Casey Anthony, with her attorney Dorothy Clay Sims, is seen during a court recess following the state's closing arguments in her murder trial in Orlando, Fla. (AP2011)
As Americans shake our collective heads in disgust and disbelief, the shock waves are reaching the level of a judicial tsunami. Casey Anthony has been found not guilty of all charges accusing her of killing her sweet toddler, Caylee Marie.
Given everything we've heard about her, who would have thought that outcome remotely possible?
In retrospect, this jury managed the nearly impossible. It put aside the three years of character evidence that proved the defendant was randy, restless and hungry to party. And it focused on what the state proved Casey did or did not do to her child.
Remember, there was no DNA, no fingerprints, and no logical motive to explain why a loving, doting mother could suddenly decide to kill her child using a savage method that was bizarre and brutal: suffocation with duct tape.
The jurors didn't buy it and now Casey Anthony is about to walk free.
And how about Latino defense attorney José Baez. Never has a member of the bar been so vilified. As reviled and hated as his client is, much of that anger was also focused on him. Incompetent, he was called. Disorganized. A rookie who shouldn't have been in that courtroom in the first place.
Well guess what? Outspent 20 to one, he kicked Florida's butt.
And I loved that he spoke in Spanish to the one constituency that didn't blame him for the crime.
In Orange County Florida, this new center of stateside Puerto Rican life, this 42-year old litigator will become a powerful force for justice.
Geraldo Rivera is Senior Columnist for Fox News Latino.
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