[gerryann]

An innocent child is gone forever......WHOEVER killed her will live with this the rest of their lives.

[Chief X]

Originally Posted by JimJoe

I was a defense attorney for 5 years and tried 26 jury trials including 3 1st degree murder cases. I was next a prosecutor or 13.5 years and tried well over a hundred jury trials including more than a dozen murder and class A felony cases. I finished my career as a defense attorney for 12.5 years with dozens of jury trials including many murder cases.
The verdict was correct. They had no proof of murder and no proof Casey did it. All of the prosecution "circumstantial" evidence was consistent with an accidental death that was covered up by the disposal of the body. Casey did not act nor grieve like a parent of a deceased child. People react in many ways. If she had testified there was an accidental drowning and coverup, they may have still charged her with murder based on Child Endangerment (allowing the child to have access to a pool and drown in it, and a resulting death... good strategy by her lawyer to keep her off the stand.

It does not matter what any of us think. It only matters what the prosecution could prove. If they had found her guilty of 1st degree murder and executed her those jurors would never had had a peaceful moment the rest of the lives. That is how I finished my closing arguments and I won more than my share of trials.

Proof beyond ALL reasonable doubt.. they did not even get close. The child died, the body was discarded, and Casey did not act like "most" parents "should" have acted. Could you have sentenced Casey to death with that evidence? I could not.
JJ

Well said.

[PennBF]

Jimjoe..Thanks for taking the time to explain some of the problems with this case and how the American Justice system has worked. Your note was a
refreshing statement in contrast to those who would hang someone without sufficient proof. Again, thanks.

[OpusX1]

I agree with JimJoe.
These jurors took their job very seriously. Many years ago I was a jury member and when you are holding a persons life and/or years of life in your hands you make sure that every T is crossed and every I is dotted. Better a hundred guilty go free than one innocent be punished. The prosecution did not prove anything beyond a reasonable doubt. I did not follow this case the way some have so I can't say weather it was poor investigation, poor prosecution or a combination of both..

[eremite06]

Originally Posted by sandybill2

Well, I can assure you I won't contribute a dime to her profiting from the death of her beautiful child. I hope little Caylee appears to Casey each and every time she closes her eyes with duct tape wrapped around her little face- asking her "why"--and that this image will haunt Casey for the rest of her life. I also hope Little Caylee will be a Guardian Angel for the other children that Casey will probably have. Heaven help them.

WOW!!!! She IS a good LIAR!!!!!

[katezbox]

JimJoe - thanks for your insight.

[CMANN]

Originally Posted by PennBF

As unpopular it is to say justice was done I believe this is a great example
of the American Justice System. The state tried to kill a person without any
true proof. It is not important whether she is innocent or guilty..What is important is that they tried to kill her without proof. The results today are
a perfect example of how everyone is protected from unfair prosecution
without proof. The jury heard all the evidence and made their decision. We owe them a huge amount of praise for demanding proof before killing someone.

Well said.

[dillywho]

Originally Posted by PennBF

As unpopular it is to say justice was done I believe this is a great example
of the American Justice System. The state tried to kill a person without any
true proof. It is not important whether she is innocent or guilty..What is important is that they tried to kill her without proof. The results today are
a perfect example of how everyone is protected from unfair prosecution
without proof. The jury heard all the evidence and made their decision. We owe them a huge amount of praise for demanding proof before killing someone.

Regardless of any opinions to the contrary, the system worked. The State did not prove their case beyond and to the exclusion of any reasonable doubt.

Had Dr. G left her ruling of manner of death at undetermined means, this trial would never have been. She could not say how the child actually died but how she thought she died. As an expert, she could testify as to her opinion. She said that the body had not been moved. She's most likely right about that, but parts definitely were. Roy Kronk actually testified to that.

This State's case was more about speculation. Maybe chloroform, maybe tape, maybe both....they couldn't prove either one or anything else. Theories are not proof.

As to all the people everywhere all over the country that are angry with the jury and their decision, I hope they will step up to the plate the next time they get a summons for jury duty and not work their butts off at figuring ways to get out of it. Either we believe in our Constitution and our system of justice set out in that document or we don't. We are not free to pick and choose which parts of the Constitution we want to live by. It's all or nothing.

Maybe at some point we will all know the truth of what really happened, but I won't hold my breath waiting.

I still appreciate all the civil and respectful posting throughout the whole ordeal. Thanks to all.

Our ability to participate and express our opinions freely is another one of the things that make this the greatest, freeest country in the world. I count it a privilege to live both in this country and TV.

