Casey Anthony is not guilty July 5, 2011 Jill Does this mean that Nancy Grace can quit her job now and fade into obscurity? Please tell me that’s what it means.
I hope so. I also hope CNN finds something else to cover rather than torture me with endless coverage of the trial while I am captive at the Atlanta airport.
Someone recently said they hope they find her not guilty so that Nancy Grace’s head explodes. I am tuning in to see if it happens. Otherwise, I am so sick of Nancy Grace this and that. She has probably exploited this girl’s death more than anyone else, she’s probably single-handedly swayed public opinion about the entire family and case and it irks me to no end how she has acted more like a tabloid reporter than a legal news expert.
I hate being a Debbie Downer, Jill, but unfortunately Nancy Grace is going nowhere. There’s always another case out there for her to work her way into and declare the suspect guilty before they set foot into a courtroom, etc. etc. Unfortunately my mother watches Nancy Grace quite a bit, and latches onto certain cases and trials (like this one, I like the last one she latched onto was Scott Peterson), and has done so for years, so I know by now that there will always be someone for Nancy Grace to accuse of something. And regrettably so.
Grrr… I meant to say “I think the last one she latched onto was Scott Peterson.” Had to go without a dose of one of my bipolar meds last night, so I am tired today and English will not be my strong suit until I have had a good night’s rest.
sadly, no — because the audience of people who think they are THE ONLY PEOPLE DECENT ENOUGH TO CARE WHEN BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO (white, attractive) CHILDREN AND (white, young, attractive) WOMEN is *huge*.
Among the trial spectators was 51-year-old Robin Wilkie, who said she has spent $3,000 on hotels and food since arriving June 10 from Lake Minnetonka, Minn. She tallied more than 100 hours standing in line to wait for tickets and got into the courtroom 15 times to see Anthony. “True crime has become a unique genre of entertainment,” Wilkie said. “Her stories are so extreme and fantastic, it’s hard to believe they’re true, but that’s what engrosses people. This case has sex, lies and videotapes — just like on reality TV.”
You know, as soon as I went on facebook after the “not guilty” verdict was returned, there was a shitstorm of “what kind of mother lets they’re [sic] kid…” all on my wall. So depressing.
Tony: Among the trial spectators was 51-year-old Robin Wilkie, who said she has spent $3,000 on hotels and food since arriving June 10 from Lake Minnetonka, Minn. She tallied more than 100 hours standing in line to wait for tickets and got into the courtroom 15 times to see Anthony. “True crime has become a unique genre of entertainment,” Wilkie said. “Her stories are so extreme and fantastic, it’s hard to believe they’re true, but that’s what engrosses people. This case has sex, lies and videotapes — just like on reality TV.” OMG. Yet another example of how sick the whole hub-bub surrounding this trial has been.
AtheistChick: You know, as soon as I went on facebook after the “not guilty” verdict was returned, there was a shitstorm of “what kind of mother lets they’re [sic] kid…” all on my wall. So depressing. Yep, Facebook pretty much erupted at that point.
I guess my issue was the number of people (my family and friends, no less!) who decided that Anthony deserved punishment more for her characteristics as a mother than as a murderer.
AtheistChick: I guess my issue was the number of people (my family and friends, no less!) who decided that Anthony deserved punishment more for her characteristics as a mother than as a murderer. I can’t blame you. I also hated the amount of slut-shaming that has plagued the internet for the last three years throughout this case in addition of the characteristics as a mother issue.
And not only that, but if people really want to be mad about murder and mayhem, there’s plenty of rape and drug charges to get all up in arms about. Not trying to downplay the death of Anthony’s child, but why this case to get so upset about?
Wow. I was sure she was going to be convicted. Personally, I didn’t think the facts merited a conviction, but I’m not sure that justice has been served. The facts have been so distorted that no one’s ever going to believe it was a simple accident.
….am I the only person in the world who actually wasn’t aware of the Casey Anthony case until this morning when my FB Feed exploded in anger? It is probably due to my extreme aversion to Nancy Grace, but still. I don’t recall any coverage anywhere else, and I’m fairly good at staying current on the news. Ugh, Nancy Grace. Bringing her up in my household results in three angry women hollering about how terrible her judgemental attitude is and how we all wish she’d just drop off the face of the earth, but then we’d have to deal with the media coverage at another white, attractive woman disappearing and the fingerpointing that would follow.
