The following is an article from ABC News in which Statement Analysis is in bold type, with statements in italics. One of the questions we seek to answer:
Is Jose Baez deceptive? When he gave the opening statement, did he believe that Caylee had died in a swimming pool?
If you are told a lie and do not know it is a lie, and repeat it, your language will not show deception, even though you are repeating deception. Repeating a lie, unknowingly, is not a lie.
Did Jose Baez knowingly repeat a lie during his opening statement? Or, did he simply report what Casey Anthony told him?
Statement Analysis gets to the truth.
Casey Anthony's lawyer opened her defense today with the stunning claim that her daughter Caylee Anthony drowned in the family's swimming pool on June 16, 2008, a month before she was reported missing.
The claim in her lawyer's opening statement was the most remarkable moment in a day of startling accusations and revelations that included charges of incest, claims that the man who found the girl's body put it there, and that Casey Anthony faked having a job and a nanny for two years while living with her parents.
The opening statements began in an Orlando courtroom today, nearly three years after Caylee was reported missing in the summer of 2008. Anthony, 25, faces a battery of charges including first degree murder, aggravated manslaughter of a child, aggravated child abuse and providing false information to law enforcement. She could face the death penalty if convicted.
Her lawyer, Jose Baez, tackled the most difficult question during his opening statement: How Casey Anthony could go for a month without reporting her daughter missing.
"How in the world can a mother wait 30 days before ever reporting her child missing? That's insane, that's bizarre... The answer is actually relatively simple. She never was missing," Baez said. "Caylee Anthony died on June 16, 2008 when she drowned in her family's swimming pool."
Note the use of wording: "insane" and "bizarre"; both of which will likely be repeated throughout the trial.
Note the use of qualifiers regarding the "answer" that the public has waited 3 years to hear. Watch how it progresses with qualifiers:
"The answer is simple" is straight forward and reliable
"The answer is actually simple" with the word "actually" used to compare two or more ideas
"The answer is actually relatively simple" takes two similar words, and joins them together and should be flagged for deception:
"relative" compares two or more, as with a standard;
"actually" compares two or more, such as "I don't like vanilla, I actually like strawberry"
That Baez shows the sensitivity of two additional words (which are similar) indicates the strong increase of sensitivity found in deception.
After declaring to the world that Caylee was alive for months after June 16th, he now told the jury that she was dead on June 16th, and that her mother has sat in jail for 3 years for failing to report an accident. His words show deception, as does common sense.
Baez also claimed that Casey Anthony's father, George Anthony, found the body in the backyard pool and indicated that he helped dispose of the body. The defense lawyer even suggested George Anthony planted evidence to implicate his daughter and deflect suspicion from himself.
This is the pattern of Casey Anthony's lying: she not only gives too many details, she piles them on. See prior analysis in which it may be that few truthful sentences may be discerned from Casey Anthony noted by the absence of detail.
"What makes this case unique is the family that it happened to. You will hear stories about a family that is incredibly dysfunctional, you will hear about ugly things, secret things, things that people don't speak about," Baez said.
Note that Baez uses the word "stories." This is something that came into his mind, and he spoke it. Why did he not say "you will hear testimony" or "you will hear testimonies"? It should be noted that what he plans on telling to the jury is indeed "stories", just as Casey has told many stories about imaginary people and imaginary jobs. Jose Baez is telling us that "stories" is all he has. We do not know if he can find anyone to take the stand to bring forth a story other than Casey Anthony herself.
Casey Anthony wept as defense attorney Baez described her and her family. Anthony's defense team alleges that she was sexually abused by her father and brother and hid her daughter's death like she hid the secret of her alleged sexual abuse.
"On June 16, 2008, after Caylee died, Casey did what she's been doing all her life, hiding her pain, going into that dark corner and pretending that she does not live in the situation that she's living in... it all began when Casey was 8 years old and her father came into her room and began to touch her inappropriately and it escalated," Baez said.
This particular statement does not contain signals of deception.
Note that "began" is given without conclusion, an indication that, at least to the speaker, it continues to this day.
