How the Casey Anthony Case Came Apart

13 WMAZ ^ | 07/05/2011 | 13 WMAZ

[The Magical Mischief Tour]

On Tuesday, the jury acquitted Anthony, 25, of murdering her child in June 2008.

The reason, legal analysts and court watchers said, is that despite the seemingly endless hype surrounding the investigation and trial, the prosecution's case simply didn't hold up. There was no forensic evidence such as DNA or fingerprints directly linking Anthony to her daughter's death. In fact, the precise cause of the girl's death was unclear.

"The prosecution put out a lot of dots, but they couldn't connect them,"

[wardaddy]

Nice post...attorneys are on my shite list right now

till next time I need one..lol

[CodeToad]

Proof beyond a reasonable doubt. Saying she must have killed her kid because we can’t think of anyone else that might have done it is not proof. Saying someone “acted guilty” is not proof.

You would be amazed at the emotional instability that sets in on a person once they feel the eyes are watching. People no longer act like you might expect. Even you would act guilty of a crime you knew someone else committed in another State you never even knew if you thought someone was watching you for signs of guilt.

[vigilence]

Why did the jury ignore DNA evidence of Caylee’s post-mortem hair found in the trunk of her mothers car that she abandoned? The woman was her mother, who’s job it was to look after her, maintain her safety and know her whereabouts at all times. To abrogate her responsibility in doing this for a full month while partying it up and allow her to turn up dead without giving truthful answers as to her whereabouts is reason enough for a child endangerment conviction had the child been found alive. But since she died we’re supposed to have a higher standard of evidence?

[NonValueAdded]

With the benefit of 20/20 hindsight, I see 5 major errors on the part of the "Law and Order" side that led to this travesty of justice.

1. The police blew the August search and would have had the body four months earlier. Who knows how much evidence was lost by fraidy cop? (apologies to Monk).
2. Misreading the evidence and saying there were 84 searches for "how to make chloroform" was a hugh and series credibility blow to the prosecution.
3. While doing a good job in discrediting Cindy's testimony that she did the chloroform search, the prosecution should have followed Baez's lead and posterboarded the full search sequence so it was clear in the jury's mind as to what exactly was being researched by Casey, the only one who was there at the time(s). It might have helped recover from the "84 searches" gaffe.
4. Casey NEVER reported her child missing; it was Cindy and only after confronting her daughter on day 31. The jury recognized the lies (4 counts guilty) but had no lesser charge on which to hang Casey not reporting the child missing on day one. I presume they found that not enough evidence was present to meet the "aggravated" child abuse count but would likely have jumped on a lesser charge had it been available. Casey might be serving additional time had this happened.
5. The body was disposed of where Casey and her friends partied. We heard about how the family buried their pets in the yard with ceremony but not how Casey and their friends buried animals at the dump site, smoked grass there, etc. Perhaps they could not get testimony from her childhood chums but that was far more important circumstantial evidence to tie her to the site than was the heart sticker ...
6. which makes error 6, the 60 foot traveling heart. That was another credibility destroyer for the prosecution.

We may well learn the truth, however. Casey has already been subpoenaed and there are more civil trials to come. The one thing she did right through this ordeal was to keep her mouth shut and that really hurt the prosecution. However now that she is immune from further prosecution due to double jeopardy, her 5th Amendment right to avoid self-incrimination is moot since she cannot be charged. May the coming depositions be withering.

IANL

[swain_forkbeard]

“They are won because the defendant cannot afford a legal team.”

Who is paying the defense lawyers? I have not followed it too closely, but she doesn’t have money, does she?

[CodeToad]

“I live in Decatur, Ga. Look it up.”

So, what does that have to do with any of my posts?

[CodeToad]

“child endangerment conviction “

If we locked up every parent that ever had a child go missing even for a few minutes not a single parent would escape jail. I prefer not to live in a police state.

[eddie willers]

Unanswered questions:

When did she die? We don’t know.
Where did she die? We don’t know.
How did she die? We don’t know.

Given the above, how could the prosecution believe it could get a Murder One?

Plenty of blame to go around that evidence was lost...but lost it was.

If there had been a charge of gross negligence (culpa lata) we would still be bitching....but at least Casey would be incarcerated for a number of years.

