by Jack
Unless you’ve been stuck in a Tibetan Monastery, then you’ve been exposed to the Casey Anthony murder trial. I don’t think that’s a bad thing either, you learn a lot from watching. For example, I learned the O.J. jury wasn’t the only stupid jury in this world.
For 31 days the accused (mother) avoided her family and didn’t call police to report her little 2 year old girl was missing and feared abducted. When the police came they were told by Mom her child had been kidnapped by a fictional Nanny. The Nanny’s name was plucked from a Doctor Seuss book. Then she lied about her own whereabouts and reasons why she left her child with the make-believe Nanny. As it came out later this was misstatement (lie) was allegedly to cover up the fact that her child had somehow accidentally drowned in the family pool.
Looking back at the timeline, from the moment the child was missing Case Anthony was living it up. Pictures showed she was drinking at the bars, dancing scantily clad and grinding against other women. Many wondered what kind of mother would party like that while her daughter was missing or take strange men home with her. This party life lasted until questions about her child’s whereabouts began to surface. Then she put on a new face and made up lies. Nobody else stood to benefit from this child’s death and when the defense story came out…they led the jury to believe it was a swimming pool accident.
Who tries to cover up an accident by making it look like a murder?
Then their was the compelling forensic evidence: A strand of the child’s hair was found in the trunk of her mother’s car and a foul smell emanated from it suggesting a decomposing body was left there for an extended period. An expert investigator testified that a new scientific analysis confirmed the odor was from a decomposed body. This scientific method had never been used in court before, so maybe it appeared to be questionable to the jury. But what’s not in question is the child’s skull was located in a rural area off the highway not far from her home. Duct tape had been placed across the nose and mouth area and her Mom is claiming the fantasy baby sitter kidnapped the child, when there was no baby sitter and the mother waited a month before reporting her child missing?.
The police found traces from a suspicious computer search in the mothers home that had been deleted. This search indicated “someone” was looking for chloroform and also how neck’s are broken. The suspect’s mother admitted to looking for chlorophyll because the dogs were eating their plants, and of course that led to looking at chloroform, but oddly no trace of the alleged chlorophyll search was found. Another lie by Mom trying to save her daughter?
However, what stalled the jury was they could find no evidence that actually showed the cause of death or that connected Anthony directly to that death. Further, the mother’s DNA was not tied to a murder scene, in fact they didn’t have a murder scene. There were no fingerprints to link Casey Anthony to anything.
This lack of evidence was not unusual. Often times homicide trials center around circumstantial evidence that is incomplete or has gaps. This just the reality of most murder investigations. The prosecutor must fill in the gaps with common sense reasoning and the jury must have mental capacity to absorb the logic and the evidence as presented. The people watching this trial sure did that and they overwhelmingly reached an entirely different conclusion than this jury.
After a month and half long trial the jury returned a not guilty verdict in 11 hours. On the most serious charges they found Casey Anthony not guilty and guilty on 4 misdemeanor charges of lying to police to deliberately obstruct their investigation.
One can only wonder what they were thinking of when they returned a not guilty verdict of murder, yet found her guilty of lying and being deceptive to obstruct and delay police? These are hardly the actions of an innocent person and concerned mother. But, then nothing about the mother’s behavior reflected any care or concern. She behaved more like a sociopath. Do I think she was guilty of killing her child – yes, of course and I hope she get’s what she deserves. It looks like it was done with malice aforethought and that should be first degree homicide and at the very least 2nd degree murder.
You watch too much Nancy Grace.
Dear laughing…how many homicide cases have you investigated?
I was shocked on one hand but did bring up the possibility the other day that she could be found not guilty.
I believe her to be guilty as sin, but apparently her lawyer did not prove without a doubt she did it.
The defense tried to paint the whole horrific incident as an accident, Sure we all dump accidental death victims in the swamp.
Harriet, it’s odd she and her family did everything in the world to make it look like a murder….but, then it was, or least that’s my opinion.
Jack, I too think she did it, but am not convinced the jury didnt come to the only conclusion they could.
