“When the character of a man is not clear to you, look at his friends.” –Japanese proverb

Yesterday, several former friends of Casey Anthony testified in her murder trial for the prosecution. These people described meeting Casey Anthony in late May and early June of 2008, meeting her daughter Caylee, observing her interactions with Caylee, and then also Casey’s demeanor following June 16 when the defense claims Caylee drowned in the backyard swimming pool.

These are the people with whom the media claimed Casey callously partied after murdering her daughter. We saw photo after photo of Casey in a bar grinning at the camera, dancing suggestively, and generally carousing.

So, I expected that her friends would be fairly vapid “party people” like her. I was shocked to discover that Casey Anthony’s friends are all intelligent, responsible citizens and that the reason Casey was in the bar is that her friends were paying their way through college by promoting special events at bars and that she was helping them. She attended these special events, encouraged her friends to attend, and advised bar workers on appropriate clothing for the events.

These friends said repeatedly that Casey’s personality was charming, a “fun” person who fit in well with their group. They also said that Casey was attentive and loving toward her daughter. None of them ever saw her mistreat Caylee. In essence, Casey Anthony was like her friends.

Before yesterday’s testimony, the press also implied that Casey Anthony was promiscuous, possibly even a sort of nymphomaniac (if that’s a politically correct and permissible term these days). They reported that she did not know who the father of her child was, that someone named Jesse was suspected at one time of having fathered Caylee, and that Casey was living with someone named Tony at the time Caylee “disappeared.”

I suppose you could say that “When the character of a woman is not clear to you, look at her lovers.”

Well, yesterday and today we learned that Casey and Tony were in love, and we learned that Tony is a very honorable man. We learned that Casey had long-term male friends who liked her and wanted to associate with her.

So what does this say about Casey Anthony’s character?