Website Make Over Features 2011 Favorite Reads

I've been slowly but surely working on revitalizing my website.  You'll find the newest update on my 2011 Favorite Reads page.  For those of you not familiar with the favorite reads section, it is a list of my favorites that I've read during a year--some new books and some older ones.  I have a separate page for every year beginning with 2006.

I added eight books to this year's page just recently, bringing the total number of my favorite reads for this list to fourteen books in a wide range of titles.  So far, all but one are fiction--although some very throughly researched historical fiction.  I'm on the hunt for good non-fiction that is not political to round out my list.  But a book won't get there unless I enjoy the read a lot. 

I'd love to hear your reactions to the books on my list and your suggestions for books I should consider reading. 

"A room without books is like a body without a soul." Cicero

Norway: It Could Happen Here

Not only could the vicious crime in Norway have happened here, I am surprised that it did not.  We've been pushing the envelope in our discourse to that end.

Look at this statement about the Norway shooting and bombing suspect from an article in Sunday morning's San Antonio Express News: "He'd been a member of the right-wing Progress Party which began as an anti-tax protest and has been stridently anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim."  Sound familiar?

The newspaper added that he "quit the party in 2006, apparently disappointed by the party's move toward center."  We see this kind of intolerance toward any proposed compromises in our current poltiical and economic situation from some.  And from others, we hear hate speech and negativity--the language that fuels people like Anders Behring Breivik in Norway.

Look back on America's history.  Every great success of this country has come when we have presented a united front.  When we abandon the ideology the requires us to focus on our differences and turn instead to seeking our commonalities.  Only then can we pull together in the face of a common enemy.  Yes, there will always be dissenters and that is a good part of our heritage; but the majority must be walking together toward overcoming the situation that threatens to destroy us.

Surveys show that our current battle with the economy has united most Americans--73% want our politicians to come together and reach a compromise.  Our elected representatves have chosen instead to play politics with our future, to honor commitments to lobbyists, to gamble with the best interests of our country to make feeble points.

It is time for our representatives and Senators to follow the willl of the people and listen to the words coined by Aesop and repeated by Patrick Henry, Benjamin Franklin and Abraham Lincoln: "United we stand, divided we fall."

When Juries Get It Wrong

I imagine in the current news environment, that headline makes you think of the Casey Anthony trial or maybe O.J. Simpson, Robert Durst or Mary Winkler.  That side of the equation makes one think of a perpetrator going free, feeling invincible and ready to victimize again--all because the jury bought into dubious claims of self-defense or false or exaggerated tales of abuse. 

For this to happen, someone is usually sacrificed on the public altar to vindicate the perpetrator.  For example, take George Anthony.  For the rest of his life, some people will believe or suspect him of wrong-doing,  Some bells just can't be unrung.  It's an ugly, frustrating miscarriage of justice.

However, an even worse situation exists when a jury awards a guilty verdict to an innocent person.  In a wrongful conviction, a person's life is ruined--permanently.  First by the trauma of incarceration for a crime the person never committed, then by a taint that can never be totally erased even if the exonoree is found not guilty in a second trial and receives a certificate of actual innocence from the state.

This thwarted justice happens more than we would like to believe.  Look at Dallas County alone: District Attorney Craig Watkins created the Conviction Integrity Unit in 2007 in cooperation with the Texas Innocence Project. Through DNA testing alone, more than twenty wrongfully convicted people have been set free--most of them men in murder and rape cases.  The unit has expanded its scope to cases where genetic evidence is not available, a more common situation for women imprisoned for a crime they did not commit.  Now both Houston and New York City are establishing similar divisions to examine cases in their areas.

More suffer than just the wrongfully convicted in these cases.  Families and friends have their lives and hearts torn apart.  They spend years of their lives in an essential obsession with the case that put an innocent loved one behind bars.  Scraping together money, uttering ceaseless prayers, pleading with anyone--and everyone--to help the person behind bars for a crime committed by someone else.

The price to all of us as a society?  Of course, there are the financial expenses of re-opening any case.  Worse than that, though, is the thought that the person who committed a heinous crime is walking about, laughing up his sleeve, confident in his ability to commit a similar crime, again and again--an emboldened criminal ready to victimize anyone he encounters.

