Casey Anthony. What are your feelings on the verdict?

[Avalux]

Personally, I feel she is guilty. Unfortunately the prosecution did not have enough evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt, and that's how our legal system works.

When something like this happens though; when someone gets away with murder or some other crime against others, I feel a deep sadness and disappointment that the person will not be held accountable for their crime, at least legally (BTW, I am against the death penalty). All I can do is accept that at some point, in some way, they will have to pay for it.

What's really nagging at me about this particular case and has all along...we don't know how that poor little girl died, and probably never will. :cry:

[Kookaburra]

1. This all feels like it's by design

I don't know why, but I've been feeling that she would be found not guilty all along. There is some reason for it -- just feel like there is something else, and we have not heard the last of Casey Anthony.

[Avalux]

6. I think there is some reason for it too,

a larger purpose. I don't think we've heard the last of her either.

[get the red out]

2. I agree with both Avalux and Kookabura

I believe she was guilty of at least manslaughter but I wonder if there isn't something else just below the surface. It occurred to me that there are so many horrible "transactions" with children that only ever bubble up to the conspiracy theory news level, how do we know that Casey didn't get mixed up with a much worse crowd than a bunch of young drunks at the bar? Someone who would demand her daughter, perhaps for a price of some sort, and tell her to keep her mouth shut about it?

I have a cunning mind, but it got going this afternoon. I don't think we've heard the last of Ms. Anthony either. No matter what is real and what is fantasy concerning this case, we are about to see things get even more interesting. I don't think people got interested in the case because they are mindless idiots, I think Caylee came to represent missing and murdered children in general to a lot of people, sure the media was involved in doing that, but the years of missing child pictures and news of murdered babies have taken a toll on people's psyche.

[Avalux]

7. Caylee reminds me of my oldest daughter when she was that age.

I usually do not get emotionally involved in such things, but this case had a strange effect on me. What you've come up with is certainly possible. The media frenzy in the aftermath is going be interesting....

[elleng]

3. I appreciate the system.

'The defense conceded Ms. Anthony’s lies but said they happened for one reason: she had been sexually abused by her father and had been coached to lie her whole life.

“I told you she was a liar the first day,” Mr. Baez told the jury.

Despite a vivid portrait of Ms. Anthony’s seemingly callous and deceitful behavior after Caylee’s disappearance, jurors decided that leap from uncaring mother to murderess proved too much.'

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/06/us/06casey.html?hp

[Avalux]

8. There was no real proof of murder.

That's what it boils down to. The system worked as it should.

[elleng]

10. Yes

[eilen]

28. Well, there was proof of death

and one would think of murder as the body was hidden. It obviously wasn't of natural causes.

[2Design]

4. could not be proved beyond reasonable doubt! we have inprisonsed lots

of innocent people for 25 plus years where dna freed them. The media circus tried this case and made this ONE murder larger than the other 100 that happen in Orlando every year and how about all the murders around the country. Too much money and time was spent on this one murder with a lot of circumstantial evidence - Not guilty using our laws -

Now OJ we know did it and he got off - we don't know which family member did this, they are all crazy

[Fire Walk With Me]

5. My feelings and perceptions on this are fully overwhelmed by my sickness at the court

of popular opinion. We are now all armchair judges and juries, and believe that we have some say in such things. And the overall energy of the group does indeed set the course of things...which is why it is extremly important to monitor what the group is doing, when it gets down to such powerful items as JUDGEMENT. The Kabbalah states that the universe has ten main aspects; Judgement and Compassion are two polarities, and must be in balance to function correctly. When you rave for justice, whether you are right or wrong, it pays to remember that you are creating karma...

Prayers for all involved, especially the little girl.

[Avalux]

9. The lesson for me - accept that universe will take care of it.

As I said above, Caylee reminds me a lot of my oldest daughter, so I was strangely drawn to the case and I've really wanted justice for her; expecting Casey to be guilty. Maybe because that would have been the most neat and tidy way to explain it all.

Thanks for your thoughtful post. :hi:

[Fire Walk With Me]

11. I have the ability to see if she's guilty or not, and have spotted a few over the years

who were indeed guilty...but I don't want to "go there" any more. I'd rather spend that time praying for the benefit of others than taking in the depths of illness to which we may fall.

