Justice For Caylee

The defendant was arrested on the basis of evidence provided by acquaintances and indicted for a capital crime. During the trial, media attention attracted a huge crowd of spectators and commentators, most of whom had heard only part of the evidence, Many knew nothing at all about the case except that they thought that the defendant (if guilty, of course) certainly deserved the death penalty.

The evidence provided by all the witnesses and experts was vague, confused, contradictory and obfuscatory, with the result that a "not guilty" verdict was quickly reached. Possibly as a result of public indignation, the defendant was punished for lesser crimes (of which he was not guilty, either) and was about to be released. However, the public outcry became so intense the authorities decided that there was a real danger of rioting, death and destruction on a massive scale, so they caved to public opinion by having the defendant summarily tortured to death in a public execution. The defendant's mother and best friend were witnesses.

If you don't know whom I'm talking about, you should probably stop here!

In both cases, a lesser charge might have been sustained by the evidence presented, but the indictment was for a capital crime, the politically desirable outcome of which was hoped to be the imposition of the death penalty. In both cases, the defendant was acquitted by a court of competent jurisdiction that found the evidence to be, at its most compelling, less than "beyond a reasonable doubt." And in both cases, certain influential public figures showed their contempt for the rule of law by openly criticizing, and stirring up public resentment against, the court's finding.

Now, Nancy Grace (who, on July 20, 2011, on HLN TV, referred to the Bill of Rights as a "pesky little thing") and Yosef Ben Caiaphas (the prosecutor at the trial of Jesus) may have an excuse on the grounds of being professional prosecutors, and trying to convince people that defendants are guilty is what prosecutors do. But that is appropriately done before the verdict, not afterward. A defendant can be legally punished for a crime only if he is convicted of it, and in the United States at least, a defendant is presumed innocent unless and until that happens. Furthermore, a finding of "not guilty" of a capital crime is irrevocable. It insulates the accused from ever being tried for that crime again, subsequent discovery of evidence notwithstanding. Things are still different in Italian courts, as Amanda Knox found out, to her dismay!

Actually, the court can acquit for no reason at all, whatever the evidence. In the United States, capital verdicts are decided not by a judge, or a panel of experts, or by popular vote, or by a CNN reporter, or by an imam or ayatollah; they are decided by a jury of one's peers. In a jury trial, the jury is the final, supreme, arbiter of the absence of guilt, accountable to no one but themselves (U.S. v. Moylan, 417 F.2d 1002, United States v. Dougherty, 473 F.2d 1113 and United States v. Wilson, 629 F. 2d 439). Regardless of other considerations, both Jesus and Casey Anthony were not guilty because the courts found them so. That's what "not guilty" means. That's the law here! If you don't like it, you're free to live elsewhere and take your chances there!

Nevertheless, there seems to be general dissatisfaction (!) with Casey Anthony's acquittal. After seeing the hate-crazed anti-Casey lynch mobs on TV, I understand Matthew 27:20-25, Mark 15:13-14 and Luke 23:21-23 a little better. Like the trial of Jesus, the crowds in this case are out for blood on themselves and their children, and choose to ignore, or possibly not to understand, the reasoning that Casey Anthony is, in actual fact, not guilty.

The source of all this unpleasantness is what I call Xianity (ecks-ee-an-i-tee), the philosophy espoused by Xians (ecks-ee-ans). Xians believe in what they believe in - period. They reject the very concept of facts, truth or authority, and, if they consider evidence at all, it is only that which supports their chosen beliefs. Most (but certainly not all) Xians claim to believe in God, but it is their own personal god, a petty, petulant, spiteful, odious, despicable, pusillanimous, utterly nasty being fully capable of creating non-Xians for the specific purpose of sadistically torturing them for all eternity. Of course, Xians have multiple reasons why they are not those people! Xians are so fiercely dedicated to freedom of belief that they have been known to kill people who disagree with them. Think about it!

