Mary, My views on the Casey Anthony media circus have been published to the blog. You might want to take a look at it.
DNA Technology and Our Criminal Justice System
Welcome to my blog. The State of
Florida v. Casey Marie Anthony is nowhere near the most fascinating case I have
ever observed. Regardless of that, it IS one that our society cannot seem to
get away from. For that reason, I am getting it out of the way first.
Tuesday,
January 17, 2012
This tragic Orange County Florida
case centered upon a baffling crime, the unreported disappearance and death of
an adorable, defenseless two-year-old child. What differentiated the State of
Florida v. Casey Marie Anthony from the vast majority of all other cases was
the exaggerated, almost surreal degree to which it was exploited by the media.
Every tidbit of this 'Media Circus' coverage was promptly devoured by the
public.
The criminal trial—shadowed by an
angry mob positioned outside the Orange County Courthouse—was held during the
summer of 2011. Today, January 17, 2012, marks six months—to the day—from Casey
Anthony's release from the Orange County Jail.
I could begin this article by
plunging into the compelling issues: Guilt v. Innocence, or Justice v.
Injustice. I will not do that. This article offers no sympathy for Casey
Anthony, ....nor does it offer proposals to secure justice for Caylee. Most
important, this article is NOT another pathetic, worthless assault on
the jury, in response to their unpopular decision. The verdict has already been
sufficiently vilified by the placard-carrying mob of zealots who—more than
anything else—couldn't wait to arrive at home, pop some popcorn, and watch
themselves on TV. The recurring theme, throughout this case investigation,
throughout the trial, throughout the orgy of media coverage, was as follows: As
questions were addressed, the degree of confusion was progressively amplified,
and observers were seldom rewarded with anything resembling answers.
I think we can all agree that these
few fundamental issues WERE settled:
- The mother of precious little Caylee was an
incorrigible liar. The woman, in fact, was a liar and a deadbeat long
before the child ever disappeared.
- We all agree that mothers are ultimately responsible
for the health and safety of their kids. It defied moral comprehension
when this particular mom decided to go out partying—enjoying her
friendships—with the full knowledge that her child was GONE.
- A 'theory' that the little girl had drowned was
presented as part of the defense's opening argument.
- Although the burden of proof always rests with the
prosecution (not the defense), there was more evidence raising doubts that
a drowning ever occurred (testimony from George Anthony), versus what
added up to essentially no effort to establish drowning as a factor
at all.
With these fundamental facts
established, the following fascinating revelations emerged during the course of
the investigation and the 43-day trial:
- On August 11th, 12th, and 13th, 2008, tips came into
local law enforcement-alerting them to the possible location of the
child's body. FOUR MONTHS LATER, a thorough search of the same EXACT
location led to the recovery of the profoundly decomposed remains.
- The protracted, unnecessary delay in the
recovery of these VITAL materials is part of the reason why so little
physical evidence could be presented by the prosecution during the trial.
This included no conclusive DNA, no fingerprints, and no
useful trace materials.
- Despite a remarkable degree of speculation, the cause
of death was never established by any medical examination.
- Asphyxiation—involving the use of duct tape—was
suggested by the prosecution. This was coupled with speculation regarding
the use of chloroform as a murder weapon.
- There was no mechanism of establishing that the
recovered duct tape was used to commit a premeditated homicide.
- The prosecution attempted to argue that the organic
solvent, chloroform, was present in the trunk of the defendant's vehicle.
This claim was contradicted by the prosecution's own witness—Dr. Michael
Rickenbach—an FBI chemist. The profoundly low levels of chloroform could
have been due to the presence of the emulsified organic compound typically
found in a variety of common cleaning products.
- Curiously, the prosecution presented expert testimony
that 84 computer searches for "chloroform" had been
conducted on a computer to which the defendant had access. During closing
arguments, the defense emphatically disputed the validity of these
findings. The defense pointed out that the alleged 84 hits contradicted a
separate report of only ONE hit. They also exposed a glaring
flaw—that the report of 84 chloroform searches was not released until June
2nd, ....DURING THE TRIAL! The child disappeared during the summer
of 2008. One has to wonder: What were the investigators/prosecutors doing
with this computer during the THREE YEARS leading up to the trial? The
members of the jury had to be anxiously anticipating the prosecution's counter
attack during the rebuttal phase of the closing arguments. I know I was!
The most incredible development of the entire trial occurred
when the prosecution mysteriously abandoned the 'chloroform search' issue.
Poof! Two weeks after the jury came back with a verdict, the facts of this
debacle were released to the public, ....read on:
This had to be an enormous source of
embarrassment for the prosecution.
As far as establishing the presence
of chloroform and conclusive evidence of a premeditated homicide, the
prosecution did not even get to first base. In early January, 2012, the TLC
network aired what was LOOSELY referred to as a "documentary"
entitled "Dr. G: Inside the Caylee Anthony Case". The
information disseminated during this program was woefully slanted and polluted
with vital inaccuracies.
The two most glaring examples are as
follows:
First, the TLC program casually
mentioned that Caylee's remains were recovered in December 2008. This was true.
However, TLC seemed to hastily move on from there—going out of their way to
applaud the investigative work dedicated to gleaning information from such
excessively deteriorated remains. Interestingly, NO mention was made that the
location of the body WAS REPORTED FOUR MONTHS EARLIER, ....with no
productive follow-up exploration of that crime scene. Note that the remains
were found ONLY 1/3 of a mile from the Anthony home, 19 feet 8 inches off of a
paved roadway. Ten feet of this distance was a mowed, grassy border. So,
....the police unknowingly allowed vital evidentiary materials to sit in a swamp
throughout most of August, all of September, October, November, and beyond.
Anybody who has experienced Florida's weather during these months, ...well,
...this was an ENORMOUS gaffe!
Second, a brief segment of the TLC
program showed prosecuting attorney, Linda Drane Burdick, at the trial,
uttering the words "....84 Google searches for chloroform....".
Unbelievable! These continued references to that which has—LONG SINCE—been
disproven, leaves me searching for the most indignant, ....but appropriate
response. Words from Joseph Goebbels provide a suitable commentary on TLC's
sorry excuse for a documentary: "If you tell a lie big enough and keep
repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it." Goebbels
continues ".....for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie,...."
Perhaps I am the one—not TLC—who has it all wrong here. If it *somehow*
turns out that the estimation of 84 searches was correct after all, I will
immediately print a retraction.
The facts are what they are:
Additional articles on this software fiasco are as follows:
At times during the trial, the
prosecution DID present their evidence quite effectively. However, the moment
has arrived for these good people to stop attempting to shift blame onto the
jurors. The jury didn't blow this one, ....you did. The original indictment
limited the jury's options. Other than pursuing the defendant for lying to the
police, ....uh, ......yes, that was a slam dunk, ......the charges were as
follows:
First Degree Murder, Aggravated
Manslaughter, Child Abuse.
Fortunately, new laws have been
crafted that will severely punish individuals who do not report a child's death
within one hour, ....or who do not report a child missing within 24 hours after
the event. I personally cannot imagine how the penalties for these crimes will
be severe enough. It is truly sad that our society has deteriorated to the
point at which we actually need such laws.
The next article is entitled: Society’s Latest Legal
Disaster
Michael J. Spence, Ph.D.
January 17, 2012
