Bullet Points

UPDATE: I was driving to SB when the verdicts were announced and almost rear-ended the car ahead of me. Unbelievable. George was tried and convicted; Cindy was tried and convicted; Lee was tried and convicted; Casey walks out next week. One of the talking jurors said he didn't believe anything George said, but ... he did believe Casey's 31 days of lies, half-truths, misrepresentations, and body dumping because George made an off-the-cuff comment that he believed it was an accident that snowballed out of control? George was indicating that he thought his daughter did something, then panicked, and it snowballed out of her control, not that he was involved. The alternate who's talking elaborated that he felt "the family dysfunction" strongly affected his decision that Casey was somehow not responsible for the crime, so she doesn't have to do the time.

Really? It's not my fault because I say it's not my fault?? When I point all of my fingers at everyone except myself, it becomes "reasonable" to assume that am doing so to avoid my own culpability!! That's what children do, folks.

Even if it was an accidental drowning death, who decided not to call 9-1-1? Who decided to cover the child's face in duct tape, add a pretty heart sticker, and then dump the child's body in the swamp? Who decided to live life to the fullest, pretending that Caylee was anywhere but home with her mother and g'parents? Didn't any of that factor into the decision-making process? Didn't any of those circumstances trigger a "reasonable" belief that Casey killed her daughter, either purposefully or accidentally, and then went to great lengths to make it all go away.

It's called "reasonable" doubt, not absolute certainty. It is reasonable to believe, based on the evidence, that the only person around which the crime story centered is Caylee's mother: she's the one orchestrating the grand cover-up, all the while keeping everyone else in the dark. Her mother called 9-1-1, and I feel "reasonably" sure that her fear, her terror, her alarm about her daughter's lying, as well as the lack of her granddaughter's presence and the smell of decomp in the recently-discovered daughter's car, indicates that "something" happened about which Cindy had absolutely no knowledge. Ditto the extensive search in which everyone in the family participated except Caylee's mother!!

The jury found Casey not guilty based on hearsay, speculation about the family dynamic, and personal perception about what makes personal doubt reasonable. I sincerely hope that Casey's parents are very slow to forgive and forget the truth about their daughter and the accusations she made about all of them to save her own neck. Believe me, Casey won't show them any gratitude!!
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* Cindy Anthony should not have lied, even to protect her daughter, because a lie told under oath is not just a lie, but criminal offense. Perhaps she looks forward to sharing a jail block with Casey because Mom will now be prosecuted herself.

* George may, or may not, have had a relationship with the search volunteer. There are many, many women who create a fantasy when/if they are shown the least bit of attention, especially by a "famous" person at the time. This is another woman looking for reflected glory and TV face time. Translation: set-up.

* Casey Anthony is slowly getting a reality check: yep, this is for real and cannot be whisked away with your freight train of lies, your conjured accusations against your father (sexual abuse) and brother (fathering her child), nor your mother's desperate attempt to cover up your premeditation by committing perjury. Do the crime; do the time. Clock's ticking on a guilty verdict.

* Finally, the only hope Casey has for another on-going TV courtroom series is to accuse her lawyer of woefully inadequate representation, which seems, based on the past week of his fumbling/ stumbling/ bumbling court performance, to be the goal. Tell the mother to lie -- knowing all the while that the lie is easily refuted -- creatively parse the dad's suicide note to prove he covered up a crime -- talk about burying family pets the same way the child was "buried" -- put a he said/she said alleged mistress on the stand to obfuscate her own deposition -- and voila! We have grounds for a retrial, no matter the verdict.

What pisses me off is that all of this is on the taxpayer's dime this go-round, and it's going to be on the taxpayer's dime the next go-round. Our legal system sucks, even though it's probably the best system in the world!