The prosecution simply sought higher charges than the evidence supported.

[Mjaye]

Unanswered questions:

When did she die? We don’t know.
Where did she die? We don’t know.
How did she die? We don’t know.<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

I’m glad the Scott Peterson prosecutor wasn’t deterred by these unanswered questions.

[outpostinmass2]

Scott Peterson was a man and not a celebrity like O.J. The burden of proof is lower.

Men also can't sleep with underage girls or be declared insane when they drown their kids in a bathtub.

Women as the courts have proved can do these things.

[eddie willers]

I did not follow the Scott Peterson case so I have no opinion.

[MNDude]

Well said! If it were a single father with the same evidence, there would now be someone on death row.

[carola]

No, I would not act guilty if I had not committed a crime just because someone was watching. If I had accidentally and unintentionally killed my child I’d call 911. If my child disappeared I’d call 911. Casey’s child was missing and she didn’t call 911. Instead she went out and partied. That’s because she knew where her child was and she knew she was responsible. She didn’t want anyone else to know. Once the child was disposed of her only problem was keeping her nosy parents out of the picture. Obviously she wasn’t thinking long term, but she was free to have a good time while it lasted.

[Mjaye]

I did not follow the Scott Peterson case so I have no opinion.<<<<<<<<<<

The point is that there are many, many murder cases successfully prosecuted without the when, where and how
known. The thing that bothers me about the Anthony case is that I suspect the unproven assertions made by the defense in their opening statement influenced the jury, despite the judge’s admonition.

I’m curious why the alternate juror giving interviews seems to speak to how the regular jurors were thinking, since they were not supposed to ever have discussed the case.

[Just mythoughts]

Every mother who murders her children in this country will now use the “my father sexually abused” me defense.

I am not a father/grandfather but I am 'stunned' the men of America did NOT see how easily it is to accuse without evidence of horrific crimes and never have to provide one shred of evidence of said accusation.

[CodeToad]

You know what another tragedy is? It is second to the mother possibly killing her own child, but what about those parents, friends, neighbors, and whoever. What about their knowledge of her actions? It seems not only did the little girl’s mother take part in some way if not directly but a whole bunch of other people must have known something but did and said nothing. I don’t want a nation of nosey busybodies but Casey wasn’t in her right mind. Unfortunately, too, we all see people act badly such as that and say nothing. Society almost expects people to act badly. We are told to say nothing and not be judgmental.

How many children will die at the hands of their parents directly and indirectly and if anyone says or does anything they are chastised as being in the wrong for doing so.

[CodeToad]

“No, I would not act guilty if I had not committed a crime just because someone was watching. If “

You would be surprised how subtle your actions, words, atitude, and routines change under such conditions.

[Mila]

“They went for first degree murder with the death penalty. When you seek the high bar, you better makes sure you can clear it. They didn’t. Manslaughter or something lighter they may have got.

As I said, she is guilty, but the prosecution didn’t prove first degree murder. They should have either lowered the charges, made a deal, or put together a better case.”

Caylee’s mom named in murder indictment

October 14, 2008|From Natisha Lance Nancy Grace Producer

From the article-

“Anthony is charged with first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse, aggravated manslaughter of a child and four counts of providing false information to police.”

http://articles.cnn.com/2008-10-14/justice/caylee.grand.jury_1_caylee-anthony-murder-indictment-capital-murder?_s=PM:CRIME

[carola]

Since you know Casey wasn’t in her right mind she must be aquitted. Sounds like the same logic the jury used. I just watched a video of the alternate juror who’s talking. He is an idiot. No question. It seems to me the defense managed to put the whole family on trial and so since Casey’s not the only lying dysfunctional person in the family, Casey has to be acquitted.

One big difference is, Casey’s parents were distraught even before they knew for sure that Caylee was missing. Casey, on the other hand, didn’t give a damn, as demonstrated by her behavior.

[CodeToad]

” It seems to me the defense managed to put the whole family on trial “

Actually, the prosecution did that. They opened the door to further family discussions. Again, they simply didn’t present evidence to say she killed her child, they presented evidence that she was a bad mommy. So, of course the defense was going to hold open that door and present all it had.