[dillywho]

Like Gracie, I intended to give this a rest. Oh, well.

Do I like Casey..no. Do I think she is innocent..no, but they did not prove her guilty of murder. Do I think she is guilty of murder...I don't know, could be. Do I think she is in any way responsible for her death...absolutely, I just don't know how or to what extent other than it "happened on her watch".

The State did drop the ball in numerous ways. If you heard the States Attorney's press conference, he said that this was a "dry bones case" which are the most difficult to prove. All the more reason they should have had all their T's crossed and their I's dotted. He didn't like the verdict either, but accepted it without rancor. In its zeal to get the biggie, the State failed to charge her with child neglect. I believe she could have received a guilty verdict on this one. Caylee was in her care the last time she was apparently seen. I say apparently because someone else could have been present. Who knows? Child abuse and child neglect are not one in the same in legal definition. Maybe they should be, but they are not. She can't be punished for something that isn't even charged.

Brad Conway, one of the Anthony's former attorneys, pointed out that the State did not follow up on the allegations of sexual abuse by not talking to former school teachers, neighbors, other family members. They just kinda brushed it off thinking the jury would do the same. One juror even said that George seemed to be hiding something in all his testimonies. The jury didn't buy into his "suicide attempt", either but didn't say exactly why. My biggest flag on that is of why would he address Cindy as Cynthia Marie throughout? He usually referred to her as "my wife, Cindy". I have asked several others about this and it seems really strange to them as well. What guilt and failure was he talking about? The prosecution didn't even ask Cindy if Casey had ever told her anything regarding any sexual abuse. In all fairness, I'm not sure the defense did either. If not, they should have. They asked George, but that's all.

The State couldn't see past the chloroform. They relied on some unproven testing and didn't even check beyond her house and car when they didn't find any evidence (other than the air sampling) of it those places. What about her numerous boyfriends' houses and cars? Why weren't they asked if Casey ever mixed up anything at their houses or if they had ever seen anything really odd in her possession, if they wanted to build their case on it? There was never any evidence of purchase. They didn't ask if Caylee ever seemed unusally sleepy or lethargic since she seemed to be a very energetic child in videos? If Casey made it anywhere, someone should have known something. If she bought it, how and where, and did anyone ever see it? If the computer searches were done in mid-March, then why did she wait until June to kill her with it? Why wasn't DNA testing done on the maggots found in the car? That would have been more compelling than air testing since it is proven and accepted throughout the forensics community and courts.

It seemed that even Judge Perry had/has his doubts about her innocence. I think he knows or thinks he knows that she did something. He also knows that by law you cannot convict on that basis or on emotion. He even said so about the jurors when he denied the press's lawyer's request for the release of juror names. Just prior to sending them out to deliberate, he instructed the jury that they could not base their verdict on whether or not they liked someone, whether or not they approved or disapproved of that persons actions or lifestyle, their looks or age or race, or any other emotions, but only on the evidence that they would hear in court. Based on what some of them have said about what they think or thought, that's exactly what they did..followed instructions. As Judge Perry said, they didn't have access to what everyone else did such as television, papers, internet, etc. They weren't bombarded on a daily basis with all the hype and emotion. They were only allowed to hear what was permitted in their presence. (Pop Tarts, Judge Perry called them for having to be sent out so much so he could rule on the admissibility of testimony, etc.)

If Dr. G. had not ruled this a homicide in the first place and just left the cause as undetermined, this whole trial mess would have been avoided. They had plenty of other charges to use. If proof came to light at a later date that she did really intentionally kill her, then murder charges could have been made. Murder has no statute of limitations. Double jeopardy would not have been an issue. Now it is.

If lessons were learned by all (and I think there were many), then Caylee did not die for nothing. If Casey really is an outright killer that walked, then maybe there's a greater chance that the next one (and there will be another) won't because of this case and the mistakes made.