I submit as a prime example that even the jury members have been getting death threats! What the hell? There isn't the least shred of evidence that anyone on the jury acted other than in accord with his own beliefs, but Xians don't care the least bit about evidence or other people. "If you don't agree with me, you deserve to die! Justice for Caylee!"

I noted that the people most opposed to the Casey Anthony verdict were fat, middle-aged, unpleasant, loudmouthed, opinionated women, surely the cream of Xianity. Two thirds of people polled thought that the verdict was "wrong." Three fourths of these were female. The women, especially Jane Valez-Mitchell and Nancy Grace, seemed to be really, truly, emotionally involved. Why?

Could they be jealous?

Let's face it, Casey Anthony has a lot to be jealous about. She doesn't seem to be confused at all about her sexual orientation, and her college sweetheart fiancee wasn't murdered, either. She's young. She's cute. She has a nice figure. She lived in a nice house and didn't have to work. She seemed to enjoy her child. She had a loving and devoted father and mother. She seemed to be living the good life, "La Belle Vita." As a result of all the sick, twisted public voyeurism, she will probably become a millionaire! Plenty to be jealous of there!

Jealousy is widely considered at least marginally sinful, but in this case it is directed against an alleged fornicatress, liar, thief, smoker and drinker and pincher of other girls' breasts in places of public wickedness and sin. The women made a big thing about her clothes, the way she wore her hair, whom she talked to and why. Wouldn't it be great if she were a murderess, too? I mean, then we wouldn't have to call it "jealousy," we could pretend that it's "righteous indignation!" It's OK to hate "bad" people, isn't it? Wouldn't that be "justice for Caylee?"

We have seen this attitude since, in the trial of young, cute, self-assured Jodi Arias, who was convicted of "especially cruel" first degree murder of her boyfriend Travis Alexander. The evidence against Ms. Arias was much more convincing (as a result of which she, unlike Ms. Anthony, was found guilty), but the trial publicity, mob euphoria and unsolicited statements of otherwise ordinary Americans who were, by their own admission "ecstatic" about the prospect of her being put to death, were out of all proportion to any possible social impact of her guilt or innocence. Indeed, even the jury could not decide if her crime "deserved" death. One has to wonder if the public reaction would have been as passionate if she were an obese, dumpy, 50 year old.

It is a natural human tendency to believe what one wants to believe, and Xians are probably motivated by this desire as much as anyone else. There is a strong flavor of Xianity in US criminal law, which essentially imposes a proportional amount of suffering up to, but not including, being sliced to pieces (which is reserved for those whose only crime is being unwanted and unborn), on those found guilty of doing what others believed to be "wrong." Xians seem to think that this is worth doing, regardless of the demonstrated cost to the convict, the victim, potential future victims, or society as a whole. Why they might think that is left as an exercise for the student.

As far as "justice for Caylee" is concerned, I can't imagine that sweet little girl would want anyone to lynch her mom, or her grandma, or her grandpa, or the people who saved her mom from lethal injection, or anyone else. Little Caylee isn't going to get justice unless she ceases to be dead and is back with her family! It is hard to understand how anybody could consider that justice will have been done by killing somebody else, especially someone who is, by definition, not guilty.

This case should never have gone to trial. I don't know why the prosecution team is not being castigated for taking all that money to convict Casey Anthony and then not doing the job! Nobody, absolutely nobody, was able to demonstrate that Caylee was even murdered, let alone who might have done it. Certainly nobody watching the trial on television knows. As juror Jennifer Ford observed:

"There wasn't enough evidence; there wasn't anything strong enough to say, exactly. I don't think anyone in America could tell us exactly how she died. If you put even just the twelve jurors in a room with a piece of paper and write down how Caylee died, nobody knows. We'd all be guessing; we have no idea. How can you punish someone for something if you don't know what they did?"

