Casey Anthony's dad George Anthony might file defamation suit after child murder, rape allegations, claims expert
WARREN, OHIO: Casey Anthony's father, whom she accused of raping her and killing her daughter, might file a defamation lawsuit against her. In a new Peacock documentary series, 'Casey Anthony: Where The Truth Lies', the woman once dubbed "America's most hated mom" made the shocking claims, branding her ex-cop father George Anthony a "pedophile" and holding him accountable for the death of two-year-old Caylee Anthony.
Anthony also claimed that her father had repeatedly sexually assaulted her as a child. She first stated the allegations during her 2011 murder trial, in which she was found not guilty, and she is now repeating the claims on the Peacock show. Both allegations have previously been refuted by George. If her claims are false, she may face significant legal consequences, the New York Post reported.
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“If she said it at her trial, that would be privileged,” New York intellectual property lawyer Richard Altman told the outlet. “If she says it outside of a court proceeding then, of course, it’s actionable and if she repeats it now, even though this happened years ago, in theory [her dad] has a year to go after her," Altman said, as per the report. “The statement so-and-so raped me is a factual statement that can be proven or disproven and therefore it qualifies as the kind of statement that can be defamation. Theoretically does he have a legally sufficient case to bring? It would seem so,” he added.
The documentary series features her breaking down in tears as she confesses to having "dark" fears that her father had also abused Caylee. This is the first time she has spoken out on camera in more than 10 years. “I know what he did to me — and that was my fear. I had one job — to keep her safe,” Casey said. She continued, “I failed her again and again and again because I still protected the person who hurt me,” she said of her dad. “I did protect my abuser — and protected her abuser. And that crushes me.”
Casey tells a different story than what she told police after her mother Cindy called 911 to report Caylee missing on July 15, 2008, a month after she was last seen alive in Florida. According to transcripts of two 911 calls, Cindy claimed her two-year-old granddaughter had been missing for a month. She told police that she had “found my daughter’s car today and it smells like there’s been a dead body in the damn car.”
Casey, the report added, then takes the phone and tells the operator Caylee had been taken by a nanny named Zenida Fernandez Gonzalez. Casey was arrested the next day on charges of child neglect, giving false statements, and obstruction. At the opening of her 2011 trial for murder, Casey’s lawyer admitted the babysitter never existed and then claimed Caylee had drowned in the family pool.