July 30, 2010
ORLANDO, Fla. — The case against Casey Anthony could be taking a financial toll on her lead defense attorney, Jose Baez. Court records show Jose Baez’s house, which he bought for $670,000, is in foreclosure.
His top client, Casey Anthony, hasn’t been able to pay him in months, but taxpayers are funding Casey’s defense.
Baez and his wife live less than one mile inside the gates of Kissimmee Bay (see map), which is a country club community in Osceola County. It’s a private community and it’s close to his office, but now he could lose it.
Defense attorney Jose Baez borrowed $603,000 three years ago, to buy the $670,000 house. The home has a screened-in pool and a fireplace. His monthly mortgage payment is $4,500.
The problem is court records show he hasn’t made a payment for about one year, since August 2009. But that didn’t stop him from skipping his client Casey Anthony’s hearing on June 21 because of his vacation in Paris, according to his co-counsel.
Even though the ABC Network paid Casey more than $200,000 for all of her photos and videos of Caylee, Baez said the fee he was paid for handling her check fraud and murder cases was less than $90,000.
He’s now two years into the murder case. The defense is out of money and now taxpayers are paying Casey’s legal expenses.
WFTV legal analyst Bill Sheaffer said a high-profile case like Casey’s can be a financial burden instead of a boon.
“It can be all consuming and people’s perception is that you’re so busy with this big case you don’t have time for their case,” Sheaffer said.
Baez wouldn’t talk to WFTV on camera about the foreclosure, but would only say the house is not on the market and that it is a personal matter.
After making $4,500 mortgage payments for two years, he still owes $601,000 on the house and it’s most recently been appraised at $397,000.
http://www.wftv.com/news/24437188/detail.html
Isn’t that a shame.
Who would retain a lawyer with such poor financial judgement? Nine percent down on a house like that. Beyond stupid.
Thanks for posting that info on Baez. Very interesting. wonder when he’ll get his loan modification? /s
Looks like Baez is doing a strategic default. If the laws in Florida allow him to do it and not have to pay a deficiency, it is a wise move on his part. That is a financial decision not related to his defense of Casey.
I suspect Baez will be making some pretty good bank off of this case. The prosecution screwed up this case; and that is not Baez fault. In fact, one could almost conclude that he made some mis-steps that should have helped the prosecution.
In the David Westerfield case, one could argue that maybe his attorney helped the prosecution by opening the door for the admission of evidence that would have otherwise been excluded.