Casey Anthony 'Snapped' And 'Blacked Out' Daughter Caylee's Death, Lawyer Says

Notorious mother Casey Anthony had no recollection of her daughter’s death, according to one of her defense attorneys. The now infamous 31-year-old “blacked out” the death of her 2-year-old daughter Caylee, Cheney Mason told LawNewz in an interview Friday.

“I believe that Casey’s mind, in some dimension, I guess the common word would say, ‘snapped,’” Mason said in response to a question by host Jesse Weber about Anthony’s comments that she didn’t know what happened. “She didn’t go crazy by any means – but blackout, completely a blackout – of what went on and what happened.”

Anthony said March interview with the Associated Press that she still didn't know what happened to Caylee.

“I didn't know at the time,” she said. “I'm still not even certain as I stand here today sure about what happened.”

Read: Casey Anthony’s Murder Trial Timeline

Mason, who defended Anthony alongside lawyer Jose Baez, said he didn’t think she understood her daughter was gone until she was actually on trial for her murder.

“Casey, as we established with an expert witness at the end of the trial, grieved and comprehended differently than anyone else what happened,” Mason told LawNewz. “She went into what I call ‘Casey World.’ She shut it out.”

He said Anthony only fully understood what had occurred while listening to the grief counselor who testified at her trial.

“She just snapped… when that testimony came out, I was sitting next to her and I don’t remember whether I had my arm on her shoulder or was just holding her hand while that testimony was going on, but she started shaking and shivering and she cried,” he said. “All the time I’ve known her and all the times I’ve seen her, I had never seen this. It was clear to me – my personal opinion – that it was the first time she consciously was actually aware that her daughter had died.”

Anthony was accused of killing 2-year-old Caylee in 2011. She was subsequently acquitted of first-degree murder and dubbed by the public “the most hated mom in America.” Some people close to the trial expressed their doubts about Anthony’s innocence.

“There was a possibility that she may have utilized [chloroform] to keep the baby quiet,” Judge Belvin Perry Jr., who presided over the case, said in March. “And just used too much of it, and the baby died.”

A private investigator also said in 2016 that Baez admitted Anthony had killed her daughter. Mason, however, urged the public not to believe any theories about the baby’s death.

“Let’s not assume… that Casey knew anything and therefore tried to hide it and therefore was lying to try to hide it, etc,” he said. “That’s too many assumptions.”

He also cited the seemingly good relationship Anthony had with her daughter before her death.

“[Casey was] close to, bonded to and loved that child,” said Mason. “The child who was perfectly healthy, perfectly clean dressed, well nourished, no instance of any prior injury, no abuse whatsoever, that’s the truth.”

Read: Casey Anthony Documentary Skewered On Social Media

Anthony has, for her part, appeared intermittently in the public eye since being found not guilty. In the same Associated Press interview, Anthony said she wasn’t bothered by the public’s perception of her.

“I don’t give a shit what anyone thinks about me, I never will,” she said. “I’m okay with myself, I sleep pretty good at night.”