Casey Anthony Drama Approaches Final Act

By Diane Fanning

As we get closer and closer to the trial of Casey Anthony for the murder of her toddler daughter Caylee, it is looking more likely that the end will be anticlimatic.  Instead of terminating in one explosive scene after another on a tense courtroom stage, it appears as if it will end with an abrupt drop of the curtain as Casey whispers "guilty."  A last minute plea bargain seems nearly inevitable.

I know a lot of people will disagree with me saying that Casey is too narcissistic to accept any level of responsibility for her actions, and her lead attorney Jose Baez is too arrogant and media-hungry to let this one go.  Those arguments have merit.  But many stubborn clients have succumbed when they truly accept the real possibility that the curtain call will be a lethal injection.

You see the signs of willingness to deal on both sides.  Baez is acting reckless with the judge--burning bridges through neglect and frontal assault.  He's missed the judge's deadlines even after being cited for the same offense.  Then last week, he topped it all with a motion for a rehearing.  He wrote that Judge Perry had inaccurate facts and was biased.  He didn't ask the judge to recuse himself.  He simply threw a gauntlet.

The defense did have a point--albeit a small one.  The judge did incorrectly describe the room where Casey had her initial lengthy discussion with law enforcement but everyone understood his meaning.   Did Baez and costar Cheney Mason really think the judge would give them a do-over by allowing a rehearing?  If they did, they were wrong.  He denied that request, like so many others.

The victim: Caylee Anthony

The defense is also sounding desperate.  Baez's voice even quavered during arguments about evidence last week.  He's acting like a man who knows that if he can't get the evidence thrown out, he doesn't have a chance at trial.  I'm surprised he hasn't filed a motion denying the existence of Caylee Anthony.

Before this week is out, they'll all be back in the courtroom where Baez and Mason will argue about the inclusion at trial of the stain in the car trunk, all references to the smell of the car and dismissal of any mentions of the heart sticker placed on the duct tape fastened over little Caylee's mouth.

Judge Perry may give him one or two wins in his mountains of motions but not enough to weaken the state's case appreciably. Baez is not the country's most brilliant legal mind but even he can understand how dire things look for his client.

On the other side of the aisle, the prosecutors are feeling the pressure of budgetary concerns and the ruling that there has been sufficient pre-trial publicity to warrant not selecting jurors from Orlando or Orange County.  Rather than make a change of venue, Judge Perry decided to import a jury from elsewhere.

When Ninth Judicial Circuit Court spokesman Karen Levey estimated the cost of supporting that sequestered jury for eight weeks would be $360,000, an outcry arose.  Lydia Gardner, the clerk of circuit courts in Orange County said that without more funding from the state senate, the court could not afford a trial for Casey Anthony.  Florida, like just about every other state in the Union, is seeking to cut expenses, not to find places to dole out taxpayer dollars.

To me, it seems the stage is set for a plea bargain.  And it could come at the very last moment.  I sat in the courtroom on the first day of jury selection for the Richard McFarland trial and it happened right before my eyes.  I found it hard to believe that an agreement was not reached before that moment in time.

Will the players in the Casey Anthony drama all gather on the stage before a packed courtroom audience and the eager cameras of In Session for a performance that will never begin?  Or will the show go on?

May 9 is less than six weeks away.

Diane Fanning is the author of MOMMY'S LITTLE GIRL, the only published book about the tragic fate of little Caylee Anthony.  When the Casey Anthony trial begins, you'll find daily updates of the case on Diane Fanning's blog, Writing is a Crime.

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Lessons from the Dead

by Diane Fanning

When I travel to a high school to speak to students, I take with me the lessons I have learned from the dead -- how not to become a victim, how to recognize warning signs in a relationship, how to trust your intuition.  Because, in most instances, the victim has contributed to their victimization.

Ask any seasoned violent crimes investigator.  They'll tell you that they rarely see a totally innocent victim.  Something the person did or didn't do set them up for the predator.  Did that mean they deserved their fate?  Absolutely not.

