Casey Anthony, Again?

Table 54 is all a-buzz.  Tonight the Lifetime channel is going to rehash the Casey Anthony trial.  Obviously we didn't get enough with the month long trial itself.  Obviously we didn't get enough of Nancy Grace and her loyal gang of lawyers (who can have no opinion other than Nancy's). But tonight we get Prosecuting Casey Anthony, a Lifetime original movie based on the book by Chief Prosecutor Jeff Ashton.  But that's not all.  After the movie informs us that Casey Anthony should have been found guilty - hands down, we are going to be blessed with a Lifetime Special - Beyond the Headlines: Prosecuting Casey Anthony that will, we are told, fill in the blanks on how the jury reached its decision. Unfortunately, Nancy Grace's verdict of guilty (which she hammered into her audience for two years before the trial even started) didn't pan out in the American court system which requires proof of guilt beyond reasonable doubt.



Now, you might ask yourself why three elderly gentlemen would be interested in all this babble-de-gook.  It's because when people are tried on TV and found guilty even before the trial starts, it's refreshing to see that our system of trial by jury can still bring home a verdict based solely on evidence and not on pre-trial hype.

What you say?  You were sure that Casey Anthony would be found guilty as well.  And you were angered by the verdict because you felt that baby Caylee received no justice for her brutal slaying.  Were you watching the same trial I was?

Consider:

1. At no time did we ever learn what actually killed Caylee.
2. No one saw Casey Anthony kill Caylee, in fact, no one EVER saw Casey mistreat Caylee in any way.
3. No one knows when Caylee died.
4. No one knows how Caylee's remains ended up in the swamp near the Anthony household.

There was no evidence presented at the trial that uncovered answers to any of the above nor was any evidence presented at the trial that proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Casey killed her daughter.  But there were mounds of evidence presented that Casey was a good mother.  Not one single witness (parents, relatives, friends, or boyfriends) who ever watched Casey and Caylee interact stated that the relationship between the two was anything less than a loving mother with her daughter.

That being the case, why were millions of Americans (mostly women) so sure that Casey was guilty of doing away with her daughter?

1. The two year pretrial hype led by former prosecutor/investigator Nancy Grace TOLD the American public that Casey Anthony was guilty.
2. Casey Anthony was an unadulterated and an utterly absolute liar.
3. Casey Anthony was the last person seen with Caylee.
4. Casey Anthony was a party girl.
5. Casey Anthony didn't report the disappearance of Caylee for 31 days.
6. Casey Anthony went clubbing immediately after her daughter disappeared.
7. Casey Anthony stole money from her friends and relatives.
8. Casey Anthony's car trunk had a strange smell in it that prosecutors tried to prove was from the decomposed body of Caylee.
9. Casey Anthony looked, dressed, and acted like Americans perceived a baby killer would look like.

The prosecution came up with two possible scenarios of how Casey killed Caylee.

1. She stuffed the living Caylee into the trunk of her car and suffocated the child.
2. She suffocated Caylee using the duct tape placed over her nose and mouth.

Unfortunately there was no evidence to support either theory.  And inspection of the inside of Caylee's skull on autopsy showed no discoloration which would have been present had Caylee been suffocated.  All the prosecution did manage to prove without a reasonable doubt was:

1. Casey Anthony was one hell-of-a liar.
2. Casey Anthony was a slut of sorts.
3. Casey Anthony grew up in a highly screwed-up household.
4. Something stank in the trunk of Casey Anthony's car.

Of course, none of this was enough to convict her of murder.

Lifetime's Beyond the Headlines special showed (I'm glad to report) how the jury came to it's conclusion that Casey Anthony was not-guilty.  (This was a unanimous ruling, by the way.) Still, thousands upon thousands of people are still upset by the verdict, even though plenty of time has passed since the end of the trial.

The aftermath was, Casey Anthony spent 12 extra days in jail plus time served for lying to the police.  After a huge clamoring, she was forced to stay in Florida for one year on parole.  Now she's free, but still the media tries it's best to prove her guilt.  Recently they found a search on the Anthony computer for the term "fool-proof suffocation."  Of course Casey can't be retried and it is highly doubtful this new search would have proven any more damning than the chloroform search demonstrated.

The guys from Table 54 agree that enough is enough already.  Casey Anthony was found not-guilty.  She's a free woman with all the rights of any citizen of this country.  It's time to allow her to get on with her life.

-Y