To these people, Exodus 20:13 and Deuteronomy 5:17 and 32:35 and Matthew 22:39 and Mark 12:31 and Luke 10:28 and John 13:34 and 15:12 and 15:17 and Romans 12:19 and all those other Scriptural admonitions to love and compassion and forgiveness are just so much dog poop! Their god communicates by striking trees with lightning, and if anyone doesn't recognize that means that he is angry about the jurors' verdict, and wants somebody to do his job for him by murdering somebody else with malice aforethought, that person is just as guilty as the jurors themselves, not to mention that Anthony bitch! Justice for Caylee!

During the final week of the Casey Anthony trial, a 12-year-old girl in California was approached by 81-year-old Keith Holmes and asked if she wanted a ride in his car. After he kept following her, a nearby mom took down his license plate number, came to the aid of the girl, and helped chase Holmes away. He turned out to be a convicted child molester and a "notorious predator." During the same time period, a Chicago father rescued his 2-year-old son when Tyrone Hill, 37, a convicted sex offender, picked up the toddler and began walking briskly down the beach with him until the father pulled his son out of the man's arms and flagged down a nearby police car. I can't help wondering why there is no public outcry about these people, who have already been convicted of sex crimes involving children, walking around loose, even though they have already been found guilty.

Could it be that nobody is jealous of them?

There is something dark and dirty and evil in human nature that makes us watch "Saw" movies and abort our children and kill people who aren't the least threat to us. It causes atrocities like the Boston Marathon and World Trade Center bombings and the Inquisition and the Holocaust and slavery. The Xians have already seriously damaged freedom of speech and worship, freedom to bear arms and against unreasonable searches. Now they're working on getting rid of the Fifth Amendment. For shame, people!

On July 8th, 2011, while Casey Anthony was still safely locked up in Orange County, Florida, Shireen Nalley, in Chouteau, Oklahoma apparently attempted to kill 26 year old mother Sammay Blackwell because Ms. Blackwell looked like Casey Anthony by lying in wait and deliberately ramming her car, causing it to flip twice. There are people today who feel the same way about doing away with people whose only crime is that they physically resemble Jesus. They're called terrorists!

Jeff Ashton, a member of the prosecution team has written a book, "Imperfect Justice: Prosecuting Casey Anthony." Negotiations are also underway for a TV movie. I haven't read it (and don't intend to), but I've got twenty bucks that says that Jeff Ashton does not admit that the prosecutors' main mistake was allowing this fatally defective case to go to trial in the first place. It wouldn't surprise me if they end up blaming somebody else for their own stupidity. That's what happens when voters elect incompetent prosecutors in Florida (or anywhere else, for that matter)!

Five years after the decision that made Casey Anthony no more legally guilty than Jesus Christ, Nancy Grace is still working on stirring up indignation about it on national television. My understanding of the current allegation is that Casey Anthony allegedly revealed to her lawyer, Jose Baez, where little Caylee's body was. If true, this would at worst prove that Ms. Anthony was aware before the trial that her daughter was dead, but everybody already knew that. Others have claimed (without a shred of evidence) that Ms. Anthony admitted killing Calylee and paid Mr. Baez with sex. Even if any of this were remotely true, all of it, and whatever absurd fantastic crap anyone can come up with in the future, is irrelevant! This is because the subsequent decision by the jury made Casey Anthony then, now, hereafter and forevermore not guilty. Period!

Everyone, including the Florida "justice" system, seems to be trying to find some way to make Casey Anthony "pay," just like Jesus did, for something of which a properly constituted court found her (all together, now, people) not guilty! I predict that, in the not too distant future, one or more persons not involved in the case at all are going to attempt, and possibly succeed, to harm a member of the jury or the Anthony family, or somebody who has absolutely no connection whatever to the case, with the same motive, not unlike the "justice for Trayvon" people. They will claim essentially that they are above the law, not because of any hard facts, but simply because they believe it so. And they will call it "justice for Caylee."

John Lindorfer