 

The fact is that predators are constantly on the lookout for vulnerability and opportunity.  Controllers seek relationships with those they can dominate.  They all prey on our weakness, and we need to know how to conceal it from them.

 

It is especially true of adolescents, who often do not think past the present moment, do not believe they will die, and find it easy to accept something that is too good to be true.  So I strive to teach them the discernment they need to help them not become victims. One case that I often speak about is the murder of Bobbie Lynn Wofford.

Bobbie Lynn made one big mistake: she lied to her mother.

She said she was going to the lake for the Fourth of July weekend in 1999 with a friend and her family.  Instead, her friend picked her up at the house to deceive Bobby Lynn's mother, then left her with a group of kids that Mrs. Wofford did not trust.  Did they harm the girl?  Not directly.

They did drop Bobby Lynn off at a convenience store at two in the morning.  She had no ride home.  She knew she could call her mother but also knew if she did, she'd get in trouble.  Thinking that was as bad as it could get, Bobby Lynn accepted the first offer of a ride she received from a man in the parking lot.

Unfortunately for Bobby Lynn, that man was serial killer Tommy Lynn Sells (right). By the time the 15-year-old listened to the demands of her intuition, it was too late.  Her body was not found for more than four months.

 Whether I am talking to a small class of students or a group of 300 stuffed into every available space in the library,  when this story is finished, silence fills the pause.  I scan the faces and see tears on some cheeks and fear in most eyes.

No matter how careless they are or how risky their behavior, many of these teenagers will never encounter a serial killer.  But they will all have a relationship, probably many of them in their lifetime.  I talk to them about the red flags they can encounter there.  I talk about physical abuse leading to homicide.

 

In the absence of violence, I caution them not to be complacent when analyzing the safety of a relationship -- sometimes the only incident of abuse is the ultimate one -- murder.  I tell them about my books with stories of one spouse killing another.  In nearly every case, there is controlling behavior.  I've told them what it looks like and how, in the hands of a clever manipulator, it can look like a symptom of true love.

 

I warn them about another red flag -- secrets.  I talk about serial killer Richard Evonitz, who had a foot locker that neither of the women he married were allowed to open.  In it, he hid the underwear of victims and newspaper clippings of his crimes.  I discuss Michael Peterson (above, between his attorneys in court) and Richard McFarland ,who both had an office that no one else was allowed to enter.  One hid the secret of his bisexuality, the other hid a compulsion for multiple rebate entries.

The substance of what was hidden in the secret place was irrelevant -- it was its existence that presaged a problem.  I urge the students to evaluate their relationships and make troublesome behavior stop or get as far away from the person using it as they can.

I am gratified when I look out over the group and see girls elbowing the boy next to them or raising eyebrows in their direction.  I knew they got it, I hope they remember it, and I hope knowing it will make a difference in their lives.

Finally, I try to impress them with the importance of their own intuition.  It's hard for all of us to listen to it when we're being pulled in an opposite direction.  For teenagers it is a constant battle -- walk away from what a gut feeling says is a bad thing and be a social outcast.  Or do what feels like the wrong thing to go along with peers.  Gavin De Becker wrote THE GIFT OF FEAR, an informative and important book about the need to obey our instincts and respect our valid fears. I encapsulate its essence in the time remaining in a class period.

I know, though, as I look at over the students, that some will never learn any lessons from the dead.  Some won't make it to adulthood because of it.  Others will live to a ripe old age but encounter a lot of avoidable difficulty along the way because they cling to adolescent insecurities and the senseless fear of looking foolish.

 I can only hope that the message will get through to some of them -- that they will learn, remember and, one day, use it to save their lives -- or the life of a child yet to be born.

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Children Deserve Better

by Diane Fanning

Richard McFarland murdered his wife Susan (left) during Thanksgiving week, 2002 and burned her body at an abandoned farm in rural Bexar County. He told their three sons, ages 5, 9, and 11, "Mommy needed a break from you because you are so bad."