It is likely that Jose Baez believes that when Casey Anthony was 8 years old, her father molested her. It does not make it true, but that Baez repeats it without signals of deception. He believes it.
George Anthony, the first witness called in the trial, denied the defense team's allegations that he ever abused his daughter, Casey Anthony. He said that today's opening statements were the first time he ever heard about Caylee's alleged drowning.
"When I heard that today, it hurt really bad. If I would have known something happened to Caylee, I wouldn't be hear today," George Anthony testified. "I would have done everything humanly possible to save my granddaughter if what was stated prior really happened."
The sensitivity attached to "hurt" is obvious, as for 3 years he fought to prove his daughter innocent and to quell his wife by searching for a child he knew was dead from the time he smelled her body in the car.
The defense lawyer said that Casey Anthony's actions in the month before Caylee was reported missing, but allegedly already dead, were affected by the abuse she suffered as a child at the hands of her father.
Question: Does Baez believe that Caylee was drowned?
Answer: No
Does Baez believe that Casey sat in jail for 3 years for not reporting an accident?
"Casey Anthony was raised to lie," Baez said. He added, "Sex abuse does things to us, it changes you."
The first sentence, "Casey Anthony was raised to lie" is straight forward and something Baez believes. He has had enough meetings with the parents to know both are liars. It is his second sentence that we find sensitivity indicators showing distance:
"sex abuse does things to us" with the pronoun "us", which would include him. Consistency in pronoun use shows veracity, but Baez then says "it changes you", denying the initial pronoun. Here, he distances himself and the inconsistent usage indicates deception. Baez knows the motive for the murder.
The attorney said, "She's not guilty of murder... This is not a murder case. This is a sad, tragic accident that snowballed out of control."
She is not guilty of murder, which is true; she has not been convicted. He knows that this is a murder case. Note that he uses the language that George Anthony is alleged to have used to River Cruz, the woman he had an affair with. This would be an attempt to tie George to the murder..
As we continue, we seek to learn if Baez does, in deed, know the motive for the murder.
Casey Anthony Murder Trial Begins With Tears
Baez alleged that after pulling Caylee from the pool, George Anthony screamed at Casey Anthony, "Look what you've done. Your mother will never forgive you. You'll go to jail for the rest of your life."
"your mother will never forgive you" introduces Cindy Anthony into the realm of the death of Caylee Anthony. This is an other signal that Baez knows why Casey killed her child.
The defense lawyer claimed George Anthony attempted to make his daughter look guilty to stop the public from finding out about his alleged sexual molestation of Casey Anthony.
"You'll see evidence, conclusive evidence, that he took steps to throw his own daughter under the bus just to protect himself," Baez told jurors.
The word "evidence" is repeated, indicating that the topic of evidence is sensitive to Baez.
Next, the second use of "evidence" is coupled with "conclusive", which makes it sensitive.
This gives us two indicators of sensitivity towards "evidence" in one sentence which is likely that Jose Baez is being deceptive about this topic.
This means, practically, that Jose Baez knows he does not have evidence to show that George Anthony took steps to blame Casey. If this analysis is correct, the reader may expect to see that Jose Baez does not present any evidence to show that George threw Casey under the bus, as the double sensitivity is cued as deception.
He claimed in his opening statement that George Anthony reported gas cans missing from his shed to point the investigation towards his daughter, Casey. The gas cans had traces of the same duct tape found on Caylee's body.
The prosecution claims Casey Anthony stole the gas cans from the family shed. The defense claims Casey Anthony routinely took gas cans from the family shed.
Baez said that George Anthony suggested that Caylee's death was an accident in a comment to an alleged mistress he met while posting flyers and raising money to find Caylee. "George began to break down and cry and she asked him what happened to Caylee and he said it was an accident that snowballed out of control. This is before Caylee was ever found," Baez said.
Here Baez entered into George's language of "snowball" in order to blame him; he does not produce his own language.
Note that "this was before Caylee was found" has an additional word giving us an indicator of sensitivity: "this was before Caylee was ever found".
Jose Baez claimed that this was an accident and that Caylee died on June 16, 2008, yet the sensitivity of her being found may be due to the fact that while she was missing, Baez made public statements in which he claimed that there was "evidence" that Caylee was alive. His statements then also showed that he was being deceptive; not that he was repeating what his client told him.
