and that's all I'm gonna say about that...

A couple things about the Casey Anthony trial/media event-

1. I was not surprised but still surprised by the verdict. Do you know what I mean? I had predicted she would get off because there was just too much attention on the trial. I think jurors get especially skittish and overly picky when they know the entire country is watching. Some of the jurors have spoken out saying that there just wasn't any evidence presented that would allow them to convict her. I saw much of the trial and almost all of the prosecution's final argument. They spelled it out to the jury. I thought they did a great job. I also think that there were plenty of lesser charges to consider. I say the jury didn't spend nearly enough time considering the lesser charges when they were not wanting to vote guilty on 1st degree murder.The jury did not ask to review any evidence on this very important case. Why? I think they did not want to see anything that would cause them to reconsider. The jurors wanted someone to tell them exactly how Caylee died and then show them Casey's fingerprints on her throat and a video of Casey tossing her body out the car window. Scott Peterson was convicted even though the prosecution could not say how Lacy was murdered. People have been rightly convicted of murder where no body was ever recovered. People have been rightly convicted on purely circumstantial evidence. This jury was scared because of the spotlight on this trial.
If I had been in that jury room, perhaps I might have said this:
Casey was responsible for the health and welfare of Caylee.
Caylee was last seen with Casey.
Someone transported Caylee's body to those woods.
Casey's car had a hair from Caylee's head that showed a clear mark in it that only comes from decomposition.
Several people smelled decomposition in Casey's car. Go ahead and write that off if you think all of those people are mistaken.
A cadaver dog alerted to the smell of a cadaver in Casey's car trunk. This is a dog trained to smell distinct things that humans can't smell. Dogs have no motivation to lie. Dogs have incredibly delicate senses of smell. Some dogs can detect the smell of cancer in human bodies. I trust the dog in this case. The dog didn't mistake the smell of American cheese wrappers for human decomposition.
Whatever the cause of Caylee's death, Casey knew that she was dead.
Casey did nothing to inform people that Caylee was dead.
She did nothing to help people find her child's remains.
She did everything she could to keep the child's death from being known.
She did everything to evade questions from her family and law enforcement.
She did everything she could to keep the body from being found.
An innocent person does not go to those lengths to hide the death of their child.
A sad parent, knowing of their child's death, does not go out and party while their child rots in a swamp.
At the very least, the very least, Casey is guilty of child abuse.


2. I think that George and Cindy believe their daughter harmed their granddaughter in some way, but they are embarrassed by her behavior because it reflects on them as parents. They have spent so much time in the past defending her and wanting to believe that she is innocent, that they may not be able to fully accept the idea of her guilt. I think Cindy lied purposefully on the stand when she talked about the chloroform searches on Google. I thought George was a horrible witness for the most part. He came off like someone with something to hide. He would be asked a question by Baez. He would then pause, painfully long, before answering. And his answers sounded like the answers of a man who was lying. I have come to wonder now if he was doing that on purpose to make himself seem a little more guilty and so make Casey seem less guilty. His performance on the stand was like an amateur actor. He made these exaggerated facial expressions almost like someone in acting class trying too hard to imitate a liar. I wonder. The only time he seemed credible was when he was talking about Caylee and how much he missed her and his suicide attempt. I think it was just too painful for him to be anything but his honest self then. The rest of the time he seemed to be saying things in just such a way as to seem like a liar but not so much that he might be called out for lying on the stand. I believe the alternate juror who was talking said he found River Kruse (a.k.a pathetic woman who involves herself in the lives of crime victims to make herself feel more important) to be a credible witness. I thought...well you just read what I thought of her. If George really did say to her it was an accident that snowballed out of control, I think he was probably speculating. Maybe he knew that Casey had to be involved in some way and a scenario of her accidentally killing Caylee was the only scenario of her involvement that he could stomach.

3. Jeff Ashton, the main prosecutor on this trial, has certainly been making the rounds on TV. I have seen him on Dr. Drew, Piers Morgan, Bill O'Reilly, and other shows. With all his media appearances, I expected him to talk angrily or sensationally or bitterly about the case and its outcome. But I have found him to as cautious in his language as Nancy Grace is bombastic in hers. He will give his opinion that the prosecution presented a good case, but he is very careful not to say a negative word against any juror despite what level of disappointment he must be feeling. Who knows how upset he is in real life, but he maintains his professionalism on the air. The opposite of Mr. Jose "Finger Guns" Baez, who has already signed a contract with a talent agency?

4. This trial is over now. While I feel that a guilty person went free, I have tried not to talk about the issue too much. Only God knows why things happened the way they happened. That I have to accept. And I have. I fear for Casey's safety now and I hope that she will take this opportunity to do something good with her life. I have serious doubts that she will, though. It won't surprise me if she re-offends in some way and ends up back in jail. She is narcissistic and probably feels like that she has nothing to learn from this experience. I imagine she thinks that a not-guilty verdict is the least she deserves.