There seems to be different understandings of reasonable doubt and how its applied. The alternate juror, who has been talking, has stated that all the jurors believed George Anthony was hiding something. While they were not supposed to be talking amongst themselves apparently they were, if his statement is correct. And if he as an alternate was kept separate from the twelve how did he know what they believe?
I do not understand why George drove the car from the tow yard home and didnt call 911 the minute he got into the car if the smell was that strong and he knew it was from a body. Instead he got it home and Cindy cleaned it. Big question! Afraid the whole family is a bunch of liars which made the jury find her not guilty.
Zanny Gonzalez served her with papers today and Tim Miller from Equusearch and the meter reader may too. If she is disposed she will have to tell the truth, she can not take the 5th, which may be the only way well ever know what happened to little Caylee.
The public has found her guilty and her prison term will be carried out on the streets. If she gets a book and movie deal we all need to do the same boycott that occurred with OJs book. The producers want to make money and if we dont buy the book and see the movie she wont get a dime.
The really horrible thing of this is she will be on the street and Im sure shell find some sicko to get her pregnant again. Shes a psycho just like that woman 25 years ago who shot her three kids in the car and then turned around and got pregnant again just before she was arrested. Her daughter was born in prison and raised by a couple in Oregon and has suffered emotionally just knowing who her mother is. Two of the children she shot survived and one passed away because she drove around for hours waiting for them to bleed out.
Very sad and I think people are so upset because she was such a sweet innocent child. But as horrible as it is she was just one of hundreds or thousands of children whose deaths have not been solved. So, yes the jury was wrong, because they failed to protect us and her possible unborn child from her.
“This lack of evidence was not unusual. Often times homicide trials center around circumstantial evidence that is incomplete or has gaps. This just the reality of most murder investigations. The prosecutor must fill in the gaps with common sense reasoning and the jury must have mental capacity to absorb the logic and the evidence as presented.”
This is also, unfortunately, how a lot of people get convicted of crimes they didn’t commit. The last few years, we’ve seen a whole lot of this. I can see it contaminating a jury pool.
The state couldn’t prove she killed the girl, only that might have, and probably did, kill the girl. And that’s just not good enough anymore.
They were able to prove that Casey is a total flake, and that probably worked to her advantage, making her seem vulnerable and unable to cope with extraordinary circumstances, like the death of her child.
You don’t go to prison for being a flake; you go to prison for murder … if the state can prove it.
And if you all had not spent the last month watching the trial on the telly, like so many way-too-easily-manipulated-hoohahs, you wouldn’t be so worked up.
Peggy, unfortunately that’s all true. There’s not one case built on circumstantial evidence that does raise some doubt in the minds of reasonable people. The kind of proof this jury was looking far exceeded reason because they just didn’t understand it’s okay to have some doubt, but looking at the totality of the whole timeline there was in the find analysis only one possible verdict, guilty of murder. To which degree is uncertain and that is the only thing the jury should have been concerned with, either murder one or two.
I haven’t spent more than 5 minutes watching the trial since it started, but I have been reading about it ever since the verdict. I would like to know now what other evidence they (cops) had that they could not present in court. There’s always stuff you can’t use in a trial, and mostly its for very technical reasons that has nothing to do with letting all the truth come out.
Although I agree that there was not strong enough evidence to convict Casey Anthony of first degreee murder, there was plenty of evidence to show that baby Caylee died in the hands of her mother which you cannot possibly call an accident since the baby was duct taped and wrapped in trash bags and tossed in a swamp. That alone should have been sufficient evidence to convict Casey Anthony of aggravated child abuse. If that isn’t abuse then I don’t know what is. After hearing all that, the jury proposes to argue that Casey Anthony is a good mother? This is ridiculous & absurd. This jury did not use common sense in reaching a verdict. If they felt so stronlgly about their verdict why are they in hiding and refusing to talk to the media? Casey Anthony should have been found guilty of manslaughter and aggravated child abuse on top of the other 4 counts of providing false information to law enforcement. What trial was this obviously stupid jury watching? Is it really necessary in today’s world to have to capture a murder on video to convict someone of death? Everyone here knows what she did but her lies have overpowered every aspect of this case/trial.
