section_path: Reactions/Defense, prosecution, and jury
section_name: Defense, prosecution, and jury
paragraph_text: Defense, prosecution, and jury
  
  Baez reacted to the verdict by saying, "While we're happy for Casey, there are no winners in this case," though he noted that "our system of justice has not dishonored memory by a false conviction." State's Attorney Lawson Lamar said that the prosecution's case was "very, very difficult to prove," adding, "The delay in recovering little Caylee's remains worked to our considerable disadvantage." Lamar said that the state had "put in absolutely every piece of evidence that existed". On July 6, 2011, Ashton gave his first interview about the case on ABC 's The View, stating, "Obviously, it's not the outcome we wanted. But from the perspective of what we do, this was a fantastic case." He said the state was right to have charged first-degree murder, and explained, "I think it all came down to the evidence. I think ultimately it came down to the cause of death." Ashton stated that if the jury did not perceive first-degree murder when they saw the photograph of Caylee's skull with the duct tape, "then so be it". Ashton suggested that the state could pursue perjury charges against Cindy for her claims regarding the chloroform searches. The state attorney's office later said she would not be charged.
  
  Initially, the twelve jurors did not want to discuss the verdict with the media. Perry announced at sentencing on July 7 that he would withhold the jurors' names for several months because of concern that "ome people would like to take something out on them". He released the jurors' names on October 25, 2011. Only an alternate juror, Russell Huekler, stepped forward the day of the verdict, saying, "The prosecution didn't provide the evidence that was there for any of the charges from first-degree murder down to second-degree murder to the child abuse to even the manslaughter. It just wasn't there."
  
  The next day, juror number three, Jennifer Ford gave an interview to ABC News, emphasizing that the jury was not required to find Casey innocent to find her not guilty, saying, "If you cannot prove what the crime was, you cannot determine what the punishment should be." She added that the defense's argument seemed more logical than the prosecution's, though she noted that the jury was "sick to stomach" over the verdict. Juror number two, who requested to stay unidentified, told the St. Petersburg Times that the jurors "agreed if we were going fully on feelings and emotions," they would find Casey guilty, but they "wanted to go on the evidence that was presented to us".
  
  In an anonymous interview, juror number eleven, the jury foreman, stated that "a feeling of disgust" came over him when he (wrongly) thought his "signature and signature were going to be on the sheet". The foreman said that the state's failure to prove the cause of death and suspicion regarding the role Casey's father George had played had both factored into the jury's deliberations. In another interview, the foreman stated that the jury had been skeptical of the offered motive for the alleged killing: "That a mother would want to do something like that to her child just because she wanted to go out and party... the motive that the state provided was, in our eyes, was just kind of weak." The foreman said that, in an initial poll, the jury had voted 10–2 in favor of the not guilty verdict, and, after more than ten hours of deliberation, they collectively decided the only charges proven were the four counts of lying to law enforcement.
  
  In 2021, one juror said he regretted his decision to fully acquit Casey of homicide and abuse, and said that in retrospect he would at least vote to convict her of aggravated manslaughter of a child and aggravated child abuse. He said of his vote to acquit her on the most serious charges, "I don't know what the hell I was doing."
  
  Baez reacted to the verdict by saying, "While we're happy for Casey, there are no winners in this case," though he noted that "our system of justice has not dishonored memory by a false conviction." State's Attorney Lawson Lamar said that the prosecution's case was "very, very difficult to prove," adding, "The delay in recovering little Caylee's remains worked to our considerable disadvantage." Lamar said that the state had "put in absolutely every piece of evidence that existed". On July 6, 2011, Ashton gave his first interview about the case on ABC 's The View, stating, "Obviously, it's not the outcome we wanted. But from the perspective of what we do, this was a fantastic case." He said the state was right to have charged first-degree murder, and explained, "I think it all came down to the evidence. I think ultimately it came down to the cause of death." Ashton stated that if the jury did not perceive first-degree murder when they saw the photograph of Caylee's skull with the duct tape, "then so be it". Ashton suggested that the state could pursue perjury charges against Cindy for her claims regarding the chloroform searches. The state attorney's office later said she would not be charged.
  
  Initially, the twelve jurors did not want to discuss the verdict with the media. Perry announced at sentencing on July 7 that he would withhold the jurors' names for several months because of concern that "ome people would like to take something out on them". He released the jurors' names on October 25, 2011. Only an alternate juror, Russell Huekler, stepped forward the day of the verdict, saying, "The prosecution didn't provide the evidence that was there for any of the charges from first-degree murder down to second-degree murder to the child abuse to even the manslaughter. It just wasn't there."
  
  The next day, juror number three, Jennifer Ford gave an interview to ABC News, emphasizing that the jury was not required to find Casey innocent to find her not guilty, saying, "If you cannot prove what the crime was, you cannot determine what the punishment should be." She added that the defense's argument seemed more logical than the prosecution's, though she noted that the jury was "sick to stomach" over the verdict. Juror number two, who requested to stay unidentified, told the St. Petersburg Times that the jurors "agreed if we were going fully on feelings and emotions," they would find Casey guilty, but they "wanted to go on the evidence that was presented to us".
  
  In an anonymous interview, juror number eleven, the jury foreman, stated that "a feeling of disgust" came over him when he (wrongly) thought his "signature and signature were going to be on the sheet". The foreman said that the state's failure to prove the cause of death and suspicion regarding the role Casey's father George had played had both factored into the jury's deliberations. In another interview, the foreman stated that the jury had been skeptical of the offered motive for the alleged killing: "That a mother would want to do something like that to her child just because she wanted to go out and party... the motive that the state provided was, in our eyes, was just kind of weak." The foreman said that, in an initial poll, the jury had voted 10–2 in favor of the not guilty verdict, and, after more than ten hours of deliberation, they collectively decided the only charges proven were the four counts of lying to law enforcement.
  
  In 2021, one juror said he regretted his decision to fully acquit Casey of homicide and abuse, and said that in retrospect he would at least vote to convict her of aggravated manslaughter of a child and aggravated child abuse. He said of his vote to acquit her on the most serious charges, "I don't know what the hell I was doing."