This case is a perfect example of the fundamental flaws in human nature particularly deception and of the woeful state of the justice system. It is another example of how 'bad people' can get away with a crime and the innocent unfairly implicated. What led the jury to reach a verdict of 'Not Guilty' to first-degree murder, aggravated manslaughter, and aggravated child abuse is stupendously baffling therefore, this book is very conflicting and frustrating to read and yet powerful and thought-provoking. If you have not followed the case closely, then I recommend you read Imperfect Justice from a man who tried to convict Casey Anthony and who remains completely convinced of her guilt.
(from the hardback) On 5 July 2011, Casey Anthony was acquitted of murder. She'd been accused of killing her daughter, Caylee, but the trial only left behind more questions. Was she actually innocent? What really happened to Caylee? Was this what justice really looked like?
In Imperfect Justice (2011), Jeff Ashton, a career prosecutor for the state of Florida and one of the principal players in the case's drama, sheds light on those questions and much more, telling the behind-the-scenes story of the investigation, the trial and the now-infamous verdict.
Too, Ashton offers an in-depth look at the complex figure of Casey Anthony, a woman whose lies he spent three years trying to understand. And yet this focus on Casey came with its own risks; here he details how this widespread fixation on Casey - both in the media and in the trial - may have undermined the case itself.
As everyone got caught up in the quest to understand the supposed villain, somehow the victim, Caylee, was all but forgotten - not just to the public, but, more importantly, to the jury. (The author has dedicated this book to the memory of Caylee).
About the author: Jeff Ashton recently retired from a thirty-year career as a prosecutor in Orlando, Florida. He is the most experienced homicide prosecutor in the history of Orange County - and the first prosecutor in the world to introduce DNA evidence in a trial - and a veteran of more than seventy successful homicide prosecutions. He lives in Florida.
About the co-author: Lisa Pulitzer is a former correspondent for the New York Times and author of more than a dozen nonfiction titles, including New York Times bestseller Stolen Innocence (2008, with Elissa Wall) and Portrait of a Monster: Joran van der Sloot, a Murder in Peru, and the Natalee Holloway Mystery (2011).
Ashton at a Question-and-Answer session at the Orlando Public Library in November 2011:
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