Just to show you I am aware of current events, I admit to being sucked into the Casey Anthony Trial television drama reality show vortex. It happened the weekend of the 4th. It was so freakin’ hot outside – heat index above 100° F each day – and the A/C felt so good, and my recliner was so comfy. I sat down in front of the TV and turned on one of the cable news channels – CNN, I think – and there was the courtroom, and closing arguments were about to begin.
I didn’t follow the Anthony case for the last three years, but I was aware of it. I knew the names Casey Anthony and Caylee Anthony, but I was never sure which was the tot and which was the mom. Now the trial was culminating; the prosecutor was ready to give his closing statement, after which the defense would give their closing statement, after which the prosecutor would get another shot with a rebuttal.
As I had done the previous three years whenever I inadvertently tuned into the Anthony drama, I changed the channel. I switched to HLN. There was the courtroom again. I switched the channel to MSNBC, only to see the courtroom again. I switched to Fox News but alas, they were showing the courtoom drama, too. I know when to give up. I decided to watch the lawyers for a while.
After watching both the prosecution’s closing statement and the defense’s closing statement, I was glad not to be a juror on that case. On the one hand, the timeline of events and Casey’s behavior pointed to her as probably being responsible in some way for Caylee’s death. On the other hand, there were many important questions left unanswered. How did Caylee die? What was the cause of death? Was it suffocation by duct tape? Was it poisoning by chloroform? Was it drowning? Was it something else? No one knew. All they had was speculation. When did Caylee die? Dunno. Where did Caylee die? Dunno. Why did Caylee die? Dunno. Just speculation.
In 1692 and 1693, the people of Salem, Massachusetts, conducted what has come to be known as the Salem witch trials. Accused of witchcraft, and being found guilty at trial, fourteen women and five men were executed by hanging. An 80 year old man who refused to enter a plea was crushed to death under heavy stones. At least five more people died while in prison.
The important thing to note here is that the people who sat on the juries were swept up in the mob hysteria of the day. They listened to some very flaky evidence which convinced them that the accused were guilty. They were damn sure those people were witches. And they were wrong. They executed – murdered – innocent people.
Today we know how important it is to judge a person guilty only through the use of well-documented evidence that is allowed into the trial. We don’t vote guilty because we have passionate feelings about the case or about the defendant. We don’t vote guilty because we think we know what happened. We vote guilty when we have proof of guilt beyond any reasonable doubt. And when no one can prove how or where or when the victim died, there is reasonable doubt that a crime has been committed. Going dancing doesn’t prove you murdered someone. Getting a tattoo doesn’t prove you’re a murderer. Not even having a dead body in your car, if that is what happened, can prove that you murdered someone.
Maybe Casey killed her daughter and got away with murder. But maybe she didn’t. And that is why the jury returned a not guilty verdict. They knew it would be an unpopular verdict. The media had tried and convicted Casey long before the trial began. What happened in the media is analogous to the mob hysteria that gripped Salem in 1692. Fortunately for our system of justice, cooler heads prevailed. The jury didn’t listen to the TV pundits, they looked at the evidence. And in this case, the evidence didn’t prove a murder was committed, much less prove who was responsible.
