Casey Anthony's Defense Attorney In Town Touting New Book
MIAMI (CBS4) - Jose Baez, the lawyer who defended Casey Anthony in her murder trial, is in South Florida opening up a law firm and promoting his new book.
"What people are going to find with this book, is that this is not just a book about trial. It's a book about our justice system," said Baez.
In a one-on-one interview, Baez tells CBS4's Gio Benitez he is not cashing in on the case with his new book, "Presumed Guilty."
"I think if I became a number 1 best seller for a straight year, I'd probably get bumped up to about $4 an hour. All the hours I put into this case. It was a significant personal sacrifice," he said.
His former client, Anthony, was accused of the first degree murder of her 2-year-old daughter Caylee. A jury found Anthony not guilty last year.
Baez thinks Caylee drowned in the family pool and argues that Anthony's father knew about the death. But for some reason, he says, nobody called police.
In the book, Baez talks about Anthony's mental state, saying Anthony created a "fantasy world."
"I think people get thrust into lives that they have no control over," he said. "This was a very common accident that happened to an uncommon group of people."
"[Casey] gave me permission to write the book and a waiver to tell my story, which was ethically required of me," he added. "I don't think the book is just about Casey Anthony. It really isn't. It's more of my story, what I went through, and what I observed in this phenomenon of a high profile case."
We turned the conversation to George Zimmerman, accused of murdering 17-year-old Trayvon Martin. Zimmerman approached Baez for representation, but Baez did not take on the case.
"No one should read into that, meaning if I thought he was innocent or guilty or anything like that, but I'm just not at liberty to say any more," he said.
Jose Baez will sign copies of his book at Books & Books in Coral Gables on Monday night at 8 p.m.
