Post by HeadMarshal on Jun 26, 2013 15:48:09 GMT -5
Somewhat referenced in the Jodi Arias found guilty thread, there can be a decent argument to be made when defending the acquittal of Casey Anthony, who as we all presumably remember was charged with killing her two-year old daughter Caylee in Florida. In order to bring forth my reasoning, we have to ignore the media coverage given to this case and take at least some of the claims given by the defense, prosecution and law enforcement with a grain of salt (the players in this trial knew book deals worth millions were coming after the trial was done and as one commentator to a highly publicized media trial up here in Ontario, Canada, the professionalism in part from the media was much, much more apparent then what happened in Casey Anthony's trial). Yes I understand that media coverage cannot exist without a degree of bias, but the bias against Casey was so ridiculously overwhelming, even the moments after she was acquitted, that people haven't really taken a decent look at this case.
Let me make a couple of points and everyone can make their own opinions. Then a final observation will be made.
#1: The Ductape - One of the pieces of evidence brought forth by the prosecution was the ductape found over Caylee's mouth. The prosecution and the Orange County medical examiner both concluded that the ductape was placed over Caylee's mouth before she died.
To counter that argument, a world-renowned forensic pathologist, Dr. Werner Spitz testified that the ductape was placed over Caylee's mouth long after decomposition. He argued that there was no DNA, such as pieces of skin found on the sticky side of the tape. He also argued against the prosecution that it would be extremely simple to put ductape on a skull. He also argued that the medical examiner did a terrible job at examining Caylee's skull and forgot to examine the interior.
www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2011/0619/Casey-Anthony-trial-Witness-refutes-duct-tape-as-murder-weapon
#2: Chloroform - There was a huge debate regarding how many times the word "chloroform" or phrases relating to chloroform were performed on the family computer. Here's the problem, a software designer who testified at the trial initially stated that a scientific website was visited 84 times. The designer realized that he had made an error and that the site had been visited to only once.
So who exactly searched for chloroform in the first place. Casey's mother, Cindy testified that she had looked it up because her dog who ate bamboo plants was constantly tired.
www.people.com/people/article/0,,20511443,00.html
www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/23/casey-anthony-cindy-anthony-chloroform-google-wikipedia_n_883541.html
#3: How Exactly Did Caylee Die And The Lying To Authorities - Let's all agree on one thing and Casey lied to authorities in the first place. Regardless the problem with this case when compared to other cases when children are allegedly murdered by their parents, is that Caylee's remains were skeletonized so determining an exact cause of death wouldn't have been obtainable. This brings up the question of whether Casey deserved to have been convicted on any of the murder, manslaughter or child abuse charges. Murder charges in Florida require a premeditation motive. Manslaughter charges require a case of negligence. If Casey was only charged with Manslaughter then there may have been a better change of her getting convicted.
So we may never know exactly how Caylee died but there is enough doubt to justify an accident and a manslaughter reasoning. Why an accident reasoning, judging by the age of Casey when this happened and the fear of Florida (of all US States), throwing the book at her for the death of her child (murders of children in Florida don't tend to be taken well by the public and authorities), she came up with a story to take the blame off of her for Caylee's death and put it on other parties. Her parents would be brought into this and therefore, their public credibility would be forever doomed. Another possibility is that if Caylee died by accident, Casey would see that as a burden lifted off of her and went on with her partying ways. The family photos of her and Caylee make this less likely however.