After Richard went to prison, the oldest boy was adopted into one home and the other two children were adopted by their fundamentalist, evangelical foster parents, Roy and Judi Block. The world wished the boys well--they deserved a safe and loving environment.

Unfortunately, all was not well in the Block home. The two youngest boys gained a dangerous sibling, Sean Michael Block (below left), the biological child of Roy and Judi. Sean was a married adult but he had free and easy access into his parents' house.

On May 29, 2009, after a short two-hour deliberation, the jury found Sean Block guilty of aiding and abetting his girlfriend, Jennifer Richards, in an attempt to sell her five-year-old daughter for sexual purposes. He also was found guilty on another charge of distributing pornography.

Sean first came to the attention of authorities in 2004 when he made contact with a Los Angeles Police Department detective who was posing as a teen aged girl on-line. Block popped up on investigators' radar again in 2006. But it wasn't until August, 2008, that they had gathered sufficient evidence to arrest Block and his girlfriend, a former Phoenix stripper.

Sean Block came to the attention of William Gholson, owner of Billy Bob's Beds in San Antonio, who was working as an FBI informant in their crack down on child pornography. Gholson played the role of an older man seeking sex with children. He received a text message from Block: "Nice piece 5 yrs old belongs to my gf and she wants to sell it." In another message, Block referred to the little girl as "our little play toy."

Jennifer Richards met with William Gholson and agreed to grant sexual access to her 5-year-old because she wanted to train her daughter how to perform sex acts "'cause I want her to be comfortable with it all." Jennifer also said that her 10-month-old girl might be available later.

Block and Richards negotiated a filthy bargain: Jennifer's daughter would be available for sex acts, photographs and videotape in exchange for $300, a used Toyota Corolla and rent payment on the two-bedroom apartment where the young child would be victimized.

The relationship between Block and Richards was dark and violent. Prosecutors revealed the contents of their on-line chats and emails discussing their sado-masochistic sex preferences, their desire to have sex with both of Jennifer's daughters, Sean's scheme to blackmail Gholson after the assault of the 5-year-old and his plan to abduct, rape and cut up the face of a female teenage runaway.

Jennifer Richards (right) pled guilty, testifying that she only agreed to the sale of her daughter because of pressure from and fear of Block. The prosecution supported her statement saying that Block "...found someone broken, pathetic with children and who is open sexually..." and browbeat her into submissiveness. He made Jennifer drink his urine and have sex with other men for money. "He was grooming her to deliver her children to.." a predator. In court, Prosecutor Wannarka backed this up by reading one of Block's messages to Richards: "Don't ever for a second forget who owns you."

In return for her plea, Jennifer received a reduced sentence of twenty years in federal prison--where typical convicts serve 85% of their time--followed by ten years of probation and registration as a sex offender when she is released. Sean Michael Block faces thirty years to life on the attempted sale of the child along with five to twenty years on the child pornography distribution charge. Judge Harry Lee Husdpeth will sentence him at the end of this month. We can only hope he will give Block the maximum on both counts.

Prosector Wannarka told the San Antonio Express News, "Children are safer because Sean Block and Jennifer Richards are in jail." And she is right.

But what about Sean Block's parents? Did they demonstrate poor judgment when they allowed their son Sean to be a frequent visitor to the home where they cared for a number of foster children and adopted others including Susan McFarland's two sons. Wouldn't staunch believers with strong moral recognize his moral depravity? And yet, these children under their roof--kids who were already harmed by previous tragedy or abuse in their lives--were exposed to this dangerous man. Is that responsible parenting?

Who knows what damage may have been done to Susan's boys or the other children? Did the Blocks turn a blind eye to their son's disturbed and violent desires? The presence of Sean in their home raises questions about their fitness to foster and adopt children. It also raises concerns about Roy Block's position as the Executive Director of the Texas Foster Family Association. The message that connection delivers is troubling.

I wrote about Susan McFarland and her sons long before this problem with the Block's son came to light. If you are interested in their story, you'll find it in Gone Forever from St. Martin's Press.

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