[liberalmuse]

12. Thank you so much for saying this.

I didn't know how to put it into words. I don't know if Casey Anthony is guilty or not. I'm very sad a little child died and we may never know how. So many children...people have their lives senselessly snuffed out. But what is bothering me most is the energy and the way people who claim to want justice for Caylee Anthony are clamoring for Casey Anthony's head and saying the most horrible things - and daring to dig into her soul and they've no right. It's been really disturbing me for some time now. I feel sick, not because of the verdict, but because this is what happens when you get the media manipulating the herd mentality for all its worth.

For some reason, I feel Caylee Anthony is fine, wrapped in love, but watching. I think she deeply loves the being who was her mother in this life and like others here have said, this feels like something more than it appears. That's probably more of what I'd like to believe than what is real.

[eilen]

13. well, I did not get too involved in this trial

and from the few articles and tv that I did see on this, what I picked up on this defendant that she is very self involved, narcissistic, and that she likely loved her little girl until she didn't.

[BlueIris]

14. FWIW, though I did not follow the trial, I felt stongly she would not be convicted.

No opinions on her guilt or other factors, though.

[SheilaT]

15. I was not on the jury,

so while I'm slightly surprised, just from what little I'd known about the case, my feeling is that I certainly did not see and hear all the evidence, so I'll just accept their verdict.

One lovely advantage of not having a TV is that I'm relatively isolated from things like this case, and I'm glad. Yes, I was aware of what it was about, but certainly had not followed it, other than what was unavoidable as I waited in a supermarket line. And this is the only thread about it that I have responded to or intend to respond to.

[kentauros]

16. And yet,

I wasn't aware of it until a few days ago, and I have a TV with satellite service ;)

What that means is that I watch a lot of movies and shows (like the "Doctors Without Borders" series on Current TV) and don't bother with the broadcast "news". Even (US) print news is worthless for the most part, other than a weekly rag that has a nice daily blog (mostly local news.)

Now, though I'm likely to sound callous, this case really means very little to me. Until the media airs every single criminal trial out there and dedicates endless hours to analyzing as was done with this one (and OJ), I really don't see the point in focusing on one case out of thousands, no matter how unusual. It may be fascinating to some and that's fine. I just find it tedious, especially the outrageous outrage all across the land. I'd rather watch "...And Justice for All" again :)

[SheilaT]

23. Lucky you. I take it you never even look at the tabloids

in a check out line. This story has been all over those things for several years.

What I have found most interesting about no TV is that I usually don't learn that certain stories have wall-to-wall coverage until long after the fact. I'm thinking of the death of Michael Jackson for one. Some months after he died, someone made a casual comment somewhere - possibly here on DU - that made me realize all the networks thought his death was important enough to be the only thing on air for some hours.

The real scary thing, to me, about such things, is that genuinely important news and issues get crowded out. Since some very large percentage (probably a majority) of people get there news from television, no wonder so many have a very distorted view of the world.

[kentauros]

24. I guess I'm lucky.

It also means that I'm not as informed about the mainstream stuff as most people. Then again, many do make compliments about how I'll look into the off-the-wall stuff, or stories not carried in-depth by the US media. Go to the international media anytime something happens that's important and see their take. It's usually far more reasoned, and even restrained when necessary :)

As for reading or even seeing the tabloids, when I'm at Kroger, I go through the self-serve (U-Scan.) I also shop at Whole Foods and have to use the lanes there. WF doesn't carry tabloids, just interesting magazines like Yoga, Fine Cooking and the like ;)

[WolverineDG]

17. It scares me that so many would be willing to sentence someone to death

on such flimsy evidence as was presented at trial. The persecution prosecution purposefully withheld key evidence & only put paid experts on the stand who agreed to spout off whatever it was they wanted them to say. Baez scored points with me for pointing it out that *HE* was the one who had to call in the FBI & other forensic experts to testify as to the real science of it all. That & the fact that they flat out lied about the internet searches, couldn't make up their damn minds how or when the little girl died, and had nothing connecting Casey to being the last person to see her alive.

