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Article IndexBY BOB HOLT
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
Jurors in the Casey Anthony trial were said to be “sick to their stomachs” after acquitting Anthony of killing her 2-year old daughter, Caylee.
Was their decision right? Or were they wrong? Or were they just doing their job?
"I did not say she was innocent," juror Jennifer Ford said to ABC News. "I said there was not enough evidence. If you cannot prove what the crime was, you cannot determine the punishment."
Wtsp.com reported the jury consisted of seven women and five men. One was a male high school health/physical education teacher related to a member of law enforcement. Another was a 57-year-old single male Verizon worker with no children.
Another was a married woman whose father worked in law enforcement, along with a married male IT worker with two children. There was also a female married Publix cook with two children. One male was the married father of two, whose little girl is Caylee Anthony's age, while another is a 53-year-old single retired man.
There was also a 41-year old divorced woman with no children, who works with an agency dealing with child welfare. And there was a 70 years old woman who performs counseling, a single woman, a retired woman, and a 32-year old single woman unfamiliar with case details.
NPR says that juries don't see the same court case as the rest of us.
The jury system was created so that average citizens can judge people accused of a crime: not officials or higher-ups. They said justice will succeed when those normal people on the juries realize that if they take their responsibilities seriously they are free to make decisions they know will be unpopular.
York defense attorney Dawn Cutaia told the York Daily Record there wasn’t enough evidence. “Death-penalty juries are harder to reach an acquittal. They typically are pro-law-enforcement. I've found that juries make mistakes, but not as often as people think."
Cutaia also felt that the television audience learned more evidence than the jury. Some was considered inadmissible.
The married father of two juror said if the verdict had been based on emotion, Anthony would have been convicted of murder, but there was not enough evidence to do so. He said that the first vote was 10-2 against the first-degree murder charge, and the second vote for manslaughter was split at an even 6-6.
Ford said the case for the prosecution's case had too many holes for the jury to know beyond a reasonable doubt that Anthony killed her daughter.
In my opinion the prosecution is where the blame really lies. They didn't have a strong enough case (ex: the expert with a never been used in a trial chloroform detection machine??) and instead of waiting and collecting evidence (there is no statute of limitations on murder) they relied on how much the public hated her. They should have slowed down and built a solid case against her because I believe she's guilty but I also believe in the American justice system and I'd rather have one guilty go free if it means preserving the integrity of the system over a witch hunt because that is exactly the kind of evidence the Prosecution presented, it was ridiculous.
BUT maybe they would have had some smoking gun evidence if the police weren't too worried about getting their boots dirty to go get that poor little girls body the first time the meter reader called.
I don't think any of us "out here in public land" wanted Casey to be killed by the State of Florida but we certainly would have liked justice for Caylee and the right message sent to other young parents.
This jury absolved THEMSELVES of any responsibility by their cowardice. They have to live with that, and perhaps someday see one of their own taken as Caylee was, and see a jury, unable to face their responsibilities, render the same measure of justice to them.
It was a complete failure on their part to understand the evidence presented. Just like the OJ jury. Their inability to take appropriate action has now become a part of American legal history.
Remember jurors, we have long memories, and what goes around comes around, just as it will with the sociopath you absolved of her crime through your own moral cowardice.
The drowning thing made no sense at all, because she left the house with Caylee on the 16th and George seen them leave. That night she was taped in a video store with Tony without her daughter. Where was she at this point and thereafter.
I don't know if the video's they rented were brought into evidence, but they would creep me out. One about a child gone missing and another about a seriel killer. I'll bet she was looking for clues in these movies on how to get away with murder.
Another thing, if Cindy hadn't pressured her and taken Casey to the police station, she still wouldn't have reported Caylee missing. So it wasn't just 31 days, it could have gone on for God knows how long if she hadn't have been confronted by her mom.
The car smelling like death, her leaving her ID and purse in the car, makes no sense at all unless she was hoping someone would steal the car and get blamed for kidnapping Caylee.
The rare type of duct tape from the Anthony home, the garbage bags from the Anthony home, the Winnie the Pooh blanket from the anthony home. Caylee's favorite baby doll in the car seat. The shovel, the area where the body was dumped all add up to guilt! guilt! GUILT!
This jury was mesmerized by Casey just like she mesmerized all her friends with her far fetched lies.
I'll bet she's laughing up her sleeve thinking now she can get away with anything as long as she sticks to her lies.
Personally, I have never seen such a clear cut case with all signs pointing to only one person, Casey.
They didn't have to convict on the first degree but definately on the manslaughter.
Disgusted
While it is POSSIBLE that Caylee drowned in the pool, and Casey buried her with duct tape on her mouth because that was how she saw her pet buried, and it is POSSIBLE that it was garbage in the trunk even though 3 people separately stated that it smelled like a dead body, and it is POSSIBLE that her mother made the computer searches about "neck breaking" and "Chloroform", it is not PROBABLE. All of these things are possible, but it is not REASONABLE to assume that all of them came true.
It is also possible that a random, unidentfied person picked the lock of their house using a tooth-pick, and stole the child, duct taping her mouth and burying her in the swamp, and Casey bumped her head in the night, and had temporary amnesia for 31 days, and went straight to the police once she realized Caylee was gone, but there is no evidence that suggests this, so it is not reasonable, just as most of the other mind-boggling stories the defense used.
I admonish the prosecution, actually. They should have come back and explained to the jury, just as the defense did, what reasonable doubt really and truly is. And they absolutely should have objected to some of the baseless accusations made in the defense's opening arguments. There was no evidence of the pool-side accident, nor was there evidence supporting their crazy molestation charge. Why did they let the defense get away with this stuff??
As for JB he should be ashamed for being a liar like Casey, just to grow fame, he let a murderer walk free! He did not save any life.... he is a poor excuse for an attorney and his selfish ways will be his demise. He should really think about what he did, him & his defense team, how could they live with themselves!! I am sure it would be different it something happened to their children or grandchildren, they would be fighting for every right to find tha justice was served. This low life team and broad wasted tax payers, child researchers money and everyone else involved to tried to find Caylee & see that justice was served! I hope she gets sued for every little penny & more...she does not deserve to have a life! I for one will not buy anything or support anything that has to do with that scum and her hard up defense team. Justice for Caylee
Casey Anthony & her family deserves NOTHING!!!!
I am very sad for little Caylee..she did not deserve this like no other child should!!!
I'M SOOO SORRY CAYLEE...PLEASE REST IN PEACE!!