Casey Anthony Defense Attorney Celebrates Flippantly

By Austin Johansen Wednesday, July 06, 2011

The Casey Anthony trial was one for the ages, and gave us two very different abuses of “the finger.”

The Casey Anthony trial and subsequent verdict has manifested a social media upheaval reminiscent of

the literal rampant buzz of pagers set off by the O.J. verdict in 1995. Whether for or against the not

guilty verdict, I had no idea that so many of my friends on Facebook and Twitter are trained lawyers.

Among the sensational media coverage of the trial surfaced an instance of a rebellious young T.G.I.

Friday’s server named Anthony Bartlett, who was caught red-handed, or red-fingered if you will, subtly

flipping the bird at Assistant State Prosecutor Jeff Ashton during court proceedings. As the jury was

present during his gesture, Judge Belvin Perry Jr. deemed Bartlett’s finger a threat to the entire case and

had him jailed for 6 days, along with over $600 in fines.

After Bartlett’s short-lived buzz died off and the trial came to a close, a shocking not-guilty verdict

followed and conjectures began to flood the social media universe. Some blame the State prosecution

for pursuing too heavy a charge in first-degree murder, while others hail Anthony’s defense team for

reinforcing the reasonable doubt that surrounded circumstantial evidence in the jurors’ minds.

All these deliberations fell by the wayside for defense attorney Cheney Mason, as he and his team took

to a downtown Orlando restaurant to celebrate the verdict, and rightfully so. With a flurry of scathing

accusations surely coming from all angles, Mason expressed his own opinion to the press with more

bravado than young Bartlett. Celebrating over cocktails, Mason looked straight at the onlooking press

outside the window and displayed his “finger of affection,” in the words of Judge Perry’s Bartlett

sentencing.

He even went so far as to combine his outstretched finger with the classic “Bras d’Honneur;” a double

whammy of gestured expletives, if you will. Quite impressive, Mr. Mason.

Outside of the restrictive courtroom and watchful eyes of court officials, Cheney Mason is absolutely

free to proudly display his finger wherever he’d like. I just wouldn’t be surprised if he’s already getting

more of the same from passers-by on his daily commute.