Casey Anthony Jury Is Out (Update)

When the jury is done deliberating, it will return a verdict.  In advance of the trial, the verdict seems like a foregone conclusion because everyone was saying so.  Now, smart money is still on conviction, but the odds have weakened.

And so what?  When the jury reaches a verdict, we will have an answer.  Casey Anthony will have an answer.  And the case will be appealed, but it won’t have the same sizzle despite the wealth of faux science allowed into evidence to fill the wealth of evidentiary gaps.  In Florida, where my very own altacacca parents await their destiny, I hear everyone is obsessed with the trial. 

My people, not generally inclined toward the murder of their own child (though the thought may have entered their mind once or twice), tell me she didn’t do it, and that Anthony’s parents are liars.  As for Anthony, she’s just another psycho narcissistic kid, but not a murderer.

All of which amounts to nothing.  Like O.J. before her, Casey Anthony’s trial is another demonstration of why cameras in the courtroom, trials as reality TV show, lawyers as free and easy pundits, demean the legal system and render every person who follows the case worse for it.

While I wrote about the case, it was only to address the “smell” evidence and to ridicule the daily television airing of what passes in  Nancy Grace’s head as thought.  My post about the lawyers paying flacks to get them twelve seconds of air time wasn’t about the case, but about  lawyers delving ever lower to be media whores.

One of the ethical obligations to which lawyers swear fealty is to educate the public on the workings of the law.  We pretend that cases like this do something toward that end.  They don’t.  They do just the opposite, as we feed into every prejudice about people and the system, and reinforce every stupid notion about a system that lends itself to simple analysis of anger, hatred, rank speculation.  Bad analogies abound, but the public doesn’t realize it.  Serious evidentiary questions are rampant, but they learn nothing about reliability and confrontation.

And while the jury is out, lawyers will pontificate about what it all means.  Some will pronounce that she will be convicted because she is evil.  Others, maybe one or two, will explain why she will be acquitted.  The most dangerous will spout about why this case matters, capitalizing on public fascination with sordid crimes for their own purposes.

This is a case about a dead child, a terrible thing.  It’s a case about horribly sad people who will forever be remembered as faces on television that everyone and no one knows.  And it is a case that could have been used to educate the public about how the legal system works, and should work, in this country, but didn’t.

And the season finale will end with a verdict, which is the only thing that actually matters at this stage of the proceeding.  The verdict will not take into account Nancy Grace’s persistent insane rants, or Danny Abrams’ ramblings about things he’s never done himself.  The hundreds of lawyers who have been auditioning for a spot as Phil Rizzuto are already forgotten, and will never get a refund on their promotional fees.

And the many member of the public will believe, once again, that it knows something about the legal system because they watched or read about the trial, when the truth is that they learned nothing more than how entertaining a scandalous case can be when it becomes daily fodder.

Why we, lawyers, do this is sadly obvious, because it offers us an opportunity to grab the spotlight for a few minutes.  What this does to our profession doesn’t seem to matter a whit when there’s a chance for self-aggrandizement to be had.

The Casey Anthony trial was ugly in every conceivable way, except for the face of the defendant.  If she had been ugly, the case would never have made it on prime time.  And when the verdict is announced, people will be depressed as they are when a favorite drama ends its run.  That’s what the criminal justice system has become, and we’ve been a laboring oar in reducing it to a worthless public spectacle.

No matter what the verdict, no one is better for having followed or participated in this show.

Update: Not guilty.  How then will the pseudo-punditry possibly explain the inexplicable failure of essentially every lawyer who tried to handicap the case?  A massive failure, an angry citizenry and all the stupider for the exercise.  Never have so many lawyers looked so pathologically stupid.  And to each one who went on TV to pretend they had a clue, it’s well deserved.

14 thoughts on “Casey Anthony Jury Is Out (Update)

  1. Steve Magas

    So some folks in my household are fascinated by this case – so the “coverage,” which is atrocious, is on throughout the day – NOT one of the benefits of a home office… However, I DO think showing trials like this does the legal system a benefit by showing how long, how boring, how dumb, how contentious, how silly and, from time to time, how dramatic trials can be… if you can block out the commentators… [BOMBSHELL – TotMom’s Lawyer almost COMES TO BLOWS with the Prosecutor IN THE COURTROOM…]

    Whether you think she “did it” or did “something” or did “nothing” or was the product of devious parents or is just another slackosie only looking for a Bella Vita or was actually looking for her missing daughter during those 31 days before the 1st 911 call, there is a societal benefit to having these dramas played out in front of us on TV – Regardless of his actual rulings on the evidence, Judge Perry is doing a decent job reigning in the taunting, snarky prosecution and the snarky taunting defense teams – watching him toss that guy from the peanut gallery in the clink for 6 days for flipping off the prosecutor was beautiful – watching him threaten to remove the hotshot lawyers from the case for acting like a couple of 3 yr olds who couldn’t follow the rules was outstanding – these in court actions brought home to millions of viewers the fact that the courtroom is a place for respect, where “arguments” are had in a civilized manner based on facts and law – and that outbursts, be they sly or dramatic, have no place. The Judge has made it clear that regardless of the fistfights that break out in the line of people waiting for a seat, once you cross the threshold of the courtroom you are entering a place where decorum IS important and where order WILL be maintained.

