Casey Anthony found not guilty of murder

Good grief Hawkeye, her name is Casey ANTHONY!

She was charged with first degree murder, aggravated child abuse and misleading police in the investigation. Personally, I don't think they should have gone for the death penalty from the git go. More than likely, she would have at the very least been found guilty of the aggravated child abuse if they hadn't gone after the death penalty. ( IMO)

Aggravated manslaughter, but even that was too heavy a charge. The state took away the lessor charge of child abuse, claiming that once it was clear the kid was dead that these charges were no longer appropriate. Why is that, does statute not allow for a child abuse charge when the abuse caused death? I seriously doubt it, what probably happened here is what we so often see the state do, give the jury the choice between the excessive charge and nothing hoping that the jury will bite on the heavy charge. If I was in the jury room I would be pointing out to the other 11 " the state clearly is not interested in Justice because they have attempted to manipulate us into excessive punishment of a fellow citizen, so I suggest we go tell the state to go **** themselves by way of a straight not guilty verdict".

I also suggest that the fast unanimous not guilty verdict here on the major charges indicates that I am not alone in my disdain for the American "justice" system, and in my generally low opinion of the credibility of DA's.

Because I was getting so confused on the actual terminology of each count and what she can and cannot get, I found this (it seems to be legit)

Count One, First Degree Murder: If Casey Anthony is convicted of first degree murder, regardless of whether it is on a theory of Pre-meditated Murder or Felony Murder she will receive at a minimum a life sentence. A life sentence in Florida is a true life sentence, which means there is no parole or early release. A defendant convicted of first degree murder only leaves prison after his or her death. The only alternative to a life sentence is death by execution.
Lesser Included of Count One, Second Degree Murder: (depraved mind murder, not premeditated) The maximum penalty for Second Degree Murder is a life sentence. The minimum sentence is based on the Criminal Punishment Code. The estimated minimum sentence for this charge and other charges which might result in conviction along with this count would be 24 years, 6 months.

Count Two, Aggravated Child Abuse: The maximum penalty for aggravated child is 15 years in prison. The estimated minimum sentence for this charge and other charges which might result in conviction along with this count would be 12 years, 1 month.

Count Three, Aggravated Manslaughter of a Child: If Casey Anthony is convicted of causing the death of Caylee by culpable negligence the maximum sentence is 30 years in prison. The estimated minimum sentence for this charge and other charges which might result in conviction along with this count would be 16 years and 6 months.

UPDATE: Casey Anthony was found not guilty of the first three counts. She was found guilty of the following:

Counts Four Through Seven, Giving False Information to a Law Enforcement Officer in Reference to a Missing Person: The charge in these four counts carries a maximum of one year in county jail for each count. As a result if convicted of all four of these counts, Casey Anthony could receive a sentence of four years if the sentence for each count is run consecutively.

http://www.cfnews13.com/article/news/2011/july/273571/Casey-Anthony:-The-charges-against-her

And here is a great FAQ on the case

http://www.cfnews13.com/casey-anthony-faq

I see that the charges that were dropped were for child neglect, it is these charges that the state might have gotten the jury to bite on if statue allows them in the case of death of the child. We also must consider what might have happened if the manslaughter and and abuse charges had not been bumped up with "aggravated" , though in many cases the laws have recently been rewritten in such a way that even the DA no longer has no ability to pursue straight charges without the extended penalties demanded by the aggravated counts.

Go big is the American way, after all. If juries get in the habit of giving the state the finger as they did here legistatures might be forced to reconsider.

just meant that murderer was acquitted

if true then maybe the state will do a better job next time, will resist charging until they can prove their claims....will also resist inflating their claims.

Thank you for the info and the link! This will be an interesting case for quite awhile I am sure.

I hope not.

I'm hoping to forget this travesty happened.

It's too depressing.

Well, I can't say that I blame you. Unfortunately, what it will probably take to forget this one is the next one. It's just sad.

If you feel strongly about this then work to fix the cause of the problem, work to reform your broken and corrupt government.

My government? Don't you live in the USA? Why don't you do something? Considering you didn't seem even interested enough in getting her name right, I don't expect you to care and do anything.

All I know is that I'm awfully glad I don't live in Florida and had no chance of being on that jury. It must have been a heart-wreching decision to have to make. On the one hand, the circumstantial evidence was so overwhelming against her that most people were left with mouths agape when the verdict was announced. On the other hand, I can just imagine myself being on that jury and thinking, "This is Florida, a freakin' capital punishment state. The evidence is all circumstantial, not 'beyond a reasonable doubt.' Suppose we're all wrong. Suppose she really didn't do it (though I think she did). What then? Am I going to participate in getting a potentially innocent woman euthenized?"

As someone else has already pointed out, a "not guilty" verdict does not mean that the defendant is necessarily innocent of the crime, only that the case has not been proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

A look at some of the possible consequences of single motherhood:

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=44680

Often, there is nothing wrong with circumstantial evidence.

Friday left bare footprints on the beach. Robinson knew he was no longer alone on that island. Purely circumstancial evidence.

That's true Roger but there were no fingerprints on the duct tape or Casey's DNA. Sometimes I think these CSI shows are conditioning us to think it is that easy to solve crimes. Everyone wants that smoking gun. In a death penalty case, who can blame them?

Absolutely true, Rog'. In fact, most criminal cases are adjudged on what amounts to 'circumstantial' evidence. Seeing a man with a smoking gun in his hand standing over a recently shot dead body is nothing more than circumstantial avidence. He might have come on the scene after the shooting and picked up the gun which had been left behind and was thus discovered 'red handed.' Most juries wouldn't blink twice before convicting him on that kind of evidence, especially if there was motive. But a good lawyer might convince me that the inadvertant picking up of the gun is a believable scenario and enough to cast 'reasonable doubt' on the defandant's guilt.

How 'bout you? Would you really want to send a person to the death chamber on the basis of urely circumstantial evidence?

Depends on how credible it was.

Tell you what, though. If the evidence is too shaky for the death penalty, it's also too shaky for ten years in prison.

Obviously not, had it been they would have needed a lot longer to make up their minds. Their choice was between making the state meet their burden of proof as set out in the Constitution, or not. Luckily for us this was a no brainer to this jury.