And I should also bring up that not every parent convicted of killing their child is convicted of murder. AMW captures Henrietta Ganote and Kathie Harless both got different sentences; Ganote got manslaughter and after escaping and being re-captured in 1991, she was released in 1997; Harless got life imprisonment. The difference between the two cases was that Ganote was a teenager who beat her daughter to death and Harless drowned her newborn son to death in an outhouse despite having other children (I think).
www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=0700-0799/0782/Sections/0782.04.html
www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0700-0799/0782/0782.html
#4: The Authorities, Media - 66 of 67 Florida Sheriff's Departments have elected officials lead their position, only Miami-Dade county doesn't do this. The moment Cindy's infamous call was released on the mainstream media (smells like a dead body in my car), the media circus over this case spread like wildfire. Consider this, if Orange County authorities didn't charge Casey with the most serious of offenses, then it would be likely that the Orange County sheriff wouldn't have been re-elected because of Public Relations issues. When you add the media hatred against Casey and her parents, the 2012 report by police that claimed to have new information that would have surely got Casey convicted, has to be taken with major skepticism. The problem with the media is that it is also Public Relations based. If the national media had considered the likelihood of Casey's innocence, then the ratings would drop and the advertisers would quit doing business with the networks.
The general public has grown to a point where they consider the legal system to favor the accused rather than the victims. Except, that's how the legal system in the US works. The prosecution is supposed to bring the case to trial if they think they can get a conviction, otherwise than they don't pursue it any farther. The US has one of the best legal systems in the world, yet people aren't grateful for that. Nothing is perfect in life.
www.flsheriffs.org/sheriffs/florida-sheriff-directory/
Final Observation
The national media really only warranted to cover this story for a few days tops. As AMW viewers know, crimes against children aren't exactly rare, so why this story warranted three years of coverage baffles me. Then again, the majority of crime stories don't deserve anywhere near that length of coverage. Tens of thousands of murders, rapes and other violent crimes occur in the US every year. The biased coverage of this trial and Casey's character arguably seeped into the courtroom itself, because the lure of potential millions from bookdeals and interviews will entice most people. Claims made by the authorities, the prosecution and the defense had to at least be taken with some skepticism due to public relation concerns. The defense actually made some decent arguments, the errors made by various people during the trial were likely the result of intense media attention and the natural character of the Anthony family.
Maybe in a localized trial Casey would have warranted a murder charge or at least a manslaughter or child abuse. Her actions right after Caylee's death resulted in the costing of her public image, regardless of whether she killed Caylee or not. Whether that's because of her age, natural character or fears of law enforcement assuming she killed Caylee, didn't automatically mean she warranted being charged with 1st Degree Murder. At the very least, the national media outlets actually owe Casey an apology for making a sensational three-year (and counting) ratings grab out of an average young woman (nothing like OJ Simpson), and a result that could have sentenced an innocent woman to death.
Let me make a couple of points and everyone can make their own opinions. Then a final observation will be made.
#1: The Ductape - One of the pieces of evidence brought forth by the prosecution was the ductape found over Caylee's mouth. The prosecution and the Orange County medical examiner both concluded that the ductape was placed over Caylee's mouth before she died.
To counter that argument, a world-renowned forensic pathologist, Dr. Werner Spitz testified that the ductape was placed over Caylee's mouth long after decomposition. He argued that there was no DNA, such as pieces of skin found on the sticky side of the tape. He also argued against the prosecution that it would be extremely simple to put ductape on a skull. He also argued that the medical examiner did a terrible job at examining Caylee's skull and forgot to examine the interior.
www.csmonitor.com/USA/Justice/2011/0619/Casey-Anthony-trial-Witness-refutes-duct-tape-as-murder-weapon
#2: Chloroform - There was a huge debate regarding how many times the word "chloroform" or phrases relating to chloroform were performed on the family computer. Here's the problem, a software designer who testified at the trial initially stated that a scientific website was visited 84 times. The designer realized that he had made an error and that the site had been visited to only once.
So who exactly searched for chloroform in the first place. Casey's mother, Cindy testified that she had looked it up because her dog who ate bamboo plants was constantly tired.
www.people.com/people/article/0,,20511443,00.html
www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/23/casey-anthony-cindy-anthony-chloroform-google-wikipedia_n_883541.html
#3: How Exactly Did Caylee Die And The Lying To Authorities - Let's all agree on one thing and Casey lied to authorities in the first place. Regardless the problem with this case when compared to other cases when children are allegedly murdered by their parents, is that Caylee's remains were skeletonized so determining an exact cause of death wouldn't have been obtainable. This brings up the question of whether Casey deserved to have been convicted on any of the murder, manslaughter or child abuse charges. Murder charges in Florida require a premeditation motive. Manslaughter charges require a case of negligence. If Casey was only charged with Manslaughter then there may have been a better change of her getting convicted.
