Would You Lie Under Oath to Save Your Kid's Life?

 abc news photo

Cindy Anthony might have just fallen on the sword to save her daughter’s life.

Cindy is the grandmother of Caylee Anthony and the mother of Casey Anthony.  Casey is charged with the first degree murder of little Caylee, her own daughter.  The State of Florida believes that Casey murdered her daughter to free herself from the responsibilities of motherhood in order to freely pursue her preferred party-girl life.  The State of Florida believes Casey sedated Caylee using chloroform and subsequently suffocated the child using duct tape over her mouth and nose.

It appeared from the highly circumstantial evidence amassed by the prosecution that the deck was seriously stacked against the defendant – until this afternoon.

Cindy took the stand on behalf of the defense -- after having testified several days ago for the prosecution -- and blew the roof off the trial.   The prosecution was blindsided big time when Cindy Anthony testified it was she who in March 2008 had conducted the damning internet searches on the family desktop computer, not her daughter.  A series of searches for topics such as “how to make chloroform” “household items used for making weapons” and “neck breaking,” among others was presumed by observers of the trial to be the basis upon which the prosecution would establish the pre-meditation required to support the death penalty.

There was something about Cindy’s totally reversed demeanor on the witness stand that gave me immediate pause.  Whereas before this testimony, Cindy was an emotional mess most of her time on the stand, today she was quick to respond, almost too quick.  There was no emotion when the prosecution, visibly furious with what they say is a new twist on Cindy’s story, drilled her with references to her deposition, in which she said she had only looked up “chlorophyll.”  Today she claimed to have looked up “chloroform” but she never typed “how to make chloroform” into the search engine.  Her voice didn’t waiver.  She spoke with few fillers like um, aaaa, etc.  I thought she appeared to have been coached.

Never mind that she failed to make that distinction in her deposition.  Never mind those pesky work records that indicate Cindy was at works at the precise times that those searches were conducted on the home computer.  Cindy had an answer for everything and clearly felt she had explained all the discrepancies away.
Here’s what I want to know, from myself and from you the reader.  If you found yourself in this identical Catch22; i.e., your grandchild is lost and it appears you might lose your child to lethal injection, would you commit perjury in a capital murder case to save your kid from death row? 


There is one more bit of information you should have:  yesterday (Wednesday 6/22/11) Cindy and her husband George’s attorney let it slip to the press that Cindy and George do not believe their daughter is innocent!  It is not clear if the attorney leaked this knowledge with or without the Anthony’s permission, but today they released a clarifying statement, saying they are interested in justice, but they don’t want their daughter to be executed.

I can’t be sure how I would behave under the same circumstances, but I suspect I would risk my own fate with charges of perjury to save my son’s life, no matter what he had done.  Sure, I can say all the right things about justice being required regardless of my personal feelings.  But honestly, I would, if nothing else, consider lying under oath to save my kid’s skin.
What would you do?