Trial judge offers new theory on death of Casey Anthony's daughter, Caylee Anthony

ORLANDO, Fla. -- The judge who presided over Casey Anthony’s murder trial says the Florida mother may have killed her 2-year-old daughter by accident.

Anthony may have been trying to quiet the child, Caylee, with chloroform and accidentally used too much, former Circuit Judge Belvin Perry Jr. said Wednesday in an interview with the Orlando Sentinel.

“There was a possibility that she may have utilized that to keep the baby quiet ... and just used too much of it, and the baby died,” he said.

Perry said it’s a theory and, if jurors in Anthony’s 2011 trial had come to that conclusion, they might have convicted her of second-degree murder or manslaughter.

But Perry, who retired and joined a private law firm in 2014, stressed that was just one of several theories about what may have happened to Caylee.

“As I’ve expressed, the only person that really knows what happened was Casey,” he said.

He didn’t “find fault” with the verdict, the Sentinel points out.

Anthony, now 30, was acquitted in a trial that was broadcast live on television and garnered worldwide attention.

Perry didn’t fault the verdict but said evidence showed Anthony had gone online to research how to use chloroform as a sedative.

The child’s remains were found five months after she was reported missing and authorities were unable to determine a cause of death.

During Anthony’s trial, defense attorney Jose Baez told jurors the toddler accidentally drowned in the family pool and someone else hid the body. Prosecutors said Anthony used chloroform and then suffocated the child by putting duct tape over her mouth.

Prosecutors were seeking the death penalty, the Sentinel notes.