Casey Anthony Attorney Reflects Five Years Later: ‘I Just Can’t Tolerate’ Finding Someone Guilty Before The Trial

Nearly five years after Casey Anthony was acquitted of murdering her 2-year-old daughter, the trial judge and her defense attorney talked about their feelings about the case. Casey Anthony’s defense attorney, Cheney Mason, and the judge who presided over the case, Belvin Perry, sat down with the Today Show to talk about how they feel about what went down years ago. On July 5, 2011, Anthony was found not guilty by a jury of her peers, despite the fact there was a significant portion of the population who believed the young mother had done it.

The pair spoke to Today on Thursday morning as part of the show’s “Where Are They Now: Case Closed?” segment. Anthony’s attorney talked about the extraordinary circumstances surrounding the murder trial. Right after the not-guilty verdict was read, a group of about 500 people gathered outside the courthouse. The group had pictures and posters of Casey Anthony as they chanted things like “baby killer.” Mason said the reaction to Anthony was one of the reasons he took the case and fought so hard for Anthony.

“The news media had tried Casey, had convicted Casey, had sentenced Casey, long before there was ever a jury picked, and I just can’t tolerate that.”

The defense attorney also spoke about the crazy people he encountered while he defended Casey Anthony. While discussing that group of people he made it clear he met all kinds. Mason still strikes a defiant tone, nearly five years after he won a case most people hoped he would lose. The judge who presided over the Casey Anthony case took on a strikingly different approach. Belvin Perry told the talk show he just wants to move on with his life. Perry left the bench in 2014, almost exactly three years after the Casey Anthony case came to an end. The former judge said the trial was something he would not like to undertake again because of what it did to his personal life.

“It took a big chunk out of my life. You move on. Because if you stay in the past, you get drug into the past. And life goes on.”

While Mason hasn’t actually claimed Anthony was definitely innocent, instead choosing to harp on the fact he felt Casey Anthony deserved a fair trial, Perry is pretty convinced she likely wasn’t. The former judge told the show he had to read the verdict twice when he received it. He added he was indeed surprised when he saw Anthony had been deemed innocent. The judge made similar comments back in 2013 when he also appeared on television. His comments that day, calling the young woman “very manipulative,” have long irked Mason.

After that appearance, Mason said he thought going on television and talking about the case was reprehensible. The defense attorney added that judges simply don’t do that kind of thing in his book. For his part, Perry didn’t seem to think it was that big an issue considering the trial was long over and Anthony was living free. Since the acquittal, Casey Anthony has largely tried to keep a low profile. While there are still plenty of members of the media who want to know what she’s up to now, Anthony hasn’t attempted to cash in on her fame.

Because she’s still thought of as a child killer by large portions of the country, Casey Anthony has had to move out of her home state, and reports are she’s living under an alias. Rumors began circling earlier this year Casey Anthony might be pregnant again, but she has not come out and spoken about those rumors in public, so it’s all conjecture now.

[Photo by Joe Burbank/AP Images]