Blaming The Jury In Unpopular Verdicts Is Unfair

The entire country is in an uproar since Casey Anthony was acquitted of murdering her almost three-year old daughter Caylee. Those observing the trial in the media thought it would be a slam dunk to convict Anthony of first degree murder and perhaps sentence her to death. The same heated reaction to the acquittal was present after O.J Simpson was acquitted of murders back in 1995. Again the public felt it knew the guilt of the defendants and blamed the juries for what it felt was a stupid frivolous and in O.J's case racially motivated decision. I disagree and feel that in both cases the jury took the "beyond a reasonable doubt" mandate seriously.

Photos of the missing Anthony child captivated the nation with her beauty and at first we hoped that she would be found safe and sound. Casey Anthony failed to report Caylee missing for over a month and lied about leaving her with a nanny identified by Casey as Zenaida "Zanny" Fernandez-Gonzalez. This woman does in fact exist but never met Casey or Caylee and is now suing Casey Anthony for libel. Pictures also surfaced of Ms. Anthony partying during the time her daughter had disappeared. By the time the poor child's decomposed body was discovered six months later in a swamp, the mother had already been arrested and charged with her murder.

I am not an aficionado of reality shows especially the court TV programs so I don't quite understand the fervor that consumed the people standing in line to watch the Anthony trial in process. The trial became such a circus that fights erupted in the crowds angling for spots in the courtroom. Looking at that scene made me think, "Get a life, people." Are their lives so dull that a case that didn't involve any of them personally could actually energize them off the couch?

Cameras in the courtroom now make judges and attorneys celebrities and knowing this must necessarily impact their behavior. Judge Belvin Perry will join Judge Ito as a clue in the Sunday Times crossword puzzles. He scolded defense attorney Jose Baez and prosecutor Jeff Ashton for "gamesmanship" and made headlines the next day. Perry was even polled as to whether he was a Pin or a Patriot on the Bill O'Reilly Fox program.

The nation did not see the evidence that the jury saw but ultimately the case came down to this choice: Do we sentence someone to death or life in prison when we do not know if the victim died of an accident or deliberate intent? The flaw in this case was in the prosecution's charge of first degree murder. What was certain is that Casey Anthony lied to police and she was convicted of four counts of lying. Why wasn't she also charged with obstruction of justice or hiding the child's body or anything that had rock solid evidence that would have given the jury the option of putting her away for a longer period of time? The sad fact is that we will never know what Caylee suffered but we can be sure that Casey Anthony and her lawyers will be offered a huge book deal.

O.J. Simpson was also tried on television and on the Internet and the overwhelming verdict by the public was that he was guilty so why was he acquitted? What I found absolutely appalling is how the media primed the delayed reading of the verdict by showing a split scene with a black and a white group awaiting the verdict. When the acquittal was announced the black group cheered while the white group appeared shocked. Why was this done? Simple - the liberal press is determined to keep us racially divided so that it can always use race as an issue to demonize those it disagrees with.

Although I refused to follow the sensationalized case I did read up on some of the evidence presented by the prosecution and must admit that a reasonable doubt about it was present. The defense attorneys were brilliant in shooting down or explaining alternatives to what was offered as concrete proof of O.J.'s guilt.

I must preface this by saying I never cared for Mr. Simpson as a celebrity and found his acting ability left much to be desired so my reasoning is completely objective. Had I been on the jury I would have been perplexed by the time factor which was never fully explained by the prosecution's case. Considering the fact that there was so much blood at the crime scene with bloody footprints which the prosecution claimed to have been made by Simpson's Bruno Magli, I've always wondered why no blood was found on the pedals of Simpson's Bronco. Before he left for the airport he was in full view of a chauffeur parked outside his Brentwood home and was not observed scrubbing blood from the car. Even minute traces of blood can be forensically uncovered. The amount of the blood found in the car was miniscule and while it was found to belong to a victim, the car itself had been in an untended car compound and easily accessed. Given the LAPD's record of planting evidence it was easy for the defense to proffer that possibility in this case.

It is ironic that before Rush Limbaugh jumped on the "O.J. is guilty" bandwagon he surmised that O.J. was in fact covering up for his son Jason who was never treated as a serious suspect even with his history of violence and drug abuse. His alibi was eventually found to be unreliable but the police had O.J. pegged as the murderer and never pursued other possible suspects.

I'm not asserting Simpson's innocence but simply explaining why his jury might have had reasonable doubts. So too the circumstantial evidence presented in the Casey Anthony trial never directly linked her to the death of her child. Defendants in our legal system are innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt and this is a very valuable system. Verdicts may not always be palatable to public opinion but for the most part the system works when the jury of our peers does their job in spite of spectator demands.

For those of you out there who are furious with the Anthony jury for not finding her guilty make sure you answer your next jury notice and serve. It just might change your perspective. Alicia Colon resides in New York City and can be reached at aliciav.colon@gmail.com and at www.aliciacolon.com