Casey Anthony

markwho

Anyone else been following this?

She would have been convicted on "CSI."

The evidence to convict Casey Anthony in the tragic death of her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee, was there.

More than enough to convict, everyone thought - everyone but the 12 jurors who had the only votes that counted.

But this isn't TV, and the real world was shocked Tuesday when a Florida jury came back with a not guilty verdict on first-degree murder and manslaughter charges against Anthony.

Sitting there sobbing at her luck, she must have thought she was imagining things. She's good at imagining things, like having a big job at Universal Studios in Orlando or having a nanny named Zanny - a name plucked right out of Dr. Seuss - who Casey told cops had kidnapped her daughter.

Then, she said - or imagined - Caylee drowned.

Counter this nonsense with forensic evidence.

A veteran FBI specialist on hair samples, Karen Korsberg Lowe, testified a 9-inch strand of light brown hair found in Casey Anthony's trunk not only matched DNA in the Anthony family, but also matched hairs pulled from Caylee's brush.

What's more, Lowe said the hair showed dark "postmortem root banding." In plain English: It came from a dead person.

Prosecutors went to scientist Arpad Vass, of the prestigious Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee. This guy is so good he can analyze air. He found "overwhelming" evidence in the trunk's atmosphere that a decomposed body had been in it. He also found "shockingly high" levels of chloroform in the trunk.

The Florida jury wasn't satisfied with that reality.

They also weren't satisfied with evidence that someone used Casey Anthony's computer to search the Internet for instructions on how to make chloroform.

Prosecutors charged Casey Anthony chloroformed little Caylee, and then put duct tape over her daughter's mouth and nose to suffocate her. It was an unusual type of duct tape, and matched a rare brand found in the Anthony family garage.

On "CSI," Casey Anthony would have been a goner - locked up forever or dead with a hot shot.

But these days jurors seem to want more. The jurors who acquitted the so-called Rape Cops said they wanted to see some DNA. Before DNA, the jails were full of rapists, but now we want DNA.

There was plenty of DNA against Casey Anthony, but the jurors seemed to want more evidence, like a date of death, a time of death, a murder location and maybe even a stronger motive than wanting to be a party girl instead of a mom.

None of the jurors wanted to talk Tuesday - and why should they, when there is money to be made, an estimated $15,000 to $20,000 from the tabloids or networks that disguise their checkbook journalism as licensing fees.

I guess we'll have to wait until then to find out why more than enough evidence just wasn't good enough.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2011/07/06/2011-07-06_her_imaginary_tales__an_unimaginable_verdict.html

You can find full details of it all here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Caylee_Anthony

America, where children only matter if they're foetuses.

TL;DR - Mother murders child and gets away with it

dlofnep

markwho wrote: »

Anyone else been following this?

Kind of hard not to, with every second person posting about it on facebook.

cookie82

it awful sad that poor little girl & what the hell her mother gets away with it that unbelievable.

mickydoomsux

I think she's innocent because she's sort of hot and I don't like children.

smash

yea she's hot!

xzanti

markwho wrote: »

Anyone else been following this?

It came to my attention about a week ago.. My parents have just returned from 2 weeks in Florida and they were following it avidly over there.. Riveting stuff..

Faolchu

as this is after hours

http://i.imgur.com/MH0ef.jpg

Mr Freeze

Unbelievable, was over in Florida a few years ago when the search was going on for the child, it was all over the news, couldn't not hear about it. Have followed it since.

Shocking case. I can't believe she has gotten away with it.

Child goes missing (supposedly suffocated and hidden somewhere), she doesn't report it that her kid is missing, keeps saying the child is at the babysitters while she is off partying and getting tattoo's saying Life Is Good. What kind of a person is she? No remorse whatsoever.

sunflower27

Can't believe the outcome. I bet she can't believe it herself that she has got away with it.

Feeona

Rebekah Brooks better get cracking. I hear there's a long waiting list for Casey Anthony's lawyer

Mark200

To be honest I find it quite disgusting that people who watched very little or none of the trial are saying that the 12 person jury who sat through every second of the trial and listened to every single piece of evidence have made such a blatant mistake. It seems to be a case of trial by media - the news organisations decided she was guilty before the trial even started, and now can't understand how a group of people who were separated from the media hype/excitement completely disagreed with them after actually listening to evidence. Fox News interviewed one of the alternate jurors yesterday (a juror who sat through everything that the other jurors sat through but wasn't involved in the deliberations at the end) and he said that he completely agreed with the jury's decision and would have voted for the same results himself.

