As I mentioned last time, Russ and I have been following the Casey Anthony trial, and as everyone knows by this time, the verdict has come back as Not Guilty. Everyone else has been expressing their outrage and concern, so I thought I’d take a moment to weigh in on the matter as well.
I am outraged. And I am concerned. Basically, I believe Casey Anthony has “gotten away with murder.” The justice system failed. I firmly believe the jurors could NOT have possibly bought into the “drowned in the swimming pool and covered up by Grandpa George” argument. At least I certainly hope they were smarter than that.
What I do believe is that the prosecution simply did not present enough evidence to convict. Tonight we are hearing one of the jurors saying they do not believe Casey was innocent, just that there was no enough evidence to convict. If that is the case, then the jury followed the law, abided by the court’s rules. They “did the right thing,” and got the wrong result. And that’s just too bad.
But here, I think, is something even worse. I read an article today that basically stated that Nancy Grace is the main reason why this murderer is free tonight. If Nancy Grace on her show had not given Casey Anthony so much attention, she would have never risen to near-celebrity status. If Casey had remained a “nobody,” like so many other criminals, she may not have been able to afford an attorney able to adequately defend her. She may have never been able to attract the attention of attorneys competent and skilled enough to point out so many holes in the prosecution’s case. And without that “reasonable doubt,” she could right now be looking at Guilty rather than Not Guilty.
To make matters worse, because Nancy Grace elevated Casey to this near-celebrity status, and evoked such strong public emotion against her, perhaps this was a deciding factor in the State going after her for First Degree Murder, rather than a lesser charge. Would there have been a public outrage if the State tried her for anything less than First Degree Murder? Was the prosecution greedy? If they had taken it upon themselves to prove a lesser charge, maybe they would have been able to get a conviction. Perhaps they aimed too high, and that is why they missed the mark altogether.
I’ve heard it said that celebrities can’t get convicted of anything these days, they always walk, a la OJ, and a la Michael Jackson. Not to mention Lindsay and Paris—-very light sentences. Casey Anthony has joined the ranks of celebrity, and she’s gotten celebrity treatment in the justice system. And we have Nancy Grace to thank for that.
Thanks a lot, Nancy.
