abuse allegations are at the center of their theory. That, a woman who has been sexually abused by her father since she was 8 is going to have a long history of dissociative behavior -- and that this became a central reality construct of Casey's and the family's. This is evident when the father states that he didn't ask if Casey was pregnant (even though she was obviously showing at 6 months), and that he never asked who the father of the baby was. Or, he's not sure. I'm not sure, actually -- his testimony was a disjointed mess.
I'm also troubled by the mob mentality that I see in Orlando and on the "interwebs" regarding Casey Anthony. If you create a #caseyanthony feed on your Twitter account you'll see what I mean. The "hang her high" attitude is inescapable, as is the misogyny. Seems no one is willing to publicly entertain the sexual abuse allegation, and worse, the for those who believe that Casey is guilty (which seems to be everyone) these allegations are providing more fuel for the hatred. To paraphrase "that's what evil/guilty women do: allege sexual abuse." That's quite a cleaned-up paraphrase, actually.
So, I guess this is maybe just a heads-up...that there's likely going to be some stunning discussion of sexual abuse and dissociative disorder as this case proceeds.
If you're at all inclined, it's completely worth it to peruse the actual courtroom footage. I found a good youtube channel with the whole first day of opening statements and the first witness for the state, George Anthony (the cross-exam was astounding, especially if you're into Paul Ekman's facial expression analyses -- big dramatic moment when the defense surprised the prosecution with knowledge that the state was pursuing the drowning theory). Looks like they'll be carrying the whole archive as the case goes on.
Link: http://www.youtube.com/user/CaseyAnthonyCase
) If you want to know who I have been referring to in my blogs over the last year just read these emails and ![\<]](./images/smilies/confused0044.gif "confused")
As they claimed on Topix when they attack us "it's a matter of public record".