A lot of people said the parents might have been involved, so just because evidence was found in Caseys house does not mean that she was involved. Anyway, it's better that a guilty person goes free than an innocent person be locked up for the rest of their lives (or be executed).

Absurdum

http://soonerpsycho.com/spfarksandpics/caseyanthony.gif

Mr Freeze

Well that poll on the nydailynews.com article seems to show overwhelming support for the not guilty verdict.

Do agree with the jury's verdict that Casey Anthony was not guilty of murdering her daughter, Caylee?

Yes. 88%
No. 2%
I'm not sure. 10%

markwho

Mark200 wrote: »

To be honest I find it quite disgusting that people who watched very little or none of the trial are saying that the 12 person jury who sat through every second of the trial and listened to every single piece of evidence have made such a blatant mistake. It seems to be a case of trial by media - the news organisations decided she was guilty before the trial even started, and now can't understand how a group of people who were separated from the media hype/excitement completely disagreed with them after actually listening to evidence. Fox News interviewed one of the alternate jurors yesterday (a juror who sat through everything that the other jurors sat through but wasn't involved in the deliberations at the end) and he said that he completely agreed with the jury's decision and would have voted for the same results himself.

A lot of people said the parents might have been involved, so just because evidence was found in Caseys house does not mean that she was involved. Anyway, it's better that a guilty person goes free than an innocent person be locked up for the rest of their lives (or be executed).

The reason it failed was because of an absolutely appalling prosecution combined with an amazing defence.

At the very very least, she was responsible for her daughters death on some level.
But she got totally acquitted of all charges related to her daughters death.
What message does this send out to some people.
If you kill your daughter, you can only get sentenced if someone actually sees you do the act.
Her Daughter was dead for a full month and she didn't even report it. She perjured on a major level. Made up a nanny story. Its ridiculous

Can you imagine if a Father went off with his daughter, and she disappeared and was found dead. It would be a very different story. That's what annoys me.

Spunge

Check out this dudes t-shirt

http://boston.barstoolsports.com/files/2011/07/photo-480x360.jpg


also


http://s-ak.buzzfed.com/static/imagebuzz/terminal01/2011/7/5/16/kim-kardashian-gets-owned-over-casey-anthony-trial-4877-1309897296-1.jpg

Wompa1

markwho wrote: »

America, where children only matter if they're foetuses.

I hate you....

Why does one jury determine how the whole nation feels? The majority of people think she's guilty over there too. Plus wasn't it a split jury?

Personally I'd love to see the case, with all that overwhelming evidence the defense must have put together some compelling case to suggest there was a reasonable doubt

Mr Freeze

Must have been the worst prosecution team ever in fairness.

She gets off for killing someone, meanwhile some poor black kid is going to get 8yrs for a silly prank.

The mind boggles!

sensibleken

This illustrates only 3 things.

1: shes innocent, you know the whole innocent until proven guilty thing?
2: televising jury trials is rediculous in the extreme
3: CSI is not a reality show

Mark200

Wompa1 wrote:

Plus wasn't it a split jury?

No.

Beefy78

I've done a fair bit of reading about this today, although have a fraction of the information about the case that the jury did. From what I can see the Prosecution failed entirely to actually prove anything leaving a not-guilty verdict as the Jury's only possible option. The OP talks about CSI-style 'evidence' relating to something on the hair suggesting that it came from a dead body, but the science behind this claim is dubious and certainly isn't conclusive.

I don't think anyone can say for certain that this person is innocent. I suspect that she did it as maybe even the Jury suspected. But suspicion has no place in the courts of a decent democracy. The burden is on the Prosecution to prove its case instead of rely upon suspicion and circumstantial evidence, particularly when the presence of the death penalty is there to raise the stakes.

mikemac

From what I've read the prosecution were weak and failed to prove the case. If that's true the not guilty verdict was correct

In case you're wondering if someone is going to get fired, the State prosecutor has already resigned

prinz

markwho wrote: »

America, where children only matter if they're foetuses.

