Lawyer: George and Cindy Anthony Don't Know Truth, Casey Likely to Take Stand in Trial

June 16, 2009 — -- As George and Cindy Anthony observe the solemn first anniversary of the last day George saw their granddaughter Caylee Anthony alive, the couple's lawyer, Brad Conway, said the grandparents do not know the truth about what happened to Caylee, but he knows of no theory in which the Anthony's daughter and Caylee's mother Casey Anthony is above suspicion.

"They support her, but they don't know what the truth is," Conway said. "There's probably one person that knows the whole truth. That's Casey Anthony."

It's a truth that should come out, Conway said, in the course of a trial during which Casey Anthony would likely take the stand in her own defense.

"In this matter, it's almost inconceivable that she wouldn't take the stand. I think based on [Casey Anthony's attorney] Mr. Baez's assertions, she has to take the stand," Conway said.

Casey Anthony was originally arrested for child neglect in July 2008 after she failed to report her 2-year-old daughter Caylee's disappearance a month earlier. In October she was officially charged with the girl's murder, but it was not until December that the toddler's body was found less than a mile from the home Casey lived in with her parents. Her death was ruled as a homicide of undetermined means.

While police have no other suspects in Caylee's death, Conway said there is "reason to believe that other people were involved," and asked if their involvement could even have bordered on "conspiracy."

"I think there's a lot of facts out there that are being held back by the defense, and rightfully so," Conway said. "And those will come out at trial. So I think people's opinions will change."

Click here to visit the Caylee Marie Anthony Foundation Web site.

Attorneys Act to Stem 'Speculation,' Fear for Fair Trial

While that trial may be as much as a year away, Conway and Baez have filed motions to restrict the flow of information about case -- including the release of Caylee Anthony's autopsy -- to the public for fear it would inspire more "speculation" and endanger Casey Anthony's "right to a fair trial."

"The goal at this point is to take control over the information that goes out and to have people stop and wait and think about the fact that we all have the right to a fair trial," Conway said. "The utlimate prejudice is it is commented on endlessly by shows that try to present themselves as news shows and so the public gets a skewed version of what's really going on... My point is people crawl out of the woodwork to make comments on this and nobody knows whether it's true or not."

Autopsy, Videotape Reaction to Caylee's Body's Discovery Held

The "most important motion," Conway said, was the one filed to exclude the release of the videotape of Casey's reaction to the discovery of Caylee's body -- the result of what he called a "bizarre moment and cruel."

"They specifically brought her into a portion of the medical wing and videotaped her," Conway said. "I think it's absolutely irrelevant because how does anybody react to the news of the death of their child? ... It should be excluded... It was a set-up and it flavors what the public sees and what the public opinion is."

Through Conway, George and Cindy Anthony also managed to put a stay on the release of Caylee's autopsy report, citing the "deep anguish" it would cause the family as well as the "endless comment and speculation" it would incite in the media.

It's due to that "endless" media attention that Conway believes it will be virtually impossible to find a jury that is unfamiliar with the case.

"It's been so publicized that if I can find somebody that knows absolutely nothing about it, they probably don't know much about anything else," Conway said.

While moving the case from Orlando, Florida to Miami may help, as the defense has suggested, Conway said it would still be possible to pick a fair jury, as long as pre-trial motions can keep "critical evidence" from being released and speculated upon.

The comment came days after prosecutors released 1,000 pages of discovery documents connected to the case which detail everything from Casey's work history to a conversation Cindy Anthony allegedly had with a blogger in which she implies Casey was in some way responsible for Caylee's disappearance -- something Conway said never happened.

Conway Dispels 'Untrue' Claims Based on Discovery Documents

Last week reports emerged that a crime blogger claimed Casey Anthony told him Casey "did something" to Caylee -- a claim Conway said the defense will be able to prove is false.

"There were also e-mails that were hacked into and purported to be Cindy's," Conway explained. "She did not say that."

Conway also downplayed documents that suggested Cindy and George may have believed Casey was not fit to be a parent.

"George and Cindy have characterized Casey as a good mother. She's a young mother and every parent makes mistakes," he said. "Were there arguments? Sure there were. But there's a lot of love in that family and there still is.

"There was never any threat or idea that they [George and Cindy] would try to remove Caylee from Casey," he said.

The couple's statements have not always been beneficial to Casey's case. Just days after Casey was arrested for child neglect, a frantic 911 call from Cindy Anthony was released in which she said a car driven by Casey smelled "like there's been a dead body in it."

Cindy Anthony later recanted the statement, saying the smell could have been old pizza, but Conway said the Anthonys do regret the way the statements came out.

"Their regret is that it's out there in the public domain and they don't have the ability to explain the story in full," Conway said. "[They] can't take it back. The only way to maintain her right to a fair trial is to be quiet about it until this is in front of a judge and a jury and they can tell the whole story."

In the meantime, Conway and Baez are expected to make several more motions concerning the release of evidence, both to give a new addition to the defense team, death penalty specialist Andrea Lyon, time to prepare for the trial and to spare the "fragile" Anthony's from repeated media reports about their dead granddaughter.

"What they don't want to hear about for the next year is everybody's speculation about how Caylee died because there is no cause of death," he said.

After the body was found George Anthony contemplated suicide and Cindy Anthony admitted to having similar thoughts herself, Conway said.

"It's been a horrible year," he said.