AshleyLynn Well, I must live in extra ignorant bliss, because I have no idea who Nancy Grace is 🙂 On the case (which I haven’t really been following, but from the snippets I’ve heard of), it seems like a) probably Casey did murder her daughter, and b) probably there wasn’t enough evidence to convict without a probable cause, so the jury did the right thing. It seems like there are similarities with the DSK case, in which we see the discrepancy between “justice” as we conceive it in a common sense term, and the workings of the US legal system, in which the prosecution must present a certain level of proof to bring about a guilty verdict. My guess is in both cases, most people are fairly sure on some gut level that the parties are guilty, but in both cases, there is not the evidence to convict, and (luckily) conviction requires more than gut feeling. Ironically, I think the failings of the legal system in some ways showcase its strengths.
AtheistChick: And not only that, but if people really want to be mad about murder and mayhem, there’s plenty of rape and drug charges to get all up in arms about. Not trying to downplay the death of Anthony’s child, but why this case to get so upset about? And this too of course. There has been so much wrongness in play with how the public and how the media has handled this case. There’s the fact that the media and the public insist on responding mainly to these cases when it is an attractive white woman or child who has been harmed, there’s the mommy-shaming, the slut-shaming, and literally just a little while ago it was brought to my attention that Ann Coulter has used this occasion to deliver a nasty classist rant about the types of people she thinks are obsessing over the case. Which I find damn funny because while interestingly my actual Facebook friends are being very quiet about the whole thing, it’s the celebrities whose pages I have “liked” who are posting their fury and/or thoughts about this, and all of them having much more class privilege than anyone I know personally.
AshleyLynn, you are quite lucky, and Elisabeth, I think you have hit the jackpot of being able to avoid annoying/frustrating news stories. 😉 I do agree with your assessment Elisabeth, after having been exposed to this case for the last three years. I personally I think that either this really was an accident Casey was afraid she would be blamed for and that she felt needed to be covered up, *or* that she might have something deliberately to hurt her daughter but there just wasn’t enough forensic evidence to support either an accident or murder or any other theory for that matter, so the jury really had no other choice but to acquit.
And this is why we need so, so many more support systems in place to help overwhelmed parents. And also, Nancy Grace needs to stop existing. I don’t wish death, just…non existence, however she chooses to take that.
My Facebook actually had multiple statuses claiming that OF COURSE they found her not guilty, she’s white. (One of which had too many comments from a middle-class white guy complaining that he’s oppressed too.)
AtheistChick: I guess my issue was the number of people (my family and friends, no less!) who decided that Anthony deserved punishment more for her characteristics as a mother than as a murderer. Pretty much my reaction to the coverage and the prosecution. The actually facts seem pretty thin on the ground and don’t really seem to support a murder conviction in the face of reasonable doubt, so the last bastion of the prosecution is to try to convince the jury that she should go to jail just for being a bad mother. It’s the flip side of when the defense asks the jury to acquit because the complaining witness/victim is a terrible person. “Screw what actually happened–don’t you just want to take the power you’ve been given and lash out at this person?”
I think justice was served here. The persecution sucked, and if she had been found guilty on such shoddy non evidence that would have been a travesty. Now, as you said, if only Nancy Grace, her protege Jane Velez-Mitchel, Doctor fucking Drew and Vinnie Politan who spent all afternoon in a faux ratings outrage, would all go on a very long sabbatical, possible to the school of ethics, I’d be quite content.
Casey Anthony’s defense was that her daughter drowned and she covered her muth with duct tape and put her in the trunk of the car (forensics don’t agree with that but alas) to cover it up (because she thought she would get blamed for it, my how that backfired). There was no conclusive evidence to say it wasn’t an accident but there wasn’t any conclusive evidence to say it WAS either. Casey Anthony was found not guilty of murder, we will never know for sure if she really did it.
If there was an edit button I would use it but ym last statement should be that we will never know if this was an overreaction to an accident or if she was covering up a murder/killing. It can’t be proven either way.
I’m just taking notes on the people who simultaneously complain about the verdict and jury duty. Nancy Grace gives me too much of a headache.
I live in Orlando. This case has brought some scary people into my already scary town. Including a news producer who tried to hit on me while telling me how ‘lucky’ I was to live at the ‘center of the storm’. Freakish obsessions over true crime cases [as long as the victims/possible perpetrators are properly white and attractive] are things I don’t understand. People don’t think justice was meted out, but slut-shaming and bad-mother-tsking are not valid arguments. Do I doubt her innocence? Yes. The jury, however, did find her not guilty. Accepted.