In a wrongful conviction, we often see prosecutors who have overstepped the mark or lost sight of their mission to seek truth and find justice.  In wrongful acquittals, we often encounter defense attorneys willing to sling unsubstantiated smears maligning the character of the victim or of any person who appears to be a good target.

We have laws governing the behaviour of prosecutors but sometimes they are adept at hiding their duplicities and violations.  We must have more not less transparency from the state's attorneys.  More documents need to be made public.  Florida actually does a better job of this than most states.

Defense attorneys, however, seem relatively ungoverned in their courtroom behavior.  They do need to do their best to raise the questions that lead to unreasonable doubt.  But does that mean they should be able to destroy the lives of others with impunity in their desire to defend their client?  One would think legal ethics would stop them in their tracks but many of them appear oblivious. 

We need our courts to be a place that reveals truth--not a shield to protect wrongdoing and reckless allegations.  Something must be done to hold the attorneys accountable.  You can't expect juries to get the verdict right unless we do.

What Have We Learned from the Casey Anthony Jury?

Set aside, for a moment, your feelings and opinions about the verdict in the Casey Anthony trial and think about jury service and how you'd react in that environment.

Juries tend to form a bond throughout the length of a trial and this connection is even stronger among sequestered jurors.  How could you, in that position, ward off succumbing to the pack mentality?

The only hope any of us have of avoiding being part of hive-think is if we contemplate it in advance.  If we realize the pull of cohesion and guard against it.  Enter the situation determined to think as an individual rather than respond as the member of a group to thought of the whole.

Let's say you accomplish that and still, you are deliberating a case that seems to have no right answer.  You've looked at all the evidence and come to the conclusion that the state did not prove their case.  But in your gut, you are certain the defendant is guilty.  What do you do then?

If you follow the letter of the law, you would vote for acquittal.  But if you did that and allowed someone you believed to be guilty, go free, could you live with yourself afterwards?

I've long been a strong proponent of civil disobedience.  I think there are times when the clash between law and personal principle requires the most law abiding citizen to stand up against the law.  But is the jury room the right place to do that?

I know that if I were faced with that dilemna, I would be torn.  The worse the crime, the greater the temptation to do what is technically wrong for what felt morally right.  But would I succumb to that temptation?  I don't know.  Would I be wrong if I voted "guilty" and stuck with it in a small room with eleven others in disagreement with me?  Would I be wrong if I decided the greater good dictated that I hang the jury and give the state another opportunity to prove its case?

Honestly, at this moment, sitting here by myself, I cannot swear that I know what I would do if placed in that situation.  I do know this: if I ever served on a jury again, I would think about my options--all of them.  Hopefully, I would land on the right side of justice.

What about you?  What would you think?  How would you react?  And would your actions benefit or harm our system of justice?

Whirlwind of Emotions and Travel: the Casey Anthony Case

The not guilty verdict in the Casey Anthony case was one possibility that never crossed my mind.  Although I never thought it was possible that she would get the death penalty, I did think she could be convicted of premeditated murder.  I also could conceive of a second degree, manslaughter or aggravated child abuse conviction.  I imagined a hung jury was also a possibility.  It never crossed my mind that twelve people could agree on a not guilty verdict.

When I heard it on Tuesday afternoon, I went numb and had difficulty processing it.  After spending a couple of hours watching the reactions on television and reading messages, tweets and posts, I needed to get away from it all and try to put it out of my mind.  I poured a glass of wine, put on some music and picked up Sworn to Silence, a novel by Linda Castillo.  Then the phone rang.

The Today Show folks wanted me in New York City the next morning.  I packed not knowing a thing about my flight arrangements,  It turned out that it was too late in the day to get a flight from San Antonio direct--or even close to that.  I ended up flying to Los Angeles where I boarded a red-eye to the Newark Airport.

I thought I would have time at the hotel to shower, change and relax before reporting to the studio.  Since I arrived during rush hour, that hope soon dissipated.  I reached the hotel at 8:30 Wednesday morning and was due in the studio at 8:45.

