Casey Anthony ‘surprisingly cheerful’ in jail, psychiatrist says

Sealed depositions from psychiatrists who evaluated Casey Anthony before she went on trial for the murder of her daughter, Caylee, were released by a Florida judge on Wednesday, revealing Anthony's claim that she was date raped and more details about alleged sexual abuse by her father.  

Anthony said she became pregnant with Caylee after passing out at a party when she was 18 years old, according to psychiatrist Jeff Danziger, who also said tests in the leadup to her murder trial indicated that she was not mentally ill — which surprised him.

Anthony, 25, acquitted last July of killing her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee, didn't know who fathered the girl, Danziger recounted in sealed depositions released by a Florida judge on Wednesday and reported by the Associated Press.

"Two beers, possibly given another drug. Woke up passed out," said Danziger, reading from notes he took during an interview with Anthony in November 2010. "Don't remember anything at a party, age 18. This is how she said she got pregnant."

Danziger had worked with attorneys for Anthony before the trial to see if there were any psychiatric or mental health issues that would be helpful to the case.

In the depositions, Danziger and another psychiatrist, William Weitz, discussed Casey's feelings toward her father as well as the most recent version of her story of what happened to her daughter.

Anthony's defense attorney Jose Baez shocked the courtroom during her trial by claiming that Casey Anthony was sexually abused by her father, George Anthony, growing up.

The Orlando Sun-Sentinel, which requested the depositions be unsealed, reported Wednesday that Weitz said Anthony felt George "was a threat to her daughter, based on what had happened to her and that would make her uncomfortable."

However, she felt "very comfortable" leaving Caylee with her mother, she said.

Weitz said during his deposition that Anthony told him her father had sexually abused her when she was a child, "basically, the age range, from eight to 12," reported the Sun-Sentinel.

"She described physical touching. She described physical touching and involvement all the way to sexual intercourse," Weitz said.

Danziger and Weitz also reportedly commented on what they perceived as Anthony's lack of sadness or anger when they met with her. 

In Danziger's report, he described a meeting with Anthony at the Orange County Jail in July of 2008, when Caylee was still missing:

"Mood, good. Reading books, keeping self distracted. Calm, bright affect. No feelings of guilt, not hopeless. Sleeping fine. Appetite okay. Weight stable. Energy okay. Concentration normal. Able to read. And I wrote in there surprisingly cheerful but not manic."

He described that as surprising, given her circumstances in the Orange County Jail as a suspect in her daughter's slaying. 

Danziger said she had "as normal a mental status examination as could be," Florida's CFNews13.com reported, adding that:

One of the results Danziger reported was the test revealed she is "a bit of a tomboy." He described it as her having interests that are typically male.

"She might be — for example, she might be interested more in cars than fabrics. But other than that, nothing was elevated. It was an entirely normal profile," Danziger said.

However, Anthony showed no evidence of mental illness and had normal results on a psychological test, Danziger said in the deposition. 

Anthony is serving a year of probation at an undisclosed location in Florida on a check fraud charge.