Kathleen: sadly, no — because the audience of people who think they are THE ONLY PEOPLE DECENT ENOUGH TO CARE WHEN BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO (white, attractive) CHILDREN AND (white, young, attractive) WOMEN is *huge*. word. what was the name of the blog for missing black and brown children that didnt get big tv play? i thought it was “what about our daughters” but that’s giving me something else. i didnt follow the case or the trail, but the system did what it’s supposed to do. there wasnt (from what i gather) concrete evidence the mother did it, so you cant convict her! being a “bad mom” is not a criminal offense! not behaving “properly” after the death/disappearance of your child is not a criminal offense (see the todd willingham case on that one)!
I didn’t even know the verdict until the Facebook storm erupted. It turned out exactly as I expected it to. I am indeed one of the people who believes that Casey had some illegal involvement in her daughter’s death whether it was murder or just unlawful disposal of human remains. However, the decision was the correct one based on the limited information I’ve had. The only artical I read about the trial prior to the verdict stated that neither the prosecution nor the defense could prove the cause of death. If you can’t frove that, then you can’t prove murder and without murder, you have no murderer. Suspicious activity does not a murderer make. Low public opinion of someone does not make them a murderer. I’ve heard a lot of people express shock and anger about the verdict, but the reality is that our legal system did in fact work exactly the way it’s supposed to. The jurrors did an excelent job of holding the prosecution up to the high standard of “reasonable doubt”.
Jade: The only artical I read about the trial prior to the verdict stated that neither the prosecution nor the defense could prove the cause of death.If you can’t frove that, then you can’t prove murder and without murder, you have no murderer.Suspicious activity does not a murderer make.Low public opinion of someone does not make them a murderer. I’ve heard a lot of people express shock and anger about the verdict, but the reality is that our legal system did in fact work exactly the way it’s supposed to.The jurrors did an excelent job of holding the prosecution up to the high standard of “reasonable doubt”. The only artical I read about the trial prior to the verdict stated that the prosecution could prove the rape occured. If you can’t frove that, then you can’t prove rape and without rape, you have no rapist. Suspicious activity does not a rapist make.Low public opinion of someone does not make them a rapist. Just giving ou a preview of what your words will look like when they are used to sing the praises of our “intact” justice system the next time someone says they have been raped but can’t prove it and the “suspect” goes free “Casey Anthony” style.
Azalea: The only artical I read about the trial prior to the verdict stated that the prosecution could prove the rape occured. If you can’t frove that, then you can’t prove rape and without rape, you have no rapist. Suspicious activity does not a rapist make.Low public opinion of someone does not make them a rapist.Just giving ou a preview of what your words will look like when they are used to sing the praises of our “intact” justice system the next time someone says they have been raped but can’t prove it and the “suspect” goes free “Casey Anthony” style. It could be said that Casey Anthony is going free “Rape Suspect” style. The way it looks these days getting a rape suspect off the hook is as simple as saying that the victim has told a lie and/or had consensual sex at some point in his/her life.
jillian: word. what was the name of the blog for missing black and brown children that didnt get big tv play? i thought it was “what about our daughters” but that’s giving me something else. You’re thinking of “Black and Missing but Not Forgotten” (http://blackandmissing.wordpress.com/). There’s also Missing Minorities (http://missingminorities.blogspot.com/) but it hasn’t been updated since 2008.
Azalea: The only artical I read about the trial prior to the verdict stated that the prosecution could prove the rape occured. If you can’t frove that, then you can’t prove rape and without rape, you have no rapist. Suspicious activity does not a rapist make.Low public opinion of someone does not make them a rapist. Just giving ou a preview of what your words will look like when they are used to sing the praises of our “intact” justice system the next time someone says they have been raped but can’t prove it and the “suspect” goes free “Casey Anthony” style. Oh, did the dead daughter testify against her mother in this case? I guess I would have thought I’d have seen an article about that or something. Did they do it up seance-style, or did they actually revive her body for the duration of the trial?
@ Azalea Usually in a rape trial, you have a victim testifying that they were raped even if there isn’t any forensic evidence that proves it. Here, you have neither. I haven’t really been following this case, but the articles I read post-verdict sure made it sound like there was plenty of room for reasonable doubt.