I quickly changed, discovering as I did that I forgot to pack my shoes.  All I had were the pair of leather thongs that I'd worn to the airport.  Fortunately, I could leave my hair and make-up to the professionals at the studio. On set,  I tucked my feet behind the rung of the stool on the set hoping no one would notice my footwear.

Hoda and Kathie Lee graciously introduced themselves before the interview.  Afterwards, they talked to me about my book and we shared a good laugh over the shoes--a relatable moment for women everywhere.

In the green room, I snatched a piece of string cheese for breakfast, headed back to the hotel and got my much desired shower.  I checked out before noon and was on my way back to the airport for a much welcomed direct flight.

Along the way, I thought a lot about the jury's decision.  I had reviewed the forensic reports and other evidentiary documents at length.  It seemed to me that the ten-plus hours of deliberation did not allow the jury sufficient time to adequately review that evidence.  It was as if they based their conclusions solely on the testimony heard in the courtroom and did not consider the evidentiary value of the submitted materials.  It seemed as if they took placed more value on the opening statements of the defense than they did on the scientific reports before them.

They balked at the circumstantial evidence wanting a witness to the crime, a confession to the murder or DNA evidence.  In most cases, killers do not invite guests to the main event.  In this particular death, the Florida heat and the flooding by a hurricane resulted in the decomposition of everything but dry bones.  The DNA decomposed like the remains of the biological material.  The jurors themselves have said they do not believe Casey is innocent.

I;ve been struggling to catch up on all of your email, tweets and facebook comments but the volume has staggered me.  I am still trying.  Mixed it with it all, were the name-calling messages from those who disagree with my viewpoint. 

I did not base my conclusions on hyperbole or media frenzy.  I derived them from a thoughtful consideration of the evidence undercovered during the investigation.  I am not a "prosecution hack."  Yes, in this case, I sided with the prosecution because I believed they were right.  But, I have, in other cases, strongly advocated for wrongful convictions.  In one case, I received the Defenders of the Innocent award from the Downstate Illinois Innocence Project.

I wrote my book, Mommy's Little Girl, with a determination to speak the truth and a strong desire to be a voice for the victim, Caylee Marie Anthony.  All I wanted was Justice for Caylee.

Casey Anthony and Hare's Checklist: Part Two

In an earlier post, we examined the first ten items in Dr. Robert Hare's twenty-point psychopathy checklist.  All ten could be connected to the personality and behavior of Casey Anthony.  Now here are the second group of points for consideration.

Promiscuous Sexual Behavior: a variety of brief, superficial relations, numerous affairs, and an indiscriminate selection of sexual partners; the maintenance of several relationships at the same time; a history of attempts to sexually coerce others into sexual activity or taking great pride at discussing sexual exploits or conquests.

Casey has a long list of conquests including a string of one-night stands around the time that Caylee was conceived.  Some she only knew by first names.  It is no surprise that Casey cannot tell us who Caylee's father is.  She used Anthony Rusciano mercilessly, leaving him feel like dreadful when she rose from his bed and walked out without a word.  She had a string of overlapping, serial relationships--still having sexual relations with Rico Morales as she transitioned to Tony Lazzaro.

 Early Behavior Problems: a variety of behaviors prior to age 13, including lying, theft, cheating, vandalism, bullying, sexual activity, fire-setting, glue-sniffing, alcohol use, and running away from home.


No know evidence of these problems in Casey Anthony.


Lack of realistic, long-term goals: an inability or persistent failure to develop and execute long-term plans and goals; a nomadic existence, aimless, lacking direction in life.

Casey couldn't even manage to stick it out long enough to graduate from high school.  She expressed an interest in photography and her father tried to help her get into school to study, she dropped that ball without looking back.  She hadn't worked for years and led an empty life filled with parties and sex without an apparent thought for tomorrow.


Impulsivity: the occurrence of behaviors that are unpremeditated and lack reflection or planning; inability to resist temptation, frustrations, and urges; a lack of deliberation without considering the consequences; foolhardy, rash, unpredictable, erratic, and reckless.

