Justice

Earlier today, a jury of her peers in Florida acquitted Casey Anthony (pictured on the left) of the murder of her nearly 3 year-old daughter, Caylee. Despite the chagrin of many across the country, I believe that the justice system of the United States and Florida reached the proper conclusion.

Before I go any further, allow me to say that, based on my knowledge of her life, Casey Anthony is kind of a despicable person and a burden on our society. She was a terrible mother, a habitual liar, and generally lived a life of deceit and treachery, opportunistically taking what she could from whom she could without remorse. She continued this deception when she was arrested multiple times in connection to the disappearance of her child and the various frauds that she committed in the mean time. There is a chance that she either killed her child, Caylee, or contributed in a significant way to her death, however, this suspicion alone is not enough to put her away for life, or to execute her, as the prosecution was seeking.

The biggest reason that I believe the justice system worked in this case was the evidence. There was no physical evidence that the child was murdered and did not die of natural causes, as Casey Anthony testified. Let's take a brief look at what the prosecution had:

• A hair that may or may not have belonged to Caylee Anthony in the trunk of Casey Anthony's car that may or may not have exhibited post-mortal behavior according to research from the University of Tennessee.
  
• A suspicious smell emanating from the trunk of Casey Anthony's car that was later found to contain a bag of garbage.
• Chemical analysis of the air from the trunk of Casey Anthony's car that found traces of chemicals "Consistent with a decomposition event" and chloroform. As a side note, scientists disagree about the exact chemical nature of air exposed to human decomposition.
• Google searches for "neck breaking," "how to make chloroform," and "death" from Casey Anthony's computer.
• Laundry bags, plastic bags, and duct tape similar to what was found at the crime scene were found in the Anthony home.
• A joke picture of one of Casey Anthony's ex-boyfriends drugging a woman with chloroform.
• Instant messages between Casey Anthony and now ex-boyfriend Tony Rusciano that may or may not have given motive.
• Imprints of old diary entries that spoke of how Casey Anthony was happy with changes in her life that had since been removed from the diary.
  
• A badly decomposed body identified as Caylee Anthony in a plastic bag with duct tape covering the skull in a wooded area near the Anthony home.

Now juxtapose this with what the prosecution didn't have:

• A solid cause of death.
• A murder weapon. (Which would be impossible to identify without a cause of death.)
• A confession.
  
• Any eyewitness accounts.
• Anything connecting Casey Anthony with intentional physical harm of her daughter, Caylee, in her death or at any other time.

Based on the evidence, I believe that Casey Anthony could not be convicted of murder even though she may have done it. Her motivations and alibis are sketchy, but the lack of real, physical evidence means that she should be only convicted on the counts of lying to the police, which she was. If we, as a society, genuinely believe the mantra, "Innocent until proven guilty," then we must consider Casey Anthony innocent, because she has not been proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. I congratulate the jury on ignoring the sensationalizing of the prosecution and examining the evidence as it really was.

Cases in the past have been successfully tried entirely on circumstantial evidence. However, I believe that this phenomenon is a departure from what the founding fathers of the United States had in mind when they established our legal system. Just because one has the motive and the ability to commit a crime doesn't mean that he or she necessarily will, and thus should not be convicted of that crime. If there is no real, physical evidence that a crime was committed, guilt cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt, and as stated earlier, the suspect must be released as innocent.

This is where it really helps to be a man or woman of faith. I know that God holds all the possible evidence in the case of Casey Anthony and does not have to rely on a jury of her peers to enact justice. He has seen her works and knows the motivations of her heart, in all their strangeness. If she did truly murder her daughter, she will have to answer for this act and all her other perverse and sinful behavior before God and all others present, and will have to accept the punishments which are just.

At this point, I will leave the judging up to God and hope that Casey Anthony can change her ways before it's temporally and everlastingly too late.