Calling P-Luv ...... We Need A Barrister's Explanation of Today's Casey Anthony Verdict .
Here is our question for today: is it possible for seven female and five males jurors to all be thinking with their dicks? We'll be the first to admit that we thought Casey Anthony was hot, but today's ruling was unbelievable... As bad as the OJ Simpson trial? Pretty damned close...
A profound thing has hit us: in this day of CSI solving EVERYTHING in under 60 minutes with 3.5 billion to 1 probability, without a solid eyewitness, juries are finding it impossible to convict anyone..
Circumstantially, the case seemed pretty solid. People don't bury their 2 year old daughters with duct tape and three plastic bags if they accidentally drowned in the pool, or whatever alibi she gave. But, the instructions are beyond a reasonable doubt. Do we think that was met? Oh yeah.... But, there will always be sympathy for a 22 year old single mom who couldn't handle raising a child, and killed here. The only place that didn't seem true was on my block ten years ago in Florence....
Its been a while since we got guidance from P-Luv to try and make legal sense of the almost inexplicable. We'll call in our chits now. We promise - a free Bombay Sapphire and Tonic the next time we're in Flotown...
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5 comments:
The OJ jury is back...
Mike--when you build a prosecution solely on the merits that Casey Anthony was a bad mother, a habitual liar and a slut, any defense attorney will tell you, there is no case.
Let me punch a hole or two in the prosecution's case. When Callie's body was found, the local media had been camped in front of the Anthony's home since the day Callie was reported missing. When the body was found months later, the Anthony's had a built in albi, thanks to the constant media coverage. Once the autopsy was completed, no cause of death could be determined. I would love to see a solicitor in SC get away with that line--Well your honor, we don't know how she died or who done it but her mama is a bad women. Now can one imagine Ed Clements, Donnie Myers or any other solicitor in this state, attempting that fiasco??
Then there is the case of pictures showing her partying and going out. Going out with friends, that when those same friends were put under cross by Casey's lawyers melted like butter in the SC sun. Especially when it came out that Casey's friends were constantly trying to get her to go out "to take her mind of off Callie" and then allowed the prosecution to twist their words to make her sound like a whore.
Also, as the alternate juror pointed out, never was a motive presented. Now P-luv may agree, but being able to present motive goes a long way, it's not necessary but more often than not jurors want an idea of why a crime was committed and momma being a slut just doesn't quite make do it.
Finally, I caught some of the final arguements on Saturday and the one thing I took away was the female prosecutor seemed (my opinion here) to be going to great lengths to call Casey a slut, a whore, a party girl, a nympho (and no Mike you can't have her phone #) but she never presented any hard evidence to connect Casey to Callie's death. This particular prosecutor's attack was harsh enough that even on Monday, the legal talking heads were committing not on the merits of the final arguement but the number of times Casey was vilifiled but the prosecution (along the classic line if you call someone a whore enough, ever one begins to believe she is).
However when a case that has been in court for 6 weeks and the jury returns not guilty verdicts on the 3 major indictments in less than 11hours, that truly shows how weak the prosecution's case was.
There are no real winners here; yes Casey Anthony escaped with her life, but she nor her family can ever be the same again. Many who have kept up with this, will most likely have even a lower opinion of the courts, the justice system and attorneys. The media will go on to the next big scandal (say Earl's upcoming nuptials--better lose Will Folks invitation). Society in general moves on to tomorrow.
But a two year daughter...grand daughter...a little girl...is still gone and one is left to wonder what, if anything, could have been done to prevent that from happening?....teg
I did not follow this trial very close. While I do know what it is about you have to side with the Jurors. They were not given enough choices to make. Now if they would had moved the trial to SC it would had been different. She may have been innocent.
Teg hit on the biggest problem: no cause of death. I'm sorry, but when you're going after a Murder One conviction and asking for death and your state medical examiner gets on the stand and says, "No...as a matter of fact I can't give you a cause of death," that's ballgame.
In theory, the burden of proof is the same for a capital case as it is for a regular prosecution. However, as a practical matter, when you're asking someone to impose the ultimate sentence (death), any reasonable person is going to be exponentially more observant of the bar that the State has to clear.
I think the State let the publicity over this incident and the emotions it gave rise to cloud their judgment of the case. I am sure Casey Anthony's blatant lying to the police didn't help. Although they should not, law enforcement often influences the prosecutor's decision about how to handle the prosecution (they should not, by the way. As a general rule, cops are going to be more biased about the strength of the evidence, they are after all the people who gathered the evidence. It's the prosecutor's job to, in the administration of justice, examine the case with an eye towards the problems and make their decisions re: prosecution accordingly).
In over-charging this case, they guaranteed that the jurors would be incredibly demanding of the burden of proof. At some point, I am sure that jury began saying, "wait a minute...you mean this is all they've got? And they want me to sentence this idiot to death with just this? Well screw that."
Had they not charged the murder, I think they would have actually got one of the lesser included offenses this jury did not convict on. But they killed that by blowing their credibility with the jury. (Something even your most rookie trial lawyer should be aware of. Example: You don't include sketchy lost wage claims in with your medical bills, lest you give the jury a reason to question your credibility on the stronger damages).
FWIW, some other observations over this case: Nancy Grace should be ashamed of herself...but it's pretty apparent Grace has no shame (simply look at her record as a prosecutor, where Ms. I-fight-for-justice, has been called out no less than 3 times for cheating to try to get a conviction). Hell, this is a lady who felt the need to lie about her fiance's murder to make her backstory better and showed zero remorse when a lady killed herself shortly after Grace grilled her in an interview for her show. She's a cancer.
That little obsession she displayed about the defense team's "champagne party" displayed something about Grace. She's a bitter and jealous hag. ANYONE who has underwent the physical, mental and emotional marathon that is a jury trial (let alone one that lasted that long) should know better than to criticize any atty for celebrating the conclusion of the trial. I'm not talking about celebrating a win...I'm talking about surviving and simply finishing one. Any lawyer worth their salt eats, sleeps (although not really) and breathes a trial while it's going on. And for a former atty to take shots at those folks for celebrating is just cheap and tasteless itself.
I find it hilarious that Grace expressed disgust that Anthony was gonna make money off of all this. Uh...the only reason that's possible Nancy is because you made her the "celebrity" she is. Every dollar Casey Anthony makes for being "Tot Mom" from here on out is a dollar she owes Nancy Grace.
Finally, a lot has been made about Casey Anthony lying to the police. I always find it funny, that people overlook the fact that cops are allowed to lie to people their investigating (and usually do). Anthony is obviously screwed up. It should come as no surprise that someone facing that kind of pressure would lie. I have clients lie to me about stupid trivial shit all the time, stuff that doesn't matter one iota in the grand scheme of things, that's just how people are. And I'm their lawyer. I should be last person on earth you're lying to. But it's almost the natural human default condition when caught in a jam: tell what you think the person wants to hear, or what doesn't make you look bad
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