Casey Anthony - Guilty, or not guilty?

[afc wimbledon]

Actually many if not most murderers are convicted on purely circumstantial evidence.

Not the least of which would be pig farm boy out here in BC.

[Frequitude]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

Even if there wasn't enough evidence for a murder conviction, I just don't understand how either having your child go missing and not reporting it for a month or having your child die accidentally and then trying to make it look like a murder, isn't a serious enough offense to send someone to jail for a long time.

To me, those are serious enough to warrant a pretty severe punishment.

She wasn't charged with those things. They became her defense though. Hope she's charged and gets put back on trial.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by afc wimbledon

Actually many if not most murderers are convicted on purely circumstantial evidence.

Not the least of which would be pig farm boy out here in BC.

Except that they had witnesses that saw him pick up the victims, found a swack of victim DNA and other things on his farm, and did have a girl testify to his confession.

[afc wimbledon]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Except that they had witnesses that saw him pick up the victims, found a swack of victim DNA and other things on his farm, and did have a girl testify to his confession.

The farm was lived in by several adults beyond Willie and used by hundreds more, it was the local booze can and all of the witnesses were junkies or hookers, unreliable as all get up, in the end it came down to probability, it could have been his brother, or the Hells Angels that partied there, but the evidence pointed to Willie.

None the less there was no direct evidence that connected him any more than his brother or the other 'workers'.

[CaptainCrunch]

I'd have to go back to the trial, but they did have one woman who was considered a witness and Willie had tied her up and threatened to kill her and I think told her that he had killed other girls.

There was also the jail house confession to the undercover cop where he bragged about killing the girls and was dissapointed that he didn't get the record for most murders.

.

[FlamesAddiction]

Good thing they killed Osama, because he'd probably be acquitted too.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by Frequitude

She wasn't charged with those things. They became her defense though. Hope she's charged and gets put back on trial.

Not going to happen, double jeopardy precludes a retrial on not just the same charge but those that arise from the same facts. If that weren't the case the State could simply try one charge at a time with different tactics until one worked.

[Frequitude]

Originally Posted by valo403

Not going to happen, double jeopardy precludes a retrial on not just the same charge but those that arise from the same facts. If that weren't the case the State could simply try one charge at a time with different tactics until one worked.

Pssh. What would you know anyways...

[Coys1882]

I hope she makes a sh1t ton of cash and then her parents or the girl's father come in and sue for wrongful death.

Speaking of which - the father of this kid has been noticeably absent hasn't he?

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by Frequitude

Pssh. What would you know anyways...

Remember, where you normally have a heart, he just has extra brains in that location.

[valo403]

Originally Posted by Shazam

Remember, where you normally have a heart, he just has black matter in that location.

fyp

[Kjesse]

Double Post

[Kjesse]

This is a really unfortunate verdict, but such is the system, these things will happen and are unavoidable.

I didn't think they'd tag her with 1st degree murder, or that 1st degree was proper in the circumstances (either the "intent" kind or the "while committing a felony" kind as presented to the jury) but I thought for sure one of the lesser charges would stick. The only way I can understand what the jury did is that they bought into the opening statement that the kid drowned in the pool and she and her father helped cover it up.

But the father testified that that was not true, and no evidence of drowning was presented.

So that means they rejected, or doubted, the father's testimony and thought it was possible the opening statement could have been true.

The fact that the father kept getting recalled to the stand was surprising to me, that is a big problem and I don't get how that can be allowed and was a recipe for disaster for the prosecution.

The evidence of smell in the trunk was also really problematic, and while it showed the prosecution was trying the best they could, it really was not good evidence. Smells are subjective, I don't care if the "experts" smelled a dead body before and this was similar.

On the issue of the accused suing for time behind bars, there is no chance that such a lawsuit would succeed. First she's likely to be sentenced to time served on the misdemeanors, which justifies her time behind bars. She probably cost the State of Florida 5 to 10 million on this case and a large reason the Grand Jury indicted was because they knew she was lying. Second, the prosecution doesn't have to secure a conviction, they just have to be proceeding believing they have a case likely to secure a conviction and not act with malice in so doing. She slipped through the large opening of reasonable doubt, but barely.

[HOZ]

Jurors speaks out: We were sick to our stomach to get that verdict.

"I did not say she was innocent," said Ford, who had previously only been identified as juror No. 3. "I just said there was not enough evidence. If you cannot prove what the crime was, you cannot determine what the punishment should be."

[Shazam]

It'll be nice when the truth machine is invented.

[jar_e]

As the saying goes...its not what you know, its what you can prove.

I can't say I've been following the trial too closely...is it fair to be comparing this to the OJ trial in regards to the prosecution dropping the ball?

[Rathji]

Saying this as an uninformed onlooker who hasnt really been following this trial: She is guilty of something, because she didnt report the kid missing.

[flylock shox]

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...

[Thor]

Being in Iceland, I´ve heard some brief reports on the news about it and thats it.. Don't miss the hype machines of NA media

[Rathji]

Originally Posted by Thor

Being in Iceland, I´ve heard some brief reports on the news about it and thats it.. Don't miss the hype machines of NA media

Its actually funny, I have not heard anything about the case except for articles linked to from CP.