    Just tune out Nancy and Vinnie and JVM and Judge X and Jury Consultant Y…

    Now, if we can just get the witnesses to take Perjury seriously we’ll be making progress…
    [BOMBSHELL – witnesses LIE under oath…]

  2. SHG

    Decorum in the courtroom is the only useful lesson?  Sorry, but that’s not worth a month of Nancy Grace in the morning.

  3. steve magas

    Well… Nancy’s gonna be on TV yapping about this case or others whether this case is televised or not… she’s too “popular” and sells too much soap…Can you imagine how crazy she’d be if the trial WASN’T televised… she would be spinning the in court maneuvers even MORE, without the video evidence to show how stupid her comments were…

  4. Nagita Karunaratne

    Lawson Lamar stands on a podium on CNN inferring that the extensive media exposure was to blame.

    Then a Florid sheriff gets up and mentions the 4th of July, America, Freedom and reveals the Anthony family home address.

  5. ExPat ExLawyer

    Well, one nice thing about TV was to watch and know we were getting NGs the way Judge Perry flipped through the verdict forms and forcibly stacked them hard on the bench before handing them to the clerk for reading. Hah, hah, hah, your honor.

    Way to go for inexperienced Jose. As much as these prosecutors were complete assholes, they were technically more skilled than Jose & Co. and quite bright by DA standards – or really any trial attorney standards. I thought Jeff Ashton was going to have a stroke or psych. breakdown after the verdict. I hope he gets all the help he needs to get through this difficult time.

    This jury really did its job. I figured they’d come down with manslaughter. But instead, only the false statements for which she should get time served. Guess Atticus was wrong, Scott, ya think, about what a big mistake it was not to put her on the stand.

    And a quick verdict too. Really nice to see a jury not fall for the prosecution BS of “well, what else could have caused Caley’s death?” and instead really apply the reasonable doubt standard.

    And then, the compulsory government press conference thanking all law enforcement for collecting their pay checks while conducting a lousy investigation – including the mandatory statement about how they put their lives on the line every day, blah,blah, blah.

    I’m thrilled.

    Will soccer moms riot in the streets of Orlando tonight?

  6. Patrick

    Breaking: tonight’s Nancy Grace Show has been cancelled due to heart attack on the part of the hostess.

    Authorities have named 12 suspects, all believed to reside in Florida, as possible perpetrators of the heart attack.

  7. James

    Was going to crack a joke about Grace getting all ‘Sustren-faced’ as she stroked out on live tv (cuz I’m a terrible person) but Patrick beat me to the punch with something far more classy. Kudos.

    I have to say that this verdict does trouble me somewhat… how many innocent folks are gonna get shellacked by the Orlando DA’s Office due to the fact a shitty lawyer got lucky once and Baez now has namebrand recognition?

  8. ExPat ExLawyer

    Lawson confused me for a while there, and then I realized they’d been playing jury pool games and if the media hadn’t gotten out of control, then they could have had their own Orlando jurors. He kept complaining about the expense to the taxpayers of schlepping them over to Clearwater and back and sequestering them (as if Orlando jurors wouldn’t be sequestered too). Glad to know Lawson is such a strong fiscal conservative.

    And of course that’s why they went for the death penalty, so they could get presumably more pro-prosecution, death qualified types. That worked real well. The comments of the alternate who spoke are quite enlightening.

  9. Brian

    It was fascinating to watch all the talking heads explain why their absolute certitude about her guilt had failed. One blamed the courtroom setup with Casey directly facing the jurors. Another blamed busing the jurors from another county. Anyone who suggested that the prosecution’s case just had too many holes in it got shouted down.

  10. steve magas

    Scary crowd outside the courthouse – good thing pitchforks are no longer in vogue…

    In 1884, Pres. Lincoln called in federal troops to our little ole Cincinnati where a mob, angry over a murder, stormed the brand spanking new courthouse looking for “justice” and a good hanging. According to one account “… It was one of the most outrageous assaults upon society, and a dastardly, cold-blooded crime that unsteadied the nerves of the populace, causing excitement to run high, and incensed all law- abiding citizens when the case came to trial by the methods pursued by criminal lawyers, who sought to perjure witnesses, bribe juries, and resorted to openhanded means to have their client acquitted against all principle of law or justice….”

    The defendant had been whisked away to Columbus [but escaped midway – a point unknown to the crowd] and a riot ensued inside the courthouse after the mob battered down the doors. Fires burned the new courthouse to the ground and rioting continued for days – leading to the death of 45 people. Federal troops eventually brought order…

    I could easily see that Orlando crowd being Facebooked into a Flash Mob and ignited by the sparks flying from Nancy’s eyes…

  11. steve magas

    PS – The 1884 Cincinnati Courthouse riots were sparked by … ta da… the MEDIA… the Cincinnati Enquirer condemned the verdict [manslaughter instead of murder] and called for the “meeting” of citizens which led to the mob. After the mob attacked and burned the courthouse, and after several deaths, one report states “… Incredibly, the morning Cincinnati Enquirer trumpeted, “At Last The People Are Aroused And Take The Law Into Their Own Hands, Enraged Community Rises In Its Might…”

  12. rapscallion

    Non-lawyer here: I agree with the jury’s verdict because we really don’t know anything about the circumstances of Caylee’s death, but it seems to me that the prosecution dropped the ball in not charging her with neglect or conspiracy to cover up a death (I assume that’s a crime). Can any lawyers say whether or not those charges would have worked in this case?

Comments are closed.