She murdered Caylee without having a plan to dispose of the body.  She hid her pregnancy without a thought for her ability to conceal it forever.  She lived her life one day at a time, making up one lie after another to buy time before the inevitable revelation of Caylee's death.


Irresponsibility: repeated failure to fulfill or honor obligations and commitments; such as not paying bills, defaulting on loans, performing sloppy work, being absent or late to work, failing to honor contractual agreements.

She lost her job by not showing up. She didn't not graduate from high school by being absent.  She did not work to pay her bills, preferring to steal from others including her parents, friends and elderly grandparents.


Failure to accept responsibility for own actions: a failure to accept responsibility for one's actions reflected in low conscientiousness, an absence of dutifulness, antagonistic manipulation, denial of responsibility, and an effort to manipulate others through this denial.

It was always someone else's fault.  It was the high school's fault that she did not graduate.  It was George, Lee and Cindy's fault that she lied.  It was an accident that Caylee died.  It was Roy Kronk's fault for dumping the body in the woods.  She was a victim, she insisted, not a perpetrator.


Many short-term marital relationships: a lack of commitment to a long-term relationship reflected in inconsistent, undependable, and unreliable commitments in life, including marital.

Casey bounced from one relationship to another, although engaged, she'd not ever been married.  Her interpersonal relationships with her family members were mercurial, more like that of a 13-year old than that of a young woman in her twenties.



Juvenile Delinquency: behavior problems between the ages of 13-18; mostly behaviors that are crimes or clearly involve aspects of antagonism, exploitation, aggression, manipulation, or a callous, ruthless tough-mindedness.


Casey Anthony did not have a juvenile record. Her manipulation of others, however, was clearly evident as was her habit of lying about everything and nothing at all.


Revocation of condition release: a revocation of probation or other conditional release due to technical violations, such as carelessness, low deliberation, or failing to appear.


Casey Anthony did not violate conditional release when she was out on bail on the check theft charges.  She did not have the opportunity to do so after she was charged with murder because she was never released on bail.


Criminal Versatility: a diversity of types of criminal offenses, regardless if the person has been arrested or convicted for them; taking great pride at getting away with crimes.


Repeated theft from parents, grandparents and friends. False statements to the police. Suspected homicide of a child.

Casey Anthony easily meets the definition in seven of these final ten points.  That gives her a positive response on 17 out of 20 of the items.  However, taking it a step further, scoring each point on a scale of 0-2.  By my calculation, that would give her a total score between 32 and 38.  A diagnosis of psychopathy is met when the subject scores 30 points or more.

I am not a mental health professional, but it seems clear to me that Casey Anthony fits the diagnosis.  It explains why Caylee Marie Anthony is now dead.

Casey Anthony Defense Goes Out With a Whimper

To the disappointment of many, Casey Anthony did not take the stand for an explosive finale for the defense case.  I imagine she wanted to do so but deferred to the advice of counsel.  I would think that she'd believe that she was capable of winning over the jurors with a brilliant performance of creative prevarication.  I suspect that she fantasized the moment in the spotlight on many lonely nights in her cell. 

Instead, the defense put up three witnesses, Cindy, George and Lee Anthony, who testified about Casey learning to wrap a pet's body in a blanket and place it inside a garbage bag, leading to the conclusion that she used that methodology when she disposed of the body of her daughter.  I know that was not the defense's intent but that was the big, final point that came before they rested their case.

Jose Baez did not live up to the promises that he made to the jury in his opening statements.  No one testified to the childhood sexual abuse of Casey Anthony, even though Baez was extremely graphic about it in his jarring presentation.  What could the jurors think but that it was all a big lie from the young woman who is a master at weaving truth-free tales?

He did not have anyone to testify to the accidental drowning of Caylee as he claimed.  There was testimony that, at one point, George believed it was an accident that went horribly wrong--but not that he knew it.  And he had no one to testify that it was George who disposed of the body or Roy Kronk who moved the body.

Jurors remember.  When you deliver an opening statement and tell the court that the evidence will show something, you'd better deliver.  Hollow promises should lead to a defeat for Jose Baez and Justice for Caylee Marie Anthony.

Closing statements on Sunday, July 3.