I don’t know. My mom isn’t white but she was pretty upset over the verdict. On the one hand, I realize that the prosecution didn’t prove that she was a murderer beyond a reasonable doubt. On the other hand, I realize that her being young and white also influenced how the jury perceived her. Young white attractive women are usually constructed as victims, not aggressors. (Is she considered conventionally attractive?) As for the mommy shaming…. I saw just as much of that on the spanking thread so I don’t see why it’s a big deal now. That said, i don’t think she was a great mom and I think her reaction after the poor little girl went missing speaks volumes. The prosecution made a great point when they asked “who covers up an accident to make it look like murder?” since most people would do the opposite.
She also appears to be a pathological liar. Let’s not forget she threw another woman under the bus in an attempt to throw off investigators. She claimed this woman was the baby sitter and she wasn’t. Wasn’t that woman a minority? Kind of like how Knox threw a black man under the bus. It cost him his business and livelihood even though he was cleared. She later admitted to making it up. I agree with the commenter above who said it takes seeing the flaws of the justice system to see the strengths.
Nancy Grace will probably get a raise out of this. Record ratings for HLN last month and she probably broke records last night.
Just like the racist Mark Fuhrmann tried to frame an already guilty man, the prosecution and the media (led by Nancy Grace) slut-shamed and bad mommy-shamed an almost certainly guilty woman. Glad the jury saw through that to look at the evidence — which as most people have pointed out, was not enough to prove first-degree murder.
“Just giving ou a preview of what your words will look like when they are used to sing the praises of our “intact” justice system the next time someone says they have been raped but can’t prove it and the “suspect” goes free “Casey Anthony” style.” Except for the whole “complaining witness” aspect. As others have pointed out, you don’t get many trials for just rape that have no complaining/reporting witness to the crime.
preying mantis: “Just giving ou a preview of what your words will look like when they are used to sing the praises of our “intact” justice system the next time someone says they have been raped but can’t prove it and the “suspect” goes free “Casey Anthony” style.” Except for the whole “complaining witness” aspect.As others have pointed out, you don’t get many trials for just rape that have no complaining/reporting witness to the crime. Saying you were raped isn’t proof that you were raped. Remember, it is about what the prosecution can prove. Right? A person can lie and say they were raped (that’s been proven, it has happened) so my analogy still stands. If the justice system works here it works in those cases too because obviously nobody who is guilty of a crime ever gets a not guilty verdict right? Just because the suspect acts guilty and tried to cover up having sex with the person doesn;t mean they raped them. Just liek how Casey tried to cover up her daughter’s death, doesn’t mean she killed her and our jsutice system agrees.
Miss S: She also appears to be a pathological liar. Let’s not forget she threw another woman under the bus in an attempt to throw off investigators. She claimed this woman was the baby sitter and she wasn’t. Wasn’t that woman a minority? Kind of like how Knox threw a black man under the bus. It cost him his business and livelihood even though he was cleared. She later admitted to making it up. I agree with the commenter above who said it takes seeing the flaws of the justice system to see the strengths. Well, she’s a white woman and throwing a minority under the bus is her right and she should NEVER be shamed for that, she’s a stellar person and an excellent mom, hey at least she never ever spanked Caylee.
Esti: @ Azalea Usually in a rape trial, you have a victim testifying that they were raped even if there isn’t any forensic evidence that proves it.Here, you have neither.I haven’t really been following this case, but the articles I read post-verdict sure made it sound like there was plenty of room for reasonable doubt. There was but this would be similar to someone saying they were raped, the person they accused initially saying they never had sex with them and when proof of sexual contact comes about saying the sex was consensual, her word against his. He has lie the entire investigation and yet is believed when he says it was consensual then people shout praises of how justice prevailed.The burden of proof previaled but I don’t see how justice won this one.
AtheistChick: And not only that, but if people really want to be mad about murder and mayhem, there’s plenty of rape and drug charges to get all up in arms about. Not trying to downplay the death of Anthony’s child, but why this case to get so upset about? Yeah, like how about US murdering hundreds of thousands of people (men, women, children) in foreign countries?
being a “bad mom” is not a criminal offense! Actually, yes it is, depending on the “bad” thing you did. A mother in my area forgot her toddler in her minivan (for the second time), and this time forgot her for 7 hours, and the toddler is dead. The mother has been charged with murder.
tinfoil hattie: being a “bad mom” is not a criminal offense! Actually, yes it is, depending on the “bad” thing you did.A mother in my area forgot her toddler in her minivan (for the second time), and this time forgot her for 7 hours, and the toddler is dead.The mother has been charged with murder. thats why i put bad mom in quotes. a bad mom (or dad) is someone whose baby starves to death because they were too busy playing world of warcraft. a “bad mom” is someone who lets their toddler have goldfish (the crackers) for lunch cause it’s just been that sort of day.
