An Orlando, Fla., jury found Casey Anthony not guilty of killing her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee, bringing to a stunning end a trial that had fixated the nation for weeks.
The case turned on similar questions of forensic expertise and evidence as those featured in The Child Cases, a joint reporting effort by ProPublica, PBS "Frontline" and NPR.
In stories published last week, we found that child deaths pose special technical challenges for forensic pathologists; in cases involving children, prosecutors and police often rely heavily on autopsy findings.
Our reporting showed that these cases have been repeatedly mishandled by medical examiners and coroners, sometimes resulting in innocent people being wrongly accused. In the Anthony case, it's unknown if flawed forensic evidence led to a false accusation or made it impossible to convict a guilty person of a horrible crime.
The verdict shocked a bevy of TV legal analysts as well as the millions of viewers who had slavishly followed the case's lurid twists and turns.
Caylee Anthony disappeared on June 16, 2008. Her decomposed body was discovered six months later—her face wrapped in duct tape and her body covered in plastic and laundry bags—in a wooded area near the Anthony home.
Based on Garavaglia's report and other evidence, prosecutors charged that Casey Anthony, 25, drugged her daughter with chloroform, and then put duct tape over her mouth and nose to suffocate her to death. Based on a rancid smell and a single strand of decomposing hair, the state alleged that Anthony hid the child's body in the trunk of her 1978 Pontiac Sunfire before disposing of it.
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Our reporting showed that these cases have been repeatedly mishandled by medical examiners and coroners, sometimes resulting in innocent people being wrongly accused. In the Anthony case, it's unknown if flawed forensic evidence led to a false accusation or made it impossible to convict a guilty person of a horrible crime.
The verdict shocked a bevy of TV legal analysts as well as the millions of viewers who had slavishly followed the case's lurid twists and turns.
Caylee Anthony disappeared on June 16, 2008. Her decomposed body was discovered six months later—her face wrapped in duct tape and her body covered in plastic and laundry bags—in a wooded area near the Anthony home.
Chief medical examiner Dr. Jan Garavaglia, who appears on the Discovery Health Channel show Dr. G: Medical Examiner, concluded in her autopsy report that the cause of death was "homicide by undetermined means."
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"Dr. G: Medical Examiner, concluded in her autopsy report that the cause of death was "homicide by undetermined means.'"
ReplyDeleteI belive she concluded the MANNER of death was homicide and the cause was undetermined, which is nonsensical unless of course you are the chief medical examiner and also happen to have a TV show.
And you just so happen to fly back to FL from a conference early so you can reassign yourself to do the autopsy, knowing full the the publicity surrounding this case and oh so how more sinister if I conclude the manner of death to be a homicide, all the while in the back of your mind-ratings ratings ratings if I get to testify in the Anthony trial.
I am tired of hearing about this case. Noone is blaming the State for being selective on their forensics or dog sniffing or securing the swamp area. They should have been more through instead of selective.
ReplyDeleteThe Police never secured they area where the Child was found until they could properly search the area. police work is supposed to be through. When selective in your investigations you can better prove your case with more evidence or you can factual disprove other questions.
PROOF PROOF PROOF
Wow ,now we are making excuses for the police and everyone else. OK , she did it and we all know it. More than one way to skin a cat!
ReplyDeleteThe stone faced bitch just sat there without emotion until she was told to sob.(sorry for the bitch word , it's really a female dog)
OK , she did it and we all know it
ReplyDeleteNO, you or anyone else does not know it. If that were the case, she would have been convicted.
Having a feeling, or a gas bubble, does not mean squat.
You people really need to shut the hell up. You second guess everyone who has more knowledge, more access to the FACTS of the case.
That is why we have due process in this great country. If cases were determined by your mentalities, everyone would be in jail.
If stupidity were a crime most of you would get life.
Please, enough already. None of you know what you are talking about so put a cork in it.
"If stupidity were a crime most of you would get life."
ReplyDeleteso would casey anthony and the jurors!
"If stupidity were a crime most of you would get life."
ReplyDeleteso would casey anthony and the jurors!