My entire knowledge of this case was acquired in the last 15 minutes reading Wikipedia and this thread. It sounds to me like the prosecution just didn't have the case, and although I don't have a grounding in American law when it comes to murders, I suspect it was a mistake for the prosecution to go for the death penalty without stronger evidence tying Casey Anthony to the murder of her daughter. The circumstantial evidence - particularly in relation to Casey Anthony's behaviour after her daughter's disappearance - is compelling, but does not conclusively show that she was responsible for her daughter's death (although I would say it proves beyond a reasonable doubt that she had knowledge of it).
A fairly interesting case. The bare facts (parent alleged to have killed young child) are actually reasonably common, but things like the technologies employed by the investigators, and the cast of characters that is the Anthony family, seems to be what makes it interesting on such a public level.
Although, let's face it, the American media wouldn't have given half a whit if Caylee wasn't such a cute child, and Casey such a good looking party mom...
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