Yeah, my Facebook friends list went nuts with it yesterday, and the turds are still flying.
The emotional reaction to the case is understandable, and I agree that Casey Anthony is probably guilty of something besides just lying to the police, but this is how our jury system works. The prosecution did not demonstrate, to the jury's satisfaction, beyond a reasonable doubt that she was guilty of the charges presented, and the defense was successfully able to raise those reasonable doubts in the jury's mind.
They could have found her guilty on either of the major charges; they could have been divided in opinion and forced a mistrial. But, they found her not guilty. That doesn't mean she is innocent, it means that the prosecution could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that she was guilty. I am one of those increasingly rare Americans who genuinely believes in Blackstone's principle: "better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer."
Sometimes this means that justice is not served. And yes, that sucks, and it's terrible that this poor little girl will probably never receive true justice. But it is the price we pay for enshrining in our laws and institutions the belief that a person is innocent until proven guilty. Casey Anthony was not proven guilty in a court of law, even though she was easily convicted, condemned, and sentenced to death in the court of public opinion amid an embarrassing circus of media hype, popular rage, and a rather sickeningly gleeful fascination with human tragedy..
Credits & Style Info
Talk Politics. A place to discuss politics without egomaniacal mods
![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 7/7/11 16:19 (UTC)The emotional reaction to the case is understandable, and I agree that Casey Anthony is probably guilty of something besides just lying to the police, but this is how our jury system works. The prosecution did not demonstrate, to the jury's satisfaction, beyond a reasonable doubt that she was guilty of the charges presented, and the defense was successfully able to raise those reasonable doubts in the jury's mind.
They could have found her guilty on either of the major charges; they could have been divided in opinion and forced a mistrial. But, they found her not guilty. That doesn't mean she is innocent, it means that the prosecution could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that she was guilty. I am one of those increasingly rare Americans who genuinely believes in Blackstone's principle: "better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer."
Sometimes this means that justice is not served. And yes, that sucks, and it's terrible that this poor little girl will probably never receive true justice. But it is the price we pay for enshrining in our laws and institutions the belief that a person is innocent until proven guilty. Casey Anthony was not proven guilty in a court of law, even though she was easily convicted, condemned, and sentenced to death in the court of public opinion amid an embarrassing circus of media hype, popular rage, and a rather sickeningly gleeful fascination with human tragedy..