What is this even supposed to mean? Any idea how many abortions are legally carried out in Florida every year? Your point makes no sense.

mrsbyrne

IMO Casey definitely is responsible for the death of her child. I dont think it was premeditated, though. I think she sedated her so that she could go out and socialise, came back and found her dead panic...shock...I cant explain the behaviour in the weeks following the death. i think shes a very disturbed woman. No point in blaming the jury. The prosecution did their best, IMO, no forensics left the jury with no option but an acquittal. Dont forget, Casey Anthony may be about to walk free, but she will be walking towards a life of sheer hell. How long will it be before she is attacked on the street?

mfdc

Beefy78 wrote: »

I've done a fair bit of reading about this today, although have a fraction of the information about the case that the jury did. From what I can see the Prosecution failed entirely to actually prove anything leaving a not-guilty verdict as the Jury's only possible option. The OP talks about CSI-style 'evidence' relating to something on the hair suggesting that it came from a dead body, but the science behind this claim is dubious and certainly isn't conclusive.

I don't think anyone can say for certain that this person is innocent. I suspect that she did it as maybe even the Jury suspected. But suspicion has no place in the courts of a decent democracy. The burden is on the Prosecution to prove its case instead of rely upon suspicion and circumstantial evidence, particularly when the presence of the death penalty is there to raise the stakes.

Exactly. I've been on a jury and they made it very clear that we were only to find guilty if we were convinced beyond reasonable doubt. From what I've read about this case today it certainly seems like the mother did it, but there's f**k all hard evidence, it's all circumstantial. Since there's no hard evidence, then isn't it possible that she didn't do it? Seems really unlikely to me, but it's possible. If you've any doubt at all you have to find "not guilty", ESPECIALLY if the death penalty is involved imo.

alchemist33

Mr Freeze wrote: »

Must have been the worst prosecution team ever in fairness.

She gets off for killing someone, meanwhile some poor black kid is going to get 8yrs for a silly prank.

The mind boggles!

From your own article...

The Rush County Prosecutor Philip J. Caviness told The Associated Press that he doesn't intend to seek a prison term for Morton, but said school officials acted appropriately and that the charges are warranted.

These are two different stories, with no connection whatsoever.

Wompa1

Homer would have convicted her or at least kept the deliberation going until she was a free hotel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhD-6MOZ-Rs

Das Kitty

The prosecution really f***ed up.

They contaminated some of the evidence, didn't take clear enough photos of the crime scene. The expert witnesses for the defense were far more prepared and had results of studies to strengthen their argument.

Because of how the prosecution presented some of the evidence it led to it being inadmissible. The really disturbing bit where the child's head was wrapped in duct tape and then one of her little heart shaped stickers applied to the forehead area couldn't be taken as evidence because they didn't take the photo of the imprint of the sticker properly then they dusted for prints covering up the imprint for good.

Amateurish.

When you're on a Jury you must only convict when guilt is beyond a reasonable doubt, the prosecution were falling over themselves to provide the doubt.

Cunning Stunt

Das Kitty wrote: »

The prosecution really f***ed up.

When you're on a Jury you must only convict when guilt is beyond a reasonable doubt, the prosecution were falling over themselves to provide the doubt.

+1. I wouldn't be suprised if some of those jurers were disappointed themselves with the outcome - but they can't condemn someone without them having been proven guilty.

Da Shins Kelly

The mother definitely did it, I'd say. The prosecution royally f*cked this one up. Everyone involved in the prosecution should resign. They're not good at their job.

Spread

Of course she got away with it. But, in a way, am glad for her lawyer who took some awful stick from some of his fellow pros, newspapers and that mega sleazeball Nancy Grace. The guy had his home foreclosed and was stopped from practicing. Everybody in the know said that he was approaching it in the wrong way. He certainly has made it now.

OutlawPete

Hard case to prove, but she knows more than what she's saying with regards to what happened to Caylee, that's for sure.

June 16, 2008: 2-year-old Caylee Anthony is last seen alive leaving the home of her grandparents, George and Cindy Anthony, along with her mother Casey.

June 18, 2008: Casey Anthony borrows a shovel from Brian Burner, a neighbor of George and Cindy Anthony. Burner says that Anthony returned it an hour later.

June 19, 2008: Casey Anthony goes with boyfriend Tony Lazzaro to help him look for an apartment.

June 20, 2008: Casey Anthony is captured in various photos partying at Fusion nightclub and participating in a “hard body contest.”

June 23, 2008: Casey Anthony and her boyfriend, Lazzaro, break into a shed at the Anthony family home to borrow her father’s gas cans to fill her car, which had run empty.