When Casey’s attorney said she didn’t “murder” Caylee I thought, but did she kill her. It’s a big difference, and the prosecutor over charged her. The jury may have been able to find her guilty if the charges hadn’t been so high.
As a mom my gut feeling says little Caylee had dark circles under her eyes for a reason. Just look at her pictures. But, without a body there was no way to prove anything. Thirtyone days in a pond took care of that.
Peggy,
Casey Anthony could have been and should have been convicted of the lesser charges which are manslaughter and aggravated child abuse but not for first degree murder which is the highest charge and had shee been convicted of that she would have been eligible for the death penalty. On the other lesser charges she would have spent a significant amount of years behind bars where she belongs. What more evidence does anyone need to see or hear to be convinced that this was no accident. Again, a duct taped baby wrapped in garbage bags thrown in a swamp…..how in any way shape or form does that scream accident. A good mother would not let her child rot for six months in a swamp while she was out partying and being promiscuous oh and shopping to top it off. She knew what she was doing by buying time and knowing that at some point nobody would be able to determine the death of baby Caylee after her body so badly decomposed. How was she able to sleep at night let alone party and enter hot body contests when she knew her baby Caylee was thrown out in the woods? Does that sound like innocense?
Thanks for your comments Susie and this is why I think she is a sociopath. Yeah, to prove 1st degree they had to prove murder by plan and design, lying in wait, that’s tough with so little evidence. Probably voluntary or involuntary manslaughter would have been appropriate without a witness or more evidence.
Susie, I’m 100% with you. Didn’t make myself very clear with the “murder” statement made by Biaz. He said she didn’t murder her, but he didn’t say she didn’t kill her. He was playing with his words. I think he knows she killed Caylee and so may Casey’s parents.
Personally I think she died in the car while Casey was with Tony at his appartment. She drugged her and taped her mouth shut so if she woke up she couldn’t be heard crying. Then she drove around with her until the smell got bad and threw her into the swamp. Also, believe Caylee wasn’t found until Dec. because they didn’t want her found until there was nothing left of her.
Sick, sick, sick! And they wonder why we are so outraged. Justice will be served if she lives her life alone and broke. That would be a beautiful and just life.
Dear Post Scripts:
I have investigated enough homicides to know I can’t draw any conclusions in the cases I didn’t investigate.
Laughing, from what you have said it appears you think we are all being imprudent to voice an opinion because we were not at the trial, right?
Laughing I hate to break it to you like this, but this was a public trial broadcast coast to coast!!!! It was just like the OJ trial and we had strong opinions on that one too and we still do! There’s nothing wrong with that.
Laughing,
It doesn’t take a genius to figure this case out. You are obviously a bit ignorant. Let me guess….u were one of the jurors that acquitted baby killer Casey Anthony?
“The public has found her guilty and her prison term will be carried out on the streets.”
Don’t say things like this. It’s so “lynch mob.”
“The producers want to make money and if we dont buy the book and see the movie she wont get a dime.”
That’s a big “if”.
“After hearing all that, the jury proposes to argue that Casey Anthony is a good mother?”
The jury “proposes to argued” no such thing. They found her not guilty of first degree murder. I don’t think manslaughter was on the table (an error on the part of the prosecution).
And the jury is hiding from you, for very sensible reasons.
Libby,
The jurors that have rcently started to talk have said Casey Anthony was a good mother, including her attorney Baez. And yes there was a manslaughter charge upon the rest of the charges. It was the second count of 7 total charges. Please get your information straight before you post comments. There are no sensible reasons for this jury to not want to talk to the media. If they are so comfortable with their ruling then what is the problem?
