Casey Anthony Not Guilty Verdict

[Shawn]

Stuff like this is why I stopped watching the news over a decade ago.

I have a fairly simple philosophy: I believe nothing the news media says. I believe nothing politicians say. So why waste time on the news? The stress level goes WAY down and there's more time to enjoy music.

[jlhoots]

I absolutely cannot wait to see that horrific Nancy Grace tonight.

JINKASAURUS!

She is a stomach turner.

[papsrus]

I think she called my house once, some years ago, after it became known that my then-wife was very nearly (and stupidly) attacked by a guy who later abducted a young girl and killed her. It was a semi-national story for about a week. Fox News kept calling the house wanting to interview my ex. I fielded the phone calls, and I believe it was for this Grace woman's show. Eventually she (or whomever the host was) called to badger us.

[GA Russell]

I think she called my house once, some years ago, after it became known that my then-wife was very nearly (and stupidly) attacked by a guy who later abducted a young girl and killed her. It was a semi-national story for about a week. Fox News kept calling the house wanting to interview my ex. I fielded the phone calls, and I believe it was for this Grace woman's show. Eventually she (or whomever the host was) called to badger us.

paps, I don't think that Nancy Grace is with Fox News. I think she is with CNN.

[papsrus]

I think she called my house once, some years ago, after it became known that my then-wife was very nearly (and stupidly) attacked by a guy who later abducted a young girl and killed her. It was a semi-national story for about a week. Fox News kept calling the house wanting to interview my ex. I fielded the phone calls, and I believe it was for this Grace woman's show. Eventually she (or whomever the host was) called to badger us.

paps, I don't think that Nancy Grace is with Fox News. I think she is with CNN.

Ah, well, shows what I know. It was definitely Fox.

[Dave James]

I think she called my house once, some years ago, after it became known that my then-wife was very nearly (and stupidly) attacked by a guy who later abducted a young girl and killed her. It was a semi-national story for about a week. Fox News kept calling the house wanting to interview my ex. I fielded the phone calls, and I believe it was for this Grace woman's show. Eventually she (or whomever the host was) called to badger us.

paps, I don't think that Nancy Grace is with Fox News. I think she is with CNN.

Ah, well, shows what I know. It was definitely Fox.

Probably Greta Van Susteren.

[Jazzmoose]

Never heard of this case or her before this verdict announcement. Really, who has time to follow every little over-sensationalized crime story - those are the things used to distract people from real issues.

If you watch any of the national news programs or channels, it's been difficult to avoid this case over the past 3 yrs.

This one has been *the* case that's been talked about for a while now, maybe more so than the Barry Bonds trial.

Well there's your problem; what are you watching that crap for?

[Teasing the Korean]

I think she called my house once, some years ago, after it became known that my then-wife was very nearly (and stupidly) attacked by a guy who later abducted a young girl and killed her. It was a semi-national story for about a week. Fox News kept calling the house wanting to interview my ex. I fielded the phone calls, and I believe it was for this Grace woman's show. Eventually she (or whomever the host was) called to badger us.

Papsrus, was that the girl who was walking across the parking lot and surveillance video filmed the guy abducting her? That was such as sad story.

[Dan Gould]

Never heard of this case or her before this verdict announcement. Really, who has time to follow every little over-sensationalized crime story - those are the things used to distract people from real issues.

If you watch any of the national news programs or channels, it's been difficult to avoid this case over the past 3 yrs.

This one has been *the* case that's been talked about for a while now, maybe more so than the Barry Bonds trial.

Very much more so than the Bonds trial. A much greater proportion of the population cares when a two year old is murdered by her mother than whether or not some baseball player used steroids and lied about it.

I've never understood this holier-than-thou, "this is what's wrong with the country" reactions when a murder and trial like this gets a lot of attention. Why shouldn't people care, or follow the case and then talk about the verdict?

[JSngry]

Here's the deal - this chick (is the mom Casey, or was that the baby?) definitely looks like she'd be crazy-mad psycho in the sack, and that could be a big lot of fun until she starts showing that baby killer side, so....I think I'd leave that stuff alone, especially if she broke out a roll of Duck Tape and wanted to role play. No happy endings there!

Other than that, I have no impressions of the trial or the individuals involved, or what impressions I do have are that if this is the lasting impression I have (and bottom line, it pretty much is), then neither defense nor prosecution handled their business in a manner befitting the seriousness the case merited. In a not-too-symbolic way, it's a metaphor for America in general these days - hype the show, but don't invest in talent. Emotion over reason.

