A Long Walk Pondering Casey Anthony and How the Justice System got it both wrong and right..

I think the world collectively gasped yesterday when the Casey Anthony verdict was read. So as my husband and I started out on a walk together last night, it is no surprise that the subject dominated the majority of our conversation for the length of time it took us to traverse five miles.

The truth is there are probably very few people who followed the trial who are going to walk away from this believing that Casey Anthony is innocent....but the big question still hanging in the air is "What is she guilty of?" I can tell you that I was certain the jury would convict her of something beyond the charges she was ultimately convicted of, and I felt a little sick when I heard the court reporter read the "Not Guilty" decree. I agreed one hundred percent with the coroner's belief...If a child ends up in a garbage bag with tape over it's mouth abandoned in the woods, then it is clearly a homicide. I wanted the jury to make the connection that Casey was the last one known to have seen her, that Casey told no one for thirty one days about the disappearance, and that Casey continued to lie and interfere with the investigation once the child was discovered missing. Clearly she was the culprit even if we didn't know exactly what happened.

As my husband and I discussed the day's events, I had to admit that I never bought the prosecution's theory that Casey Anthony woke up one day and decided to smother her child by applying chloroform and taping her mouth and nose closed.  Truthfully I speculated that Casey was using chloroform as her "Nanny" and on the day Caylee died used too much. I speculated that the tape was either to keep the child quiet if she happened to wake prior to her Mom's return or a ploy on Casey's part to make it appear the child was kidnapped after she realized Casey had passed away and she needed to formulate a plan to cover it up.

And clearly that was the problem. I hadn't believed the scenario that the prosecution was presenting; it was probable the jury didn't either, but unlike me, they didn't have the latitude to speculate. They are charged to work with the facts presented. They can't presume to know what happened unless the assumption can be made beyond a reasonable doubt.  In this case there was little direct evidence showing that Casey had ever acted in a way that suggested she wanted to rid herself of a child prior to the disappearance even if she frolicked and seemed to celebrate later. There was no direct evidence that placed Casey at the computer doing those well known searches on chloroform; only the suggestion that she was the only one in the home to have motive to do such a search. More importantly, there was no direct evidence to support exactly how the child died, no drugs detected, no broken bones, no indication of anything that would imply any previous abuse. Only our common sense in respect to Casey's actions for those 31 days tells us Caylee's death was not by natural means and Casey had something to do with it.

When the dust settles and the emotions ebb, I believe we will look back and say that their were multiple mistakes along the way that lost the conviction. The policeman who failed to thoroughly search the area the first time the remains were reported allowing further damage to the evidence. The prosecution who fueled by the public's outrage pursued a charge that most pundits agreed was out of reach while potentially discarding other strategies that would have allowed the jury to focus instead on a lesser charge. The introduction of the video of Caylee with tape over her mouth which was designed to inflame but potentially created more doubt than conviction.

In the end, I believe we can almost all agree that the justice system failed Caylee, but after walking five miles and pondering the issues, I wasn't as convinced any longer that the failure fell with the twelve individuals who made the final call. They were truly the only people who had an unobstructed view of the evidence sans pundits, opinion and preconceived notions. When and if the day arrives that the jurors eventually reveal the drivers behind their decisions, I believe that they will tell us that they did not buy the idea that Caylee drowned in a pool or even that they believed Casey Anthony was innocent of harming her daughter, but I do believe they will tell us they did not have enough direct evidence presented by the prosecution to exceed reasonable doubt to the charges at hand. They are bound to be haunted for a long time to come by the things they heard in the courtroom, the things they will now learn and the what ifs, but after a day's reflection I am not sure they deserve the added pressure of a country of backseat jurors second guessing their decisions.