Boycott Jeff Ashton New Book Imperfect Justice!

ORLANDO, Fla. —


Prosecutor Jeff Ashton calls Casey Anthony's accusation that her father George began molesting her when she was eight years old, then eventually started raping her, "the nuclear lie."

But what we haven't heard is what Ashton calls the much more alarming allegation he said she created around that lie -- that George had deliberately drowned Caylee while he was molesting her in the backyard pool.

Ashton wrote in his newly-released book, “Imperfect Justice,” that Casey told Dr. Jeffrey Danziger, a local psychiatrist, that "she did not believe that Caylee drowned by accident. She did not believe that Caylee could have gotten into the pool on her own, because she couldn't have gotten the ladder up.”

Ashton went on to write, “Casey believed that her father drowned Caylee deliberately or drowned her while he was molesting her, even though she had no evidence that George had ever molested Caylee in the past," and even though shortly after her arrest, she told Dr. Danziger that she had never been sexually abused, Ashton wrote.

In his book, Ashton wrote that Casey also accused George of murdering Caylee sometime after pulling her out of the pool, that Caylee might still have been alive, because during the next 31 days, George told her Caylee was OK.

Ashton wrote that Casey told Dr. William Weitz, of south Florida, that during those 31 days, "she was in a fog. She did not have a clear recollection of what she did or why she did it. She did tell him that she was not a 'party girl.' In explaining the ‘Bella Vita’ tattoo, she said it was an ironic comment on the fact that her life hadn't been beautiful."

She also changed her story to Dr. Weitz, Ashton wrote, saying her father George had molested her into her "late teens, which was longer than in her other account. She also said she had been concerned that George might be Caylee's father until the DNA test done by the FBI ruled out that possibility."

She also told Dr. Weitz that she had Caylee sleep with her to protect Caylee from George, and that when she went to sleep the night before her disappearance, she was wearing a nightgown, but that when George had pulled Caylee out of the pool, she was wearing striped shorts and a pink shirt.

"She explained in great detail that George's upper body was wet but that his lower body was not. The doctor took that as an indication that George held Caylee underwater while he himself was outside the pool," Ashton wrote.

The defense, which Ashton wrote had first told prosecutors it was Casey who found Caylee in the pool, not George, rejected Casey's claim that George murdered Caylee, and argued the exact opposite during its opening statement:

“We are not, nor will we ever say that George Anthony killed Caylee or that he had something to do with her death and the reason's simple: It's not true. It was an accident,” defense attorney Jose Baez said.

Instead, the defense claimed Caylee drowned accidentally and George covered it up to avoid blame.

WFTV legal analyst Bill Sheaffer said the defense used its legal latitude in settling on a more believable story.

“The defense certainly was smart enough to recognize that dog ain't gonna hunt. We're not selling that to the jury,” Sheaffer said.

The jury apparently bought some of that so-called "nuclear lie," and acquitted Casey of murdering her daughter Caylee.

Keep monitoring WFTV.com and Channel 9 Eyewitness News throughout the day for more details and excerpts from Ashton's new book.