Quote:
Originally Posted by JimJoe
Two thoughts:
1. They should not have charged this as a death penalty case. From a practical standpoint, they raised their burden of proof from beyond aLL reasonable doubt to beyond ALL doubt.. a big mistake in my opinion.
2. I would have considered just charging her with the 4 counts of lying to the officers TO BEGIN WITH.. they would have had a trial run on her defense and maybe have even gotten to cross examine her on the stand.. There is no statute of limitations on murder. She may have made more statements if she was not charged initially with murder. They could then go after her with the Murder charge without the death penalty. Lying about a crime is not a lesser included offense of murder and would not bar later prosecution for murder.
JJ
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Hi JimJoe,
Thanks for your excellent analysis as an experienced criminal attorney. FWIW, not a single poster on TOTV said they thought the state proved Casey guilty of first degree murder. It seemed clear that the state could not prove that.
Personally, I don't see the "reasonable" doubt that Casey killed Callie. However, as you said, from a practical standpoint-- though not a legal one-- the prosecution probably raised its burden with the jury from beyond a reasonable doubt to beyond a shadow of a doubt on the manslaughter charge by putting the clearly unproven capital offense on the table.