And I really didn't enjoy having the case in my face every morning when I woke up to the news, but there it was anyway.

PS - didn't Nancy Grace come to HNN from Fox?

[papsrus]

I think she called my house once, some years ago, after it became known that my then-wife was very nearly (and stupidly) attacked by a guy who later abducted a young girl and killed her. It was a semi-national story for about a week. Fox News kept calling the house wanting to interview my ex. I fielded the phone calls, and I believe it was for this Grace woman's show. Eventually she (or whomever the host was) called to badger us.

Papsrus, was that the girl who was walking across the parking lot and surveillance video filmed the guy abducting her? That was such as sad story.

That's the one. It was tragic.

[alankin]

Makes me happy I don't have cable.

[papsrus]

I believe it was Robert Schapiro who said yesterday that the prosecutors "over-prosecuted" the case; that it should never have been a capital case, for instance. (In his opinion).

He also said that these cases are not about getting "justice," a term thrown around liberally on the networks in the aftermath of the verdict, I assume. And they never are. They are about whether the facts prove beyond a reasonable doubt the charges (hence, his belief that prosecutors over-reached in their charges).

Edited July 6, 2011 by papsrus

[ejp626]

I believe it was Robert Schapiro who said yesterday that the prosecutors "over-prosecuted" the case; that it should never have been a capital case, for instance. (In his opinion).

He also said that these cases are not about getting "justice," a term thrown around liberally on the networks in the aftermath of the verdict, I assume. And they never are. They are about whether the facts prove beyond a reasonable doubt the charges (hence, his belief that prosecutors over-reached in their charges).

I can buy that. The jury might well have gone along with manslaughter or the equivalent but not murder-one. But then the Nancy Graces of the world would be screaming about how soft on crime they were. I don't have any problem with people discussing the case around the water cooler. It is a tragic case with some very unappealing characters involved, so it was tailor-made for media attention. I do have a problem with "tragedy pimps" like Nancy Grace who fill the airwaves with nothing but story after story of child murderers and women being killed by abusive men. It contributes to mental pollution, that's for sure.

[Guy Berger]

Guy, not to derail the thread, and maybe you already know this, but it is my understanding that that 9% figure means that 9% are collecting unemployment. Last week I read a reference to a website called shadowfacts.com (or something like that) that estimated that the actual unemployment rate is about 25%!!!!!

GA, the unemployment rate is defined as the number of people without jobs and are actively looking for one, divided by (people with jobs + people without jobs and are actively looking for one). That is just north of 9%.

There are also various measures that try to capture underemployment. For example, one common measure (that is somewhere around 17% I believe) includes the marginally attached (people who don't have a job, would like one, but are not actively looking) and those working part-time for economic reasons. Neither of these categories falls under the category of "unemployed".

Additionally, you have some people who are not working for a variety of other reasons (too young, in school, in prison, not interested in a job) and they are not captured by these measures, but would dent the employment/population ratio (which is around 60%).

The confusion with unemployment insurance is because usually to claim UI you need to be looking for a job. So it could be that many people defined as "unemployed" would actually not bother looking for work if they weren't eligible for UI. If those people run out of UI, the unemployment rate could fall down because either they (A) take a job or (B) stop looking actively.

I've never understood this holier-than-thou, "this is what's wrong with the country" reactions when a murder and trial like this gets a lot of attention. Why shouldn't people care, or follow the case and then talk about the verdict?

There are hundreds - probably thousands - of tragic deaths worldwide every day. This is just one. I don't see any moral justification for why, aside from voyeuristic sensationalism, that this one should suck up all the media oxygen that it does. It's tragedy p-rn.

Guy

[Noj]

This is why I don't watch "the news." I read the paper, or the internet, and choose the stories I want to read. I've only given a glance to news clips on this story, and while recognizing it as a really sad story I've always moved on to reading something more substantial/less gossip-oriented.

It's interesting how much of the public had already convicted the accused. My own mother made the comment that Anthony did not report her child missing for a month, and based on that alone she should have been guilty. Still, for so many who didn't sit on the jury to arrive at such a serious conclusion seems...hasty.

[Dan Gould]

Guy,

Are there hundreds - or thousands - of murders of 2 year olds by their mothers, every day, world-wide? Are there hundred - or thousands - of such cases where the mother spends a month telling lies about her daughter's whereabouts, where she gives no indication that anything has happened to the child, and never calls the police?