June 24, 2008: Casey Anthony gets into a fight with George Anthony about the gas and she storms out of the home. She tells her father that Caylee is with the babysitter, Zanny.

June 25, 2008: Cell phone records show she was in the area of her parents’ home.

June 28, 2008: Casey Anthony’s car is towed from the parking lot of a check cashing store after a supervisor calls to report it abandoned.

June 30, 2008: Casey Anthony is captured in surveillance videos shopping at JC Penney and Target.

July 1, 2008: Surveillance video shows Casey Anthony back in JC Penney buying more clothes.

July 10, 2008: Casey Anthony is recorded in surveillance video at Target.

July 12, 2008: Casey Anthony is seen in surveillance video at Winn-Dixie

July 15, 2008: Casey Anthony is recorded in Blockbuster Video, Bank of America and Winn-Dixie surveillance videos.

July 15, 2008: George and Cindy Anthony pick up Casey’s car from a tow yard. George Anthony observes a strong odor emanating from the vehicle. Later, back at the Anthony family home, Casey tells her mother and brother, Lee Anthony, that she hasn’t seen Caylee in a month and that a babysitter named Zanaida Fernandez Gonzalez (Zanny) kidnapped her.

July 15-16: Casey Anthony takes police to the last place she says she saw Caylee. It turns out to be a vacant apartment. Authorities also take her to Universal Studios where she said she worked, but supervisors there say she hasn’t worked there in more than two years.

October 14, 2008: Casey Anthony indicted on charges of first-degree murder, along with aggravated manslaughter, aggravated child abuse and four counts of lying to police.

Dec. 11, 2008: The skeletal remains of Caylee Anthony are discovered in a wooded area not far from the Anthony family home.

May 9, 2011: Jury selection begins in Clearwater for Casey Anthony’s murder trial.

May 24, 2011: Trial begins in Orlando. The prosecution shows jurors a photo during opening statements of Caylee Anthony alive and smiling, along with a picture of the girl’s skull as it was found in 2008. They say Anthony used duct tape to suffocate her. The defense contends the child actually drowned in her grandparents’ swimming pool.

July 5, 2011: Casey Anthony acquitted of murdering Caylee but convicted of lying to police.

kingtubby

Anybody been watching fox news over the past month?I don't think its exaggerating to say 25% of Fox's airtime was dedicated consistently to this case.
In their coverage of this case all their legal analysists were saying she would be convicted of first degree murder and there was little doubt she did it.
It disturbed me how much interest they had in the case and how much this could affect jurors if they watched.Are they all kept in isolation or something for the duration of the trial or is anything done to prevent external influence on their decision?

My name is URL

Never heard of her or the case until this morning. Meh, she was found not guilty.. bigger injustices happen every day. She's a young white woman hence the media interest in the case.

Similar to - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missing_white_woman_syndrome

Mr. Rager

On November 26, 2008, officials released 700 pages of documents related to the Anthony investigation, which included evidence of Google searches of the terms "neck breaking", "how to make chloroform", and "death" on Casey Anthony's home computer

The following diary entry by Casey Anthony is dated "June 21" and reads:
I have no regrets, just a bit worried. I just want for everything to work out OK. I completely trust my own judgment and know that I made the right decision. I just hope that the end justifies the means. I just want to know what the future will hold for me. I guess I will soon see – This is the happiest that I have been in a very long time. I hope that my happiness will continue to grow– I've made new friends that I really like. I've surrounded myself with good people – I am finally happy. Let's just hope that it doesn't change.

If these are true, surely she's a guilty women

sensibleken

July 15, 2008: George and Cindy Anthony pick up Casey’s car from a tow yard. George Anthony observes a strong odor emanating from the vehicle. Later, back at the Anthony family home, Casey tells her mother and brother, Lee Anthony, that she hasn’t seen Caylee in a month and that a babysitter named Zanaida Fernandez Gonzalez (Zanny) kidnapped her.

That damned some puerto rican guy again?

Vicxas

Wow, how did i not see this, how can you not report your child missing....

Mark200

kingtubby wrote: »

Are they all kept in isolation or something for the duration of the trial or is anything done to prevent external influence on their decision?

They had their TVs taken off them for the last week or so of the trial, once the media started covering the trial in depth.