We’ve all been played as far as I’m concerned. They are all incredible actors. I believe Cindy was clueless AT FIRST but after talking to Casey’s defense team she too jumped on the Biaz band wagon along with George AND Lee. Sure George had to “pretend” to be offended by being so called thrown under the bus by the child molestation allegations but he sucked it up for his daughter. Let’s face it, after all of this anger dies down from the NOT GUILTY verdict, these people are going to be on EVERY show possible, cashing in on the dough. Including Jose Biaz.Not saying George and Cindy didn’t love their grandchild BUT sadly to say, Caylee’s death is water under the bridge . These people are looking forward to becoming rich, famous, and otherwise. Don’t let the antics fool you.
Susie you make a great point, why not talk to the media? I think its only because they made a bad verdict and they know it. They were played and now they are being called stupid and they feel really uncomfortable being labeled stupid.
Excellent comments Shana. I hope you will post more often, really enjoyed reading what you had to say! (I totally agree too)
I admit it. I have not been following this thing with bated breath. I didn’t know that it had been running on the cable for a month, that Nancy Grace was such celeb, or that manslaughter and child endangerment were both charges.
When Casey turned up on my Yahoo a couple of days ago, I’m goin’: “three years, and they’re only just now bringing her to trial? Geez.”
The state prosecutor hasn’t got the resources to do a creditable job at trial, but the cable has got the resources to turn the thing into a veritable circus for your entertainment.
This country is messed up.
Manslaughter and aggravated child abuse were both on the
table and she’s found guilty of none? This is absurd!
Thank you Sheila. That was just my point. She should have been convicted of manslaughter and aggravated child abuse. Like I said previously, there was not enough strong evidence to show that Casey Anthony pre-planned this childs murder so that first degree murder charge in my eyes went out the window before the jury started to deliberate. But I was very shocked that she was not found guilty of the other two charges.
Shana,
I agree with you 100% on the Anthony family looking forward to becoming rich including her lawyer, who if you play the verdict reading looked like he was about to faint because even he couldn’t believe that this girl was acquitted of all serious charges. Now it’s up the world to stand together and not make them rich. I’ve already heard of two companies who initially offered deals and have now felt remourse and have pulled back from these deals. But the chances are that there will be someone out there looking to become rich along with the family and sign deals with them.
I have believed she was guilty all along. But have thought of some things the past couple of days that are leading me to think that it was an accident. If she preplanned it, wouldnt she have come up with a plan for the body..not driving around with it in the car? And also, She made a bunch of frantic calls on the day they think it happened. She tried to reach cindy 4x’s in 10 minutes. Which is a rather normal reaction following an accident. I believe had she gotten cindy in those calls, we would know what happened to that little girl. But she then panicked..she knew it was her fault, and she was afraid. That does not justify what she has done, or her lies..We just may never know.
nh mom: There is a long shot chance it was an accident, but in the long history of home accidents I’ve never heard of a mother behaving just like she had killed her daughter and you are speaking with a retired homicide investigator now.
My theory goes like this: She could have just as easily killed the child in a sudden rage brought on by some triggering event. Something the child did and she struck or choked the child and caused her death. This would also fit your accident theory. She may not have planned to kill her daughter at that moment, but something I think there was inside her that had been building and finally it just happened.
Right after that terrible event she knew she was in big trouble and she briefly panicked. She calls Cindy, she’s freaked out, she knows if the cops get involved they are going to see the injuries to child and she is facing a murder rap, so she has no choice but to hide the body and come up with a story. But, being the sociopath that she is, as the hours go by she starts to think about how to get out of it and whats best for her. She wraps the dead child in a sheet of plastic and places her in the trunk of her car. Within a short time she’s relieved and glad it happened than feeling remorse. Even though it was not as she might have planned it to happen – this burden of caring for the child is now gone.
She now switches to another mode, the party girl. Case Anthony wants block out the memory of killing her child and any feelings of fear, remorse or grief. She does this by doing what she has wanted to do ever since she was burdened with this child – she turns into the party girl. Good times block out what has happened. She’s in denial. She replaces normal thoughts of what she has done with the high times. But, denial only lasts so long and she eventually must report the child missing – if only everyone could just forget she had this baby, but they won’t so she is compelled to come up some kind of story…. and you know the rest.