Why you can't distinguish between this case as a unique confluence of facts and circumstances different from other trajedies is beyond me.

[ejp626]

Still, for so many who didn't sit on the jury to arrive at such a serious conclusion seems...hasty.

Well, that's true, though certainly my wife and many others sat through a lot of the trial coverage.

Her comment was that she thought the jury deliberations were over in an unusually short time, given the gravity of the case and the sheer length of the trial. Her implication was that a number of jurors had already made up their mind that Casey shouldn't get the death penalty and that they hadn't been deliberating in good faith. I wouldn't go that far, mostly because I don't have any emotional stake in the case...

[Dan Gould]

I think there is something to be said about that - when I saw that they had reached a verdict I was 100% certain it was guilty due to the short time spent in deliberations after such a long trial. Did no one believe she was guilty and needed convincing to go with the others? Did they really fully consider all of the evidence? It seems highly unlikely given how little time they spent deliberating. Its almost as if someone said "I've got reasonable doubts" everyone else said 'so do I' and they said "let's take a vote!"

[Guy Berger]

Guy,

Are there hundreds - or thousands - of murders of 2 year olds by their mothers, every day, world-wide? Are there hundred - or thousands - of such cases where the mother spends a month telling lies about her daughter's whereabouts, where she gives no indication that anything has happened to the child, and never calls the police?

Why you can't distinguish between this case as a unique confluence of facts and circumstances different from other trajedies is beyond me.

Every death has its own unique circumstances. What differentiates this one is its appeal to voyeuristic/sensationalistic tastes, in a way that watching a child starve to death or brutally murdered by warlords or being blown up by a landmine is not.

Guy

[JSngry]

Alternate juror supports verdict in Anthony trial

http://news.yahoo.com/casey-anthony-found-not-guilty-daughters-murder-011307290.html

Huekler, the alternate juror, said the state didn't prove Casey played a role in Caylee's death. "The prosecution never gave any really motive of why Casey would have killed her daughter," he said, dismissing their contention that Casey wanted a carefree lifestyle unencumbered by the duties of motherhood.

"And then they didn't show us how Caylee died," he said. "They didn't give us any type of explanation for that."

Huekler found the defense theory more convincing. The defense team said Caylee accidentally drowned in the Anthony family's backyard pool and that, rather than reporting the death, the family covered it up.

"There was some type of horrific accident," Huekler told reporters. "But for some reason ... they made an accident look like a murder scene."

Huekler said he believed more than one person knew what happened to the little girl, and he suspected Casey's father George Anthony was hiding something.

[Dan Gould]

In-fucking-sane.

Motive isn't an element of the crime to be proven.

The medical examiner determined the death to be a homicide.

Who takes an accident and makes it look like a homicide? Who has their own flesh and blood die and have no burial or memorial or even respectful treatment of the body? As the ME also said, everytime a toddler drowns, the parents or caregivers call 911. They don't cover it up.

Bat-shit fucking insane is what that alternate believes.

[ejp626]

Alternate juror supports verdict in Anthony trial

http://news.yahoo.com/casey-anthony-found-not-guilty-daughters-murder-011307290.html

Huekler, the alternate juror, said the state didn't prove Casey played a role in Caylee's death. "The prosecution never gave any really motive of why Casey would have killed her daughter," he said, dismissing their contention that Casey wanted a carefree lifestyle unencumbered by the duties of motherhood.

"And then they didn't show us how Caylee died," he said. "They didn't give us any type of explanation for that."

Huekler found the defense theory more convincing. The defense team said Caylee accidentally drowned in the Anthony family's backyard pool and that, rather than reporting the death, the family covered it up.

"There was some type of horrific accident," Huekler told reporters. "But for some reason ... they made an accident look like a murder scene."

Huekler said he believed more than one person knew what happened to the little girl, and he suspected Casey's father George Anthony was hiding something.

I've already spent more time thinking about this than I should, but isn't the normal reaction when a child falls into a pool to call 911 and see if there is any chance the child can be revived? There have been a fair number of near-miraculous recoveries, and that would certainly be in the back of my mind. And then to cover the death up for a month?

Wow, just wow. The coverup in itself is certainly a crime and points to broader misconduct, though maybe not premeditated murder.

All I can say is I'd sure like this jury if I am ever charged with anything.

[Man with the Golden Arm]

~

[Dan Gould]

I'd pay the $50 to get that plate design.