Seems to me that if you want to put someone to death, you'd be required to have a much stronger case than that. Think on that for a bit. Jose Baez was right on the mark at calling the death penalty "ritual murder" & that the State shouldn't manipulate the media in order to convict people & sentence them to death.

I have a friend who has done more criminal defense work than I have, & even she was pretty certain Casey would get nailed for child abuse or at least manslaughter. Generally, juries will do that when a kid dies; someone has to take the blame for it & while the jury may not be willing to hand out the death penalty, they'll usually hand out a lesser conviction.

Neither one of us thought she'd get convicted of the murder charges. That the jury acquitted her of all the murder charges, including the lesser included offenses, indicates to me they were pissed off at the persecution prosecution's manipulations & only convicted her of the misdemeanors (!!!!) that the State proved up.

dg

[kentauros]

18. As a fellow Texan

you've probably seen just how little it takes to send someone to their death in Texas. I think our prosecutors are chosen strictly for their bloodthirstiness. I have yet to hear one say there's anything wrong (however minor) with the death penalty or how it's administered.

Of course, the DA's office is representative of those that elected the DA. My home county, Harris, doles out more death penalty verdicts than anywhere else in the state, or possibly the country! What's in the water here that causes such mindlessness? And why aren't our juries at least as intelligent about such verdicts as those in this case?

[WhiteTara]

19. My beloved has been enthralled with the trial and

spent days watching it, so I saw the defense closing. It was very powerful. He blew holes in the prosecution case left and right. I think the most damning was when the software program found 84 cholorform references and in reality there was only one reference and it was in response to a fb entry someone sent her. He was incredible attorney and if I ever get in trouble, I want him!

Then I saw the prosecution closing and they did not prove their case. I would have said not guilty as well. She may well have done it, but all they proved is that she and her entire family are a bunch of liars.

[eilen]

20. I thought about it and now I think the jury just wanted to go home. nt

[Gin]

21. she will be haunted by angry people for a long time...I wouldn't

want to be her....she may not be in a jail with bars...but it will be a jail of a different kind...(IMO)

[Ricochet21]

25. I've been on juries

how come they came "street clothes" dressed. I agree completely, I think they were lazy and wanted to go home and not do the work.
Instead of "beyond a reasonable doubt" they did "beyond all doubt."

it was a mis-service

If it was an accident do you think an ex-policeman would have hid the body in HER car for days and then throw it in the nearest creek? Then allow Casey to lie to them for 31 days, cmon.

As said above, she will suffer endlessly around others.

I see her chart; she didn't want the baby, grandma wanted it, she was jealous. It's all clear to me. Grandma wouldn't let her give up Kaylee for adoption; they argued over that constantly.

I've seen lazy juries, they just want to go home with "nothing" on their mind.
Sad

[get the red out]

26. There are things I wish our society would see from this

I've been thinking a lot about I wish would come out of this trial. I really wish that people could take their focus on this trial and turn it into a focus on the expectations we put on parents, especially young, accidental parents. They need tools to help them in their new role that are accepted and readily available with no stigma attached. They also need to be able to make stigma-free choices regarding giving up children for adoption if they feel that would be best for their lives.

Our whole country needs accessible mental health care, and once again, without stigma.

Our society lives running from stigma associated with getting help of any kind. I wish we could all realize that this is just wrong and doing huge amounts of harm. We are all responsible for this and it needs to change.

I won't hold my breath waiting for people to drop stigma though, we are so insecure that it may be one of the greatest pleasures in our society.

[glowing]

29. I've been on a jury before. I listened to the arguments as a "juror".

Its so diff than watching on t.v. Based on the junk science, computer forensic "discrepencies" and the Medical Examiner swithcerho with no cause of death; I would have said not guilty as well. There is no proof of anything. However, her life whether behind bars or out on the street is not going to be easy... Run away media once again... causing everyone to over-react.. even with the over charging of Murder 1.

[WolverineDG]

27. Yeah, but if so, if they wanted to convict her on one of the felonies

they would have all agreed to one & convicted her of that.

I think wanting to go home had a more to do with their refusal to talk to the media.

dg

[Why Syzygy]

22. Sorry..

I don't have anything deep or interesting to say about the trial. I only heard the Defense's closing statement.
It made me wonder .. if someone admits to being a liar, are they still a liar?