Tuesday, July 5, 2011

That Anthony Problem Again

It's not as bad as it was, since I found a way to escape to Investigation Discovery (Channel 111 on my cable system), but I'm still fed up to here with the media coverage of the Casey Anthony murder trial. But now that the verdict is in, I'm making the bold assumption that the endless media blitz will start to die down just in time for August sweeps.

Speaking of which, the Casey Anthony verdict was read at 2:15 PM Eastern Daylight Time (US). Not guilty of first-degree murder. Not guilty of aggravated manslaughter. Not guilty of aggravated child abuse. Guilty of lying to a police officer, which happens to be a misdemeanor (the other three charges are felonies). Sentencing is Thursday morning. Casey could be free as soon as Thursday afternoon. Then what will she do? What will we do without the media circus on TV? Oh, the horror!

Don't get me wrong. I think the media has the right to cover any court case it chooses to. I also think cameras belong in the court room. We, as viewers of TV and live streaming over the internet, have the right to see what the judge looks like, what the defendant looks alike, what the prosecution and defense attorneys look like, as well as other bit players such as witnesses. We also have the right to see these people make complete asses of themselves, as George and Cindy Anthony most certainly did, and waste taxpayer money, as did the judge who oversaw the case and the State's Attorney who prosecuted the case.

My point is that we need to know who the incompetent judges, states' attorneys, and public defenders, depending on your county or municipality, are so that we can vote them out of office. Judge Belvin Perry may be joining the unemployment lines the next time his seat on the bench comes up for vote in Orange County. So may the state's attorney who prosecuted Casey Anthony, which was so sloppily done that I'm surprised there even was a verdict. The evidence that was presented was circumstantial. It did not specifically put Casey Anthony with her daughter at the time of the daughter's death. However, I believe she is guilty as sin.

Seriously, I was expecting a hung jury. "I'm sorry, Your Honor, we're hopelessly deadlocked." The evidence wasn't only circumstantial, it was sloppy. The witnesses -- especially Cindy Anthony -- were scatterbrained. They were examined, cross-examined, and re-examined multiple times, and not a single one of them said anything of value. The reason Casey Anthony, however guilty she may have been, was acquitted of the felony charges against her was because the evidence presented by the prosecution wasn't strong enough to convict her. The jurors knew it, so they had no choice but to acquit.

I'm not going to call this a gross miscarriage of justice, even though it is. I am going to call it the biggest waste of taxpayer money since the O. J. Simpson murder trial. And as a pro-choice advocate, I'm going to call it a violation of Casey Anthony's civil rights. She wanted to give Caylee up for adoption, but her domineering, narcissistic mother Cindy wouldn't let her. If Cindy had let Casey exercise her right to choose by giving Caylee up for adoption, Caylee would be alive today and her family would know only the shame of having a promiscuous daughter, not the shame of having a killer in the family.

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