What Does Dr. Spitz Know?

Defense expert Dr. Warner Spitz made a comment to the press which seems to question Dr. Jan Garavaglia’s ruling of homicide as the manner of toddler Caylee Anthony’s death.  Dr. Spitz’s comment may be found at the following link.

http://www.wesh.com/caseyanthony/26698056/detail.html

Defense Expert Dr. Warner Spitz: “There is nothing that I know that tells you this was a murder.”

“There is nothing” – This is a weak construction which would have been stronger without the “there is”.  For instance, “Nothing I know tells you this was a murder,” would have been a far stronger construction.  The weaker the sentence structure, the less the speaker believes what they are saying as they have verbally distanced themselves from their thoughts.

“that I know” – Dr. Spitz’s manages to both distance himself from what he claims to “know” and limit his use of “nothing” to only “nothing” “I know” in three little words.  “That” distances Dr. Spitz from “I know”.  “Nothing” normally means “nothing”, but now it means something, but not something “I know”.  Not only could there be something which does tell us this is murder, the possibility is so strong, Dr. Spitz must give himself a verbal emergency exit in case someone brings up the something which he claims not to know.

“that tells you” – Dr. Spitz again uses “that”, this time to distance himself from what he “tells you”.  Dr. Spitz is telling us he is not aware of evidence which indicates Caylee Anthony was murdered, but he is not comfortable with his statement.

“this was a murder” – Yes, “this was a murder”.  Not only “was” it a “murder”, it continues to be a murder and will always be a murder.  “This” brings Dr. Spitz close to the identification of the “murder”.  Dr. Spitz is able to form the phrase “this is a murder” while denying the very fact.

We have learned Dr. Spitz does not want to make a blanket statement Caylee Anthony’s death was not a murder, instead relying on verbal trickery to equate his asserted lack of knowledge with fact.

 

UPDATE:

Another way to read this quote is to take it literally.  He knows nothing that will tell “you” this was a murder, although he may know something which would tell him “this was a murder”.  After all, he has training and experience.  Most likely, “you” do not.

 

Did Jose Baez Really Want Caylee Anthony Found?

Shortly after her initial arrest, Casey Anthony’s attorney Jose Baez spoke to the press about his desire to locate missing two-year-old Caylee Anthony.  Mr. Baez’s statements may be found at the following link.

http://www.clickorlando.com/news/16950901/detail.html

“We want to find Caylee,” Anthony family attorney Jose Baez said. “I have had in-depth and long conversations with my client and she has asked to help cooperate. She wants to cooperate.”

“We want” – Who is we?  Presumably, Mr. Baez and Ms. Anthony, but he could be referring to himself and other defense attorneys (although he had none beyond the employees of the Baez Law Firm at the time) or himself and the Anthony family.  We do not know.  “Want” indicates a desire, a voluntary wish.  This is an event “we” desires to see happen.

“to find Caylee” – The word “find” indicates Caylee is lost or missing.  Later in the same article, Casey Anthony’s mother insists Caylee is being held by a deranged babysitter and states, “I trust Casey wholeheartedly that where Casey says she is, is where she is.”  If Casey is saying where Caylee is, Caylee is not lost.  She would not need to be found, she would need to be retrieved from a known location.  Either Casey Anthony was telling her mother something different than what she was telling her attorney, or Mr. Baez misunderstood her statements in regards to Caylee’s location, or Mr. Baez is misrepresenting (commonly known as lying) his client’s assertions.

“I have had in-depth and long conversations with my client” – Mr. Baez reverts to “I”, making for a stronger statement and indicating truth.  This has happened.  He has had “in-depth and long conversations” with his client.  However, he is sensitive about these conversations as indicated by the use of two modifiers, “in-depth” and “long”.  He is either uncomfortable with the conversations themselves (he learned what he does not want to know) or he is uncomfortable discussing the conversations with others even though he attempts to use them in this sentence to bolster his claim of Ms. Anthony’s desire to cooperate, indicating the “conversations” would not support his statement should the public become aware of the knowledge communicated during the “conversations”.

“and she has asked to help cooperate” – How can someone “help cooperate”?  Is not cooperation a form of helping?  By tying these two words together, Mr. Baez is telling the public Ms. Anthony has no intention of cooperating by pulling cooperation itself off the table.  All she is willing to do is “help cooperate”, a meaningless phrase.  Who has she “asked”?  Apparently, only Mr. Baez.  This statement is made in the past tense, “she has asked”, indicating she is not currently asking and her past asking was not answered in a manner which led to either cooperation or helping to cooperate.

Order is important.  It is more important to Mr. Baez to tell the reporter he has personally had “in-depth and long conversations” rather than of his client’s desire to cooperate with law enforcement to locate her missing child.  Mr. Baez’s focus, as always, is upon himself first, then his client, then the victim.  It is vital to Mr. Baez the world understands he has spoken with his client, he is doing his job, he has met his responsibilities.  It is far less vital to locate missing Caylee Anthony.

“She wants to cooperate” – Mr. Baez switches from past to present tense.  In the last sentence, Ms. Anthony “has asked”, but now she “wants”.  With whom does Ms. Anthony wish to cooperate?  With law enforcement who is searching for Caylee Anthony?  Or with Mr. Baez who is defending Ms. Anthony?

We have learned helping to cooperate is not cooperation.

We have learned Mr. Baez was as full of malarkey a week into the investigation as he is today.