George Anthony did not testify about the alleged mistress. He did say that he had moved out of the Anthony home at least four months after Caylee was born because of marital problems with his wife, Cindy Anthony. He denied having anything to do with Caylee's disappearance.
"I never knew of anything that happened to Caylee until our lives started to unfold on July 15 [2008]…and Caylee was found on December 11 [2008]," George Anthony said through tears.
July 15 is the critical date in which George and Cindy Anthony knew that Caylee was dead, in spite of their claims and actions to the contrary. Baez may attempt to bring George back to the stand and question him about the 15th of July, as well as his driving around of the billboard, and the hindering of Tim Miller's search efforts.
The defense said that Casey Anthony isn't a murderer and that she did not hide Caylee's body. Instead, they said that Roy Kronk, the meter reader who discovered Caylee's remains, tampered with the toddler's remains.
"Mr. Kronk is a morally bankrupt individual who actually took Caylee's body and hid her," Baez said. Kronk later "found" the body, Baez claims, because he hoped to collect a reward.
Note that "Mr. Kronk" is an "individual"; not a person, nor a man. We would now be listening carefully to see how he describes Mr. Kronk in the future.
Note that Mr, Kronk "actually"...since "actually" is a word used to compare 2 or more things, what is Baez comparing this to? Note that "actually", when overused, is part of deceptive speech patterns. It is difficult to listen to Casey Anthony without hearing her use the word constantly, as does Baez. Why would it be used by deceptive people?
When "actually" is used, there should be a comparison. When there is no comparison evident, either in the sentence, or by implication in the topic at hand, it should be flagged for possible deception by the analyst as the subject may have it slip into his personal subjective dictionary because, in his mind, he is comparing his statement with reality.
In other words, the word "actually" is a comparison between the lie offered, and truth.
The analyst would do well to flag its use constantly in known deceptive individuals.
Sometimes, a follow up question may be necessary to learn what is being compared as an honest person uses it, and it is not something that always flags deception, but if the subject's speech patterns are known, and other portions of the statement indicate sensitivity or deception, it should be flagged.
Jose Baez and Casey Anthony use it generously and may think that it is a strong emphasis, when it is actually a weakness, just the same as both seem to believe that an over abundance of details proves veracity, when it actually shows weakness. The shortest sentence is best.
Baez knows this is not true and is speaking it anyway. Roy Kronk is likely a man of low character and may even have known where Caylee's remains were approximately located, especially if he had a connection in the jail, and was out to make money, but tying him to George Anthony and having him move the body are different topics of which Jose Baez would need to produce "evidence" to prove; not "stories."
The lawyer did not explain in his opening statement how Kronk allegedly came into possession of Caylee's body.
Casey Anthony began crying almost from the first moments of her murder trial today as the prosecutor laid out a string of elaborate lies that she allegedly used to avoid her parents for a month and pretend that her 2-year-old daughter Caylee was still alive.
Prosecutor Linda Drane-Burdick opened the case by going through each of the 31 days that Caylee was missing, although police and Anthony's parents were unaware of the girl's disappearance.
Using cell phone records and the testimony of Anthony's friends, lovers and family, Drane-Burdick tracked Anthony's moves in those 31 days as she went to several nightclubs and twice visited a tattoo parlor. One of her new tattoos read, "Bella Vita" which means "beautiful life." The prosecutor repeatedly asked during her statement, "Where is Caylee Anthony?"
During that time, the prosecution claimed that Anthony told a variety of lies about Caylee's whereabouts. She told her family and friends that Caylee was with a series of babysitters, was at Universal Studios, or was with a nanny, the prosecution claimed.
"Casey Anthony had access to all the pieces of evidence in this case...no one else lied to their friends, to their family, to investigators, no one else benefited from the death of Caylee Marie Anthony. Caylee's death allowed Casey Anthony to live the good life at least for those 31 days," said Drane-Burdick.
Jurors were shown the last photo taken of Caylee on Father's Day in 2008.
