As many people, I took interest in the pending Casey Anthony verdict with the same enthusiasm a toddler turning the crank of a Jack-In-The-Box does; expecting a clown to jump out at the end of the song with his red nose, funny hat, and a booming announcement of "GUILTY" as he joyfully bounced around. In the case of Casey Anthony, the only clowns were the jury.
In an attempt to shed light on his thought process. or simply squirt us all in the face with his trick, water shooting daisy attached to his lapel, one juror gave us insight as to what went through his head as he contemplated his decision (and no, it was not one of those fake arrows that appear to go in one ear and out the other).
One Juror member has publicly stated it was hard to for him to reach a decision of guilty because the prosecution did not prove that Casey Anthony lied about killing her daughter, did not prove how she died, and was unable to prove motive. What is especially interesting in his take is that he prefaced his own comments by acknowledging Casey Anthony had lied about several other aspects of the case, including lying to investigators about Caylee Marie being missing. This juror was unable to draw the conclusion that, if a mother lies to investigators about her missing daughter, it is not out of the realm of possibility that she is lying about the cause of death to her daughter or her attempts to cover it up.
As I watched the video of "This laughing guy" otherwise known as the prosecuting attorney, laughing while the defense gave its closing argument, I couldn't help but wonder to myself, "Is he laughing at the defense's juvenile presentation of 'The Facts' or is he laughing because he knows each time a jury member slightly raises a leg or shifts in their chair, a small piece of intelligence seeps from their body into the immediate atmosphere to never return". Was his head shake during the reading of the verdict a sign of disgust for the jury or a sad realization that more Americans are able to name the last 5 seasons worth of American Idol finalists than know the number of amendments in The Constitution (27 in case you didn't know)?
Now Casey Anthony is at the mercy of the court for...wait for it...lying to the police, for which she will most certainly be found guilty if for no other reason, so the state of Florida can save at least a little face by declaring, "See, we don't execute ALL of our murderers".
A couple of the things we will not hear should Casey Anthony decide to address the court before sentencing are, "I would do 20 life sentences if I could bring my daughter back" or "I am willing to take any sentence given to me because it will not compare to the life sentence I am serving now for the loss of my daughter". Instead, I suspect Casey will plan her days in similar fashion to a college student. She will take classes while in jail; not prison, so that she can come across as intelligent, well spoken, and even compassionate once she starts the noon-time TV circus.
I'm not involved in the case in any way outside of watching the news like everyone else. I have no inside knowledge and truth be told, I probably think I'm a lot smarter than I really am when it comes to understanding the legal system. I am not a character witness but, I have witnessed many characters. I understand human nature in many different shapes and forms and what I do know from watching Casey Anthony after Caylee's disappearance, is that Casey Anthony was directly involved with the death of her beautiful, 2 year old daughter.
It shouldn't take CSI to paint a picture and Matlock to interpret it, for a jury to be effective in its role of judging a peer. Instead of this jury utilizing all of the facts, lies Casey Anthony told police, and collected evidence coupled with their innate ability as human beings to understand social and cultural norms, it seems they wanted a YouTube video of Casey Anthony murdering her daughter in order to be sure. Even if that were the case, I'm not confident they would get it right, and have a feeling they would have gone back to the old adage of, "Don't believe anything you hear and only half of what you see". That still give Casey a 50/50 chance.
Instead of the country experiencing a collective, "They got her" exhale, we are left to contemplate how the jury got it wrong. Did the prosecuting attorney's office screw up the case? Not according to any of the legal experts on CNN, FOX, and Court TV. Did the judge handcuff the prosecuting attorney's office by not allowing critical pieces of evidence? Again, the answer is no if you happened to be tuned into any of the pundits with decades of legal experience. We may never know all of the answers as to why the jury reached a verdict of Not Guilty. I suspect that as the offers come in from daytime talk shows, more members of the jury will come forward and share how difficult it was to bypass a treasure trove of evidence and not connect the dots. Until that time, we are only left to wonder and mourn the loss of a child.
We are raised in this country to think Justice is blind in the sense that, Justice does not see color, race, religion, or background rather, right and wrong. In the case of Casey Anthony we are left with the questions, if Justice is blind, is it because she only sees truth and honesty regardless of race, creed, color, or religion? Or, is Justice blind because 12 jurors decided to wrap her in a tarp, duct tape her mouth, and discard her on the side of a road...like 2 year old Caylee Marie?
As the country waited for Justice, it was assaulted and robbed of a one of its core virtues; protecting its children. That my friends, is nothing to clown around about.
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