Pinellas County Residents Quizzed in Casey Anthony Jury Selection

The Casey Anthony capital murder trial will be heard in Orlando, where the murder of two-year-old Caylee occurred in 2008. The jury, however, will be chosen from a pool of Pinellas County residents.

Due to the pervasive media coverage of the toddler’s murder, Casey Anthony’s defense attorneys convinced the court that it was highly unlikely to find enough people in Orange County who had been uninfluenced by the news reports of the investigation and prosecution. The case received regular media attention nationally and nearly non-stop coverage locally.

In such situations, jurors can be selected from another county after taking into account the demographics of the county – education and income levels as well as age and race balances. Pinellas and Orange County have similar such demographics. After the jurors are selected, they will be transported to Orange County and sequestered for the remainder of the trial. They will stay in a hotel for the approximate two months it will take to complete the trial.

Anthony is charged with first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse, aggravated manslaughter of a child and providing false information to law enforcement. She has pleaded not guilty and says a babysitter kidnapped Caylee. If convicted of first-degree murder, Anthony faces the death penalty.

Back in the summer of 2008, Anthony waited a month before telling her mother that Caylee was missing. Anthony’s mother then contacted authorities. Over the course of several weeks, hundreds searched for clues to the toddler’s whereabouts. Photos and reports began to surface of Anthony partying during that first month.

Caylee’s decomposed remains were discovered months later, in December 2008, by a municipal meter reader in a wooded area not far from Anthony’s home. The medical examiner ruled that a cause of death could not be determined – clearly, a perceived weakness in the State’s case.

The jurors chosen from Pinellas County will make the ultimate determination of guilty. The court is seeking jurors who have not been oversaturated with media coverage of the case. The 200-member panel was called last week. Nearly every potential juror had heard about the case to some extent. (Generally, a potential juror will be allowed to serve on a jury even if he has previously heard about the case, as long as that coverage does not sway the juror to make up his mind prior to hearing the evidence at trial. The jurors must be able to consider only the evidence presented at trial and set aside anything they may have read or heard previously.)

After six days of intense questioning about backgrounds, knowledge of the case and thoughts about the judicial system, law enforcement and the death penalty, 12 potential jurors had been identified. The court will likely identify twelve jurors and eight alternates before the case will continue.