So we may never know exactly how Caylee died but there is enough doubt to justify an accident and a manslaughter reasoning. Why an accident reasoning, judging by the age of Casey when this happened and the fear of Florida (of all US States), throwing the book at her for the death of her child (murders of children in Florida don't tend to be taken well by the public and authorities), she came up with a story to take the blame off of her for Caylee's death and put it on other parties. Her parents would be brought into this and therefore, their public credibility would be forever doomed. Another possibility is that if Caylee died by accident, Casey would see that as a burden lifted off of her and went on with her partying ways. The family photos of her and Caylee make this less likely however.
And I should also bring up that not every parent convicted of killing their child is convicted of murder. AMW captures Henrietta Ganote and Kathie Harless both got different sentences; Ganote got manslaughter and after escaping and being re-captured in 1991, she was released in 1997; Harless got life imprisonment. The difference between the two cases was that Ganote was a teenager who beat her daughter to death and Harless drowned her newborn son to death in an outhouse despite having other children (I think).
www.leg.state.fl.us/Statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=0700-0799/0782/Sections/0782.04.html
www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0700-0799/0782/0782.html
#4: The Authorities, Media - 66 of 67 Florida Sheriff's Departments have elected officials lead their position, only Miami-Dade county doesn't do this. The moment Cindy's infamous call was released on the mainstream media (smells like a dead body in my car), the media circus over this case spread like wildfire. Consider this, if Orange County authorities didn't charge Casey with the most serious of offenses, then it would be likely that the Orange County sheriff wouldn't have been re-elected because of Public Relations issues. When you add the media hatred against Casey and her parents, the 2012 report by police that claimed to have new information that would have surely got Casey convicted, has to be taken with major skepticism. The problem with the media is that it is also Public Relations based. If the national media had considered the likelihood of Casey's innocence, then the ratings would drop and the advertisers would quit doing business with the networks.
The general public has grown to a point where they consider the legal system to favor the accused rather than the victims. Except, that's how the legal system in the US works. The prosecution is supposed to bring the case to trial if they think they can get a conviction, otherwise than they don't pursue it any farther. The US has one of the best legal systems in the world, yet people aren't grateful for that. Nothing is perfect in life.
www.flsheriffs.org/sheriffs/florida-sheriff-directory/
Final Observation
The national media really only warranted to cover this story for a few days tops. As AMW viewers know, crimes against children aren't exactly rare, so why this story warranted three years of coverage baffles me. Then again, the majority of crime stories don't deserve anywhere near that length of coverage. Tens of thousands of murders, rapes and other violent crimes occur in the US every year. The biased coverage of this trial and Casey's character arguably seeped into the courtroom itself, because the lure of potential millions from bookdeals and interviews will entice most people. Claims made by the authorities, the prosecution and the defense had to at least be taken with some skepticism due to public relation concerns. The defense actually made some decent arguments, the errors made by various people during the trial were likely the result of intense media attention and the natural character of the Anthony family.
Maybe in a localized trial Casey would have warranted a murder charge or at least a manslaughter or child abuse. Her actions right after Caylee's death resulted in the costing of her public image, regardless of whether she killed Caylee or not. Whether that's because of her age, natural character or fears of law enforcement assuming she killed Caylee, didn't automatically mean she warranted being charged with 1st Degree Murder. At the very least, the national media outlets actually owe Casey an apology for making a sensational three-year (and counting) ratings grab out of an average young woman (nothing like OJ Simpson), and a result that could have sentenced an innocent woman to death.