[dillywho]

Originally Posted by collie1228

If I were a resident of Florida I would be highly displeased with the entire prosecution of this case. And those of us who call this an injustice don't know much about our judicial system. Twelve handpicked fellow citizens listened to the evidence brought by a powerful institution called the prosecution, and that jury didn't buy any of it, except for four minor charges of lying to the police. The prosecutors intended that this woman get the death penalty, and she ended up convicted of four misdemeanors. I'll bet that the prosecuting attorney either decides not to run for reelection or gets soundly defeated if he does run. The legal expert at CNN said that in NY four misdemeanors might get you probation, but never jail time. We'll see what happens in Florida, but the prosecutors obviously had a weak case - the jury was out only a total of 11 hours, and never asked to review any of the evidence. That is a serious rebuke of the prosecution's case. Maybe Mr. Baez was smarter than anyone gave him credit for being? And maybe Ms. Nancy Grace isn't as smart as she would like you to think she is.

Nancy Grace is only good at sarcasm....probably why she no longer has a court job. She would be less popular than Jeff Ashton.

[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

[redwitch]

I'm glad Casey didn't get the death penalty or a life sentence. From what I had seen pre-trial (I followed the trial as little as possible), there just wasn't enough evidence to prove murder, let alone pre-meditated murder. This is NOT the OJ case all over again. OJ won because of who he was, a phenomenal legal team and some horrid mistakes by law enforcement officers (evidence didn't need to be planted but was).

With Casey, there really wasn't a case. Yes, there was a tragic death of a beautiful little girl but no real clues of how Caylee died. Circumstantial evidence leaves too much room for doubt. Would you want to send someone to their death or life in prison without having some hard facts even if you didn't like the individual on trial? Regardless, Casey will have to live the rest of her life with the knowledge that almost everyone is convinced she did in fact kill her own child. Odds are she'll never live at home again and I do believe her father has literally washed his hands of her. And I do believe that karma will ultimately take care of Casey.

JimJoe, thank you for such a well-explained and thought out post on justice.

[katezbox]

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

JJ,

I completely agree with you on the capital murder charge. And the way you crafted a way to convict w/o danger of double jeopardy is very astute. Unfortunately, the media feeding frenzy created by Nancy Grace and her ilk, but an undue burden on the state to be tough.

k

[dillywho]

It would be interesting if the television people interviewing people on the street about their take on the verdict would ask them for their first question if they had ever served on a jury.

[Freeda]

Originally Posted by graciegirl

I can't believe this has happened.

What happens to her now Freeda? Does she walk free? Do the lesser charges keep her incarcerated?

I can't believe it either. I know there is alot of difference of opinion in the forums about whether the state met its burden; but to me it did. The evidence, I felt, lead to only one conclusion as to what happened to Caylee. I got a text message that Jeff Ashton has announced his decision to retire. I thought that he and Linda Burdick were excellent.

It will be interesting if there is any feedback from the jurors as to whether they actually believed she was innocent vs. whether they believed in her probable guilt but couldn't overcome their belief that there was reasonable doubt.

Yes, Gracie, she is free on all of the charges except the 4 convictions for lying to a police office; on those it's my understanding that the sentence is up to one year per charge. Since she has served 3 years already, and the charges can probably run concurrently, it remains to be seen Thursday what Judge Perry does; but he could release her, I think, for time served.

[downeaster]

Originally Posted by JimJoe

I was a defense attorney for 5 years and tried 26 jury trials including 3 1st degree murder cases. I was next a prosecutor or 13.5 years and tried well over a hundred jury trials including more than a dozen murder and class A felony cases. I finished my career as a defense attorney for 12.5 years with dozens of jury trials including many murder cases.
The verdict was correct. They had no proof of murder and no proof Casey did it. All of the prosecution "circumstantial" evidence was consistent with an accidental death that was covered up by the disposal of the body. Casey did not act nor grieve like a parent of a deceased child. People react in many ways. If she had testified there was an accidental drowning and coverup, they may have still charged her with murder based on Child Endangerment (allowing the child to have access to a pool and drown in it, and a resulting death... good strategy by her lawyer to keep her off the stand.

It does not matter what any of us think. It only matters what the prosecution could prove. If they had found her guilty of 1st degree murder and executed her those jurors would never had had a peaceful moment the rest of the lives. That is how I finished my closing arguments and I won more than my share of trials.

Proof beyond ALL reasonable doubt.. they did not even get close. The child died, the body was discarded, and Casey did not act like "most" parents "should" have acted. Could you have sentenced Casey to death with that evidence? I could not.
JJ

Thanks, JJ, I like what you said.

I might add, the Pinallas county jurors were not bombarded for three years by the Orlando media which tried, convicted and would have executed Casey had they had their way. It even lulled the prosecution into thinking they had an open and shut case. They even believed the media's perception of the defense being less than intelligent. The grin on Ashton's face today as he returned to the court room for the verdict said it all.