"This isn't about Casey Anthony. It is about what happened between the photograph taken on Father's Day, June 15, 2008 and the photograph taken on December 11, 2008," said Drane-Burdick, referring to the date when Caylee's badly decomposed body was discovered in a swampy field near her house.
When Casey Anthony was finally tracked down by her mother and confronted with her lies, Cindy Anthony demanded to see her granddaughter.
At that point, "Casey Anthony comes up with a new and a better lie. Caylee was kidnapped by the babysitter, the babysitter that nobody has ever seen, that nobody has ever heard of," the prosecutor stated.
It has been challenged that premeditation is precluded by the shovel episode where Casey did not appear to know what to do with the body. The two are not related. It appears that Casey intended to bury the child in her parent's backyard all along, but when it came time to do so, she encountered roots and the digging was too difficult. Thieves are lazy.
Thieves live off the labor of others and although some call it "comfort" zone, (which is true) there is also an element of laziness with the criminal thieving mind: Casey did not know what to do and chose to just dump her rather than do the labor of digging, and to do so near her own house. If Casey encountered bamboo roots, she would not likely work up the sweat to dig them out. She may have had more success had she dug at the dump site, but it appears she did not dig, but just left her daughter, bound, in trash bags.
The path of lease resistance is often the pattern of criminal behavior and should not be overlooked. This is why searches begin closest to the home and spread out.
This is also why Cindy Anthony kicked Tim Miller out of the home when he came to search.
Anthony wore a white shirt with her long brown hair in a ponytail. At times she cried and shook her head as the prosecution depicted her as a party animal who lied to her parents repeatedly about the location of Caylee.
When the prosecution described how Caylee Anthony's decomposing body was found in December 2008, Anthony remained stone faced.
"The body of Caylee Anthony had been wrapped into a Winnie the Pooh blanket, stuffed into many garbage bags thrown into a littered swamp like she was just another piece of trash," the prosecutor said. "All that remained were scattered bones, remnants of clothes that she was wearing and pieces of the plastic bag that had entombed her."
When the prosecutor described the duct tape found on Caylee's body, with little hearts in a pattern, Casey Anthony shook her head.
"Caylee spent many months in that swamp, roots encircled the blanket, they encircled her hair, they wrapped themselves into the bags that she was in," the prosecutor said. "Duct tape covered the nose and mouth area of that tiny human skull. The duct tape was stuck in the hair indicating that Caylee's killer never intended that it be removed."
The most crucial piece of evidence for the prosecution is Anthony's 1998 Pontiac Sunfire. Forensic experts said the car's trunk tested positive for chloroform and decomposition.
Anthony listened as the prosecution described when her father picked up the Pontiac Sunfire after it had been towed.
"As they approach the vehicle, an overwhelming smell is emanating from it and it's coming from the trunk. George Anthony will tell you that he said a silent prayer that it was neither his daughter nor his granddaughter," said Drane-Burdick. "George Anthony got into that car, drove it home. When Cindy Anthony had her first contact with the car, her words to George Anthony were, 'Jesus, what died.'"
The car's smell prompted the family to contact the police about Caylee.
Caylee Anthony was missing for a month when her grandmother finally called 911 in the summer of 2008 to report her granddaughter's disappearance. In the call, she was alarmed about her daughter's car.
"I can't find my granddaughter. There's something wrong. I found my daughter's car today and it smelled like there's been a dead body in the damn car," said Cindy Anthony in the July 2008 call to police.
Two cadaver dogs detected the odor of human decomposition at a playhouse used by Caylee in the Anthony family's backyard. They also detected human decomposition in the trunk of Caylee's car. The prosecution said that one detective "found the highest concentration of chloroform that he's ever seen" in the cover of car's spare tire.
Also found in the trunk were pieces of Caylee Anthony's hair discolored at the root in a way that matches a decomposing human body, the prosecution claimed.
The prosecution coupled the car's forensic evidence with evidence that the desktop computer at the family home revealed Google searches about chloroform and neck strangulation nearly four months before Caylee disappeared.
Despite the car's forensic evidence, experts say the state doesn't have an air tight case against Anthony.
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