Broken System

Today, we have been shown that our judicial system is no more than a bad joke. In many cases, the innocent are wrongly convicted, and in this instance, the guilty go free. Casey Anthony is a cold, calculating individual who has escaped justice in this life. There were so many reasons that she should be in prison, and unfortunately, at least in earthly terms, she will never pay for the life that she has taken, her own daughter's.

How many individuals do you know that have kids? Out of those people, how many do you know who would take more than a few minutes to report their child missing if they had no clue of there whereabouts? Caylee Anthony was only reported missing when her grandmother reported it, 31 days after she had gone missing. Within that 30 days, Casey danced at clubs, slept around, got a tattoo containing the words "The Good Life". Not my idea of an innocent woman. After Caylee was reported missing, she claimed that a babysitter named Zannie kidnapped the 2 year old, a person that she now admits didn't exist. She also made up a story saying that Caylee was with her rich boyfriend, another proven lie.

The defense in this case baffled me from the start. On the first day, Casey's lawyer, Jose Baez claimed that her father, George Anthony had molested her when she was a child. He also made the accusation that Caylee's death was an accident that Mr. Anthony had helped to cover up. The problem with this accusation, is that George Anthony was supposed to be such an important witness for the defense, yet he denied all of the claims. I am shocked that the trial ended as it did, because few defenses succeed when the witnesses aren't consistent with the statements made by the defense attorney. In other words, the defense won, even though one of their biggest witnesses disputed their case. That doesn't happen very often.

The burden of proof lies with the prosecution. In other words, the defense doesn't have to prove a thing, but the prosecutors have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant was guilty. Unfortunately, that did not happen in this case. The problem today, is that we have too many TV shows, such as CSI, that cause people to believe that DNA evidence, among other things, will always be available, which throws circumstantial evidence out. It's true that the only physical evidence found was Casey's car, which, according to some, smelled like a decomposed body. The argument for the defense, however, was that there was no proof that Casey put the body in the car. Circumstantial evidence was more than abundant in this case though, and it was ignored because of the lack of physical evidence. I do find it ironic that Jose Baez's first several comments during the closing statements, were that the burden of proof was on the prosecution. Yet, he made accusations against his own star witness that they offered no evidence to defend. It's pretty convenient that he's not held responsible for backing up statements, yet the prosecution is.

So here come the questions. Why did she lie about the nanny and the boyfriend? Why did she put a tattoo on her body, "The Beautiful Life"? Why did she go out and dance when her daughter was missing, if she had nothing to do with it? A loving parent would be devastated, distraught, and would have reported her missing immediately. And finally, why did it take her 31 days to report the little girl missing?

Personally, I believe that the answers to the questions above is that she's guilty, and that Caylee became an obstruction to the life that she wanted to live. She wanted to be able to go out and do whatever she wanted, and the inconvenience of being a parent became more than she wanted to deal with. Unfortunately, I believe that her plan worked, and that in the end, she got what she wanted. She was found guilty of lying to police, which doesn't carry a long sentence, so she can legally go out to as many clubs as she wants, without a child at home to be responsible for.

I can see the reason that the jury came back with the verdict that they did, but I still don't agree with it. I had a sickening feeling that this was going to happen, but was hoping it wouldn't' take place like this. The truth is, that because of double jeopardy laws, Casey Anthony could admit that she killed Caylee, and walk free. Fair or not, agree with it or not, it is what it is, the law. I do find it ironic that the jury found her guilty of lying to officers, but why would she lie if she didn't have anything to do with the death of her little girl?

At the end of the day, God knows the exact details of this case better than we ever could. God will judge Casey Anthony, regardless of whether or not the jury made the correct decision. Caylee is in the arms of our Lord, and nothing will ever change that. She is in a place that we all hope to be able to be in someday, so while a great injustice took place on Earth, a great reward was earned in Heaven. We might not always understand why things happen the way that they do, but that doesn't usually matter. God has a plan, even when we don't understand it. Sometimes it just takes a little bit of faith to accept the things that we don't comprehend.