OutlawPete

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mE7_P7N-lhE

Killer Wench

Being found "Not Guilty" does not equate to being found "Innocent". Secondly, the prosecutor holds the burden of proving that the def. committed the crime and the prosecutor failed to overcome that burden. Regardless of your personal opinion on the matter, the jury came to the right decision based upon the evidence presented to them.

This is the beauty and the ugly of the American justice system.

Das Kitty

Mark200 wrote: »

They had their TVs taken off them for the last week or so of the trial, once the media started covering the trial in depth.

No. They were sequestered for the duration of the trial.

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2011-05-08/news/os-casey-anthony-trial-sequestration-20110508_1_jury-selection-casey-anthony-trial-anthony-case

frser32

I do believe that Casey is probably somehow culpable in the disappearance/death of her daughter. However, if someone was to put themselves in the position of that jury. The prosecution as mentioned before had very little to connect Casey exactly to the remains found in the swamp. They used a lot of what the American media are calling "junk science" e.g someone saying the car "smelt of death" and the "odor detector" Out of the 3 pathologists not one of them could deduce a cause of death. It's been said as well that the prosecution might have overcharged her, the possibility of her being put to death probably turned off some jurors. As well as this the demeanor towards the end of the prosecution laughing while the defense gave closing might have worked in their favor. If only the remains were found sooner and sufficient DNA evidence could have been preserved leading probably to someone being convicted for her brutal end. The American media have no concept of the presumption of innocence, Nancy Grace to name one. It was a "dry bones" case unfortunately and much to the detriment of Caylee

Mark200

Das Kitty wrote: »

No. They were sequestered for the duration of the trial.

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2011-05-08/news/os-casey-anthony-trial-sequestration-20110508_1_jury-selection-casey-anthony-trial-anthony-case

The article said that they had restrictions on what they could watch on TV. I simply said that towards the end of their trial, their TVs were completely taken off them.

Das Kitty

Mark200 wrote: »

The article said that they had restrictions on what they could watch on TV. I simply said that towards the end of their trial, their TVs were completely taken off them.

Yeah, but I was just pointing out that the TV restrictions were not the only thing. It's not like it was their home TVs that were taken away, a lot of effort was made to shield them from biased information.

Jigglypuff

Alternate juror says he agrees with the not guilty verdict and explains why:

http://www2.tbo.com/news/news/2011/jul/06/13/anthony-alternate-juror-she-did-not-get-away-with--ar-242105/#poll_120

laid out three reasons why he didn't believe the prosecution: The evidence wasn't enough to sustain a conviction, no motive was presented and there was no proven cause of death.

Mr Freeze

laid out three reasons why he didn't believe the prosecution: The evidence wasn't enough to sustain a conviction, no motive was presented and there was no proven cause of death.

Call me crazy but most of us here could answer those 3 things.

Well those of us that believe her to be guilty, and yes it would be a fair to argue that I formed my opinion solely on what was said in the US media and they had her down as guilty from the start.

dfx-

It comes down to what is reasonable doubt for me.

It was nicely put last night, a reason to doubt is not reasonable doubt. I don't think there is a reason to doubt she did it, I don't think there is a reason to doubt she hid the body and delayed the discovery of the body (lying to the police giving misleading lines of enquiry of which she was found guilty)...there can be only one logical explanation of what happened.

There's as much chance that aliens invaded and wrapped the girl's face in masking tape while searching for chloroform and breaking someone's neck on her computer as there is accidental death. Is that microscopic chance enough of reasonable doubt? That conflict will never be resolved..

UrbanSea

Lads I'm in Florida at the minute and to day people were shocked that she was found not guilty is an understatement.
People are so mad over here about it,everyone thought she was getting life.

sensibleken

UrbanSea wrote: »

Lads I'm in Florida at the minute and to day people were shocked that she was found not guilty is an understatement.
People are so mad over here about it,everyone thought she was getting life.

Lies!

your location say sligo! why would you lie ya big liar

hooradiation

Mr Freeze wrote: »

Call me crazy but most of us here could answer those 3 things.

No, some people here would present speculation on those three questions as fact. This is entirely different to being able to answer those three questions.

OutlawPete

UrbanSea wrote: »

Lads I'm in Florida at the minute and to day people were shocked that she was found not guilty is an understatement.
People are so mad over here about it,everyone thought she was getting life.

Never mind that, is Mickey Mouse really as big he looks?

zuroph

UrbanSea wrote: »

Lads I'm in Florida at the minute

Brag brag brag, no recession round here!