10 Years After Opening Statements, Casey Anthony Juror Reflects on Verdict: 'I Had Reasonable Doubts'

Joe Burbank/Orlando Sentinel/MCT/Landov.

Ten years ago Monday,Casey Anthonyhad her day in court.

Opening statementsbegan on May 24, 2011 — and both sides leveledjaw-dropping bombshellsin the case that horrified the nation.

But lead defense attorneyJose Baezhad a different argument.

“Caylee was never missing,” Baez told the jury. “On June 16, 2008, she drowned in the family swimming pool. It was a horrible tragedy. A common tragedy.”

Minutes later, there was an audible gasp in the courtroom when Baez alleged that Casey’s father, George Anthony, molested her when she was 8 years old. (It’s an allegation that George disputes. During his testimony, prosecutors asked whether he sexually abused his daughter. “No sir,” George said emphatically. “I did not.")

Casey Anthony.Red Huber/Orlando Sentinel/MCT via Getty

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Throughout the opening statements, theseven women and five menof the jury sat in rapt attention, sometimes taking notes.

“I remember thinking, ‘holy s—, this is insane,'” a male juror tells PEOPLE, ten years later. “By the time both sides had finished their statements, I had no idea what to believe. We weren’t allowed to talk about it with each other, so we were making small talk at dinner, but there was this big unspoken cloud over us based on what we had just heard.”

“We all sat around that night, and it was killing us not to talk,” he continues. “We just gave each other these long looks. But no one said a word.”

But the juror tells PEOPLE that the defense’s theory of Caylee drowning answered a lot of his questions. “It was plausible to me,” he says. “And I remember thinking, ‘Well, that would explain a hell of a lot.'”

Orange County Sheriff’s Office HO.

By the time that the opening statements were finished, the juror knew he’d be in the jury box for awhile.

“They had both given their theories, and now they were going to have to prove them. I knew that I was going to be there in that courtroom for most of the summer.”

For two months, the jurors and five alternates were sequestered in a hotel. They sat through 33 days of testimony, examined more than 400 pieces of evidence and heard 91 witnesses testify.

Ultimately, the jurors did the unexpected,acquittingher of all the serious charges against her. She was only convicted of lying to police. Two weeks later, shewalked free from jail.

“Both sides told us that the prosecution had to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt,” the juror says, “and after all was finished, I had reasonable doubts. I think we all did.”

And if the juror were to encounter Casey Anthony on the street, what would he say?

“I wouldn’t say a word,” he says. “I’d cross over to the other side of the street. I’ve got nothing to say to her.”

source: people.com