“mommy-shaming”. I think some people are trying too hard to excuse her behavior and defend this verdict. If this was a rich white guy i don’t doubt any of you would consider him an absolute scum bag and the trial a travesty of justice. Hey at least With Scott Peterson the attacks on him like having an affair and all around suspicious behavior by his wife missing actually worked. His sexual life being brought up wasn’t attacked as “slut shaming”. This is a woman that actually went partying while her daughter was missing, but whatever. Cheers for the justice system.
Azalea: Casey Anthony was found not guilty of murder, we will never know for sure if she really did it. Well, she’s a women, so of course she didn’t do it. But she’s also white, so of course she did. But she was adused by a man as a child, so even if she did it, she really didn’t. Confusing.
jillian: thats why i put bad mom in quotes.a bad mom (or dad) is someone whose baby starves to death because they were too busy playing world of warcraft.a “bad mom” is someone who lets their toddler have goldfish (the crackers) for lunch cause it’s just been that sort of day. But Caylee Anthony IS dead and her death ACCORDING to Casey Anthony was a “horrific accident” thats he then covered up to look liek murdered and began celebrating via partying. She didn’t party while her daighter was “missing” she was partying KNOWING that her daughter was dead and the body was disposed of.
Then it appears there was evidence of wrongful death/second degree murder/unlawful deposal of a body or some other lesser charge that could successfully be made that has similarly lengthy penalties. I’m reminded of a case that happened in my home town. A father placed a baby on it’s belly on a soft pillow to sleep – which are all no-nos when it comes to infant sleep safety. The baby stopped breathing and died. Now even though the father did lay the baby to sleep that way, was is murder? Did he do it on purpose or was he just a poor, under/uneducated man (which he was) that did do something that caused a horrible accident? One position is easier to prove than the other and if you are really concerned about the victim getting some justice, you’re going to try the case you have, not the one you want. And personally, Ive got issues with the grandparents who apparently cared so much after caylee was ‘missing’ but went 30 days without seeing her. You can bet my folks would have called the police for a welfare check if they hadn’t heard from my boys in a quarter of that time and they live 5 states away.
Why do you hate Nancy Grace? I thought you would like that there’s a strong female reporter on TV. She’s a hack who doesn’t have any journalistic ethics. She’s not a “strong woman.” She’s a showman who exploits people for profit, and who plays fast and loose with the facts, and who has done worse things for criminal defendants’ rights than any reporter in recent memory.
Miss S: She also appears to be a pathological liar. Let’s not forget she threw another woman under the bus in an attempt to throw off investigators. She claimed this woman was the baby sitter and she wasn’t. Wasn’t that woman a minority? Yes, a Latina woman named Zenaida Gonzales, the fake name of the fake nanny, who lost her job and credit rating and apartment and everything else when Casey accused her of being a kidnapper. She is suing Anthony for defamation, and I hope she gets some of that Dateline NBC money, or wherever Casey goes to run her sick-ass mouth. I don’t know how anyone could watch that entire trial and come to any other conclusion besides (at the least) manslaughter… Were we watching the same trial? Did you not even trust the cadaver dogs? Really? Jackie: Why do you hate Nancy Grace? I thought you would like that there’s a strong female reporter on TV. Jackie, Nancy Grace is a redneck… male rednecks on TV are considered all folksy, cuddly and wise, but female rednecks are usually despised. If her name was Greta Van Susteren, she could get away with doing the exact same thing and nobody would say shit. 😉 (PS I am a redneck myself)
Jackie, Nancy Grace is a redneck… male rednecks on TV are considered all folksy, cuddly and wise, but female rednecks are usually despised. If her name was Greta Van Susteren, she could get away with doing the exact same thing and nobody would say shit. 😉 Nancy Grace is a redneck? What? No, she’s despised because she plays fast and loose with journalistic (and legal) ethics. She’s irresponsible and not particularly thoughtful. She’s a “strong woman” in the sense that Bill O’Reilly is a “strong man.”
Those who disapproved of Nancy’ Grace’s role in the coverage will probably like this Onion caption http://www.theonion.com/articles/nancy-grace-seen-in-graveyard-sucking-marrow-from,20925/