Saturday, July 9, 2011

Casey Anthony verdict: hard to digest

I won't go too in depth on this one. The country is fuming, and it needn't more fuel. Also, I haven't been able to catch most of the trial, so by no means do I have the authority to report the facts. This is based purely on the bits and pieces I know based on media reported-facts.

Legally, the jury may have made a good choice.  The criminal standard is so high, as it should be, that the jury must find beyond a reasonable doubt that someone committed the crime(s) with which they are charged. That means there can be no plausible circumstance to refute the prosecutor's version of the events, and that the prosecutor must prove every element of the statutory requirements for said crime(s).  We may all believe in Casey Anthony's guilt, but that is not necessarily a legal standard.  Jennifer Ford, Juror #3, said important questions were not answered by the prosecution. She clearly believes, with the other jurors, that although the evidence could point to a murder conviction, those dots were not connected by the prosecutor.

As hard as it is, do not blame the jury for their verdict. They did not choose to be put in the position of deciding this case, and they were not the ones with the burden to prove what we all find obvious based on the facts reported by the media. We were not in the courtroom with them.

I hope there is justice in this decision. Certainly, that is what Caylee Anthony deserves. I am faithful to our justice system, sometimes blindly. I do recognize that the system is imperfect and that sometimes, those imperfections shine through in ways we all recognize as being frustrating and impractical. However, that faith does not run dry in the face of a decision I may not agree with. That is what faith is.

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