My Thoughts on the Casey Anthony Case

Normally, I prefer to blog about light-hearted, feel-good events. You know, my kids and their cute sayings, birthday parties, and catching lightning bugs. All bubble gum and peach fuzz. Last night, I planned to post pictures from my family’s 4th of July celebration (I’m sure you are awaiting them with bated breath) but Picasa was being rather difficult and I sent him to bed without his dinner. Actually, after the FOURTH time of a “not responding” message I just gave up. I’ll get them on soon enough, I guess. Maybe before Halloween.

Anyway, making a rare appearance here at Tire Swings is my take on the conclusion of a more serious issue. Wait. Serious is too limp a word for this topic. Dark. Dark better suits the whole sorted mess that makes up the Caylee/Casey Anthony case.

Unless you live under a rock (in which case you probably aren’t reading this right now), you are aware of this now mostly finished court case. Casey Anthony has been found not guilty of the death of her little girl, Caylee. Message boards across the web have been working overtime since the verdict was announced yesterday afternoon, with many people questioning whether justice has been served.

I know I am about to go out on a limb here - a really, really long one based on many of my Facebook friends’ statuses - but I submit that our judicial system worked the way it was set up to work and I agree with the verdict. Had I been on the jury, I believe my vote would have been the same. In a capital murder case, where the defendant is facing the death penalty, the burden of guilt falls on the prosecution. They must prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt. If that doubt exists, a juror has no choice but to acquit. It really is as simple as that.

Do I think Anthony was a good mother or is a good person? No. Do I find her family really disturbing and dysfunctional? Yeah. Would I, or any of the mothers I know, have ever disposed of a child after an accidental death? I highly doubt it. Do I think she’s a pathological liar? Absolutely. But what I think doesn’t matter. It’s what can be proven.

The defense claimed that Caylee drown and a panicked Casey (and dad) hid the child’s body. (Actually, well over a year ago, I was reading some article about the case and I came across the mention of a ladder found set up next to the family’s pool and I had this same fleeting thought). Do I know for certain this is what happened? Absolutely not. But on the same hand, it cannot be proven that this didn’t happen.

Without a cause of death and with leaky circumstantial evidence how can there not be reasonable doubt in this case? Again, just because we feel like a person is guilty of something because they lie a lot and act in ways we wouldn’t act or because they may have looked up a few odd things on the internet does not a premeditated killer make. Heaven help me if one day something happens to someone in my family and my computer is seized. I am a terribly curious person and have looked at my share of information that some would find disturbing. U.T.’s Anthropological Research Facility, a.k.a. the Body Farm, comes to mind. If I were on trial, the moment it became public knowledge there were searches about human decomposition on my computer I would automatically be branded guilty in the minds of a lot of people. Throw in a few searches on foreign vacation rentals and suddenly people are positive of my plans to flee the country. You see what I mean? Would you want yourself or your son or daughter convicted on such?

Anyway, this is my take on the issue and it is worth about two cents. Not much. But, it is my take.