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Other shocking court verdicts
Casey Anthony's acquittal on first-degree murder charges may be one of the most surprising trial outcomes in at least a decade. The Florida mom may have escaped with only misdemeanor convictions, but her acquittal is drawing comparisons to another high-profile murder trial: O.J. Simpson's.
O.J. Simpson escapes murder conviction – Police suspected Simpson murdered Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman in June 1994. The case dominated headlines and was must-see television. Between Simpson's infamous low-speed car chase, the trial's intriguing cast and a dream team full of legal heavyweights, the former NFL superstar was able to avoid conviction. O.J. showed signs of relief and joy when he learned his fate.
[cnn-video url="http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/crime/2011/06/12/vault.oj.simpson.verdict.cnn "]
Outside the courtroom tensions arose. Some cheered "The Juice's" acquittal while others were stunned and suspected his fame and fortune allowed him to get away with murder.
[cnn-video url="http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/crime/2011/06/11/vault.simpson.verdict.reaction.cnn"%5D
Jury acquits Robert Blake – "Baretta" helped make Robert Blake a star, but it was a murder accusation that launched him into the headlines again. Blake was accused of killing his wife, Bonny Lee Bakely, in 2001. Blake always maintained his innocence and, in 2005, a jury agreed, finding the actor not guilty of murder. When the jury announced the verdict, Blake began sobbing.
[cnn-video url="http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/crime/2011/07/06/vault.bts.robert.blake.jurors.cnn"%5D
Rodney King verdict sparks riots – Los Angeles already was rife with racial tension before the Rodney King incident. But the allegations of excessive force by white police officers were caught on tape. That had many thinking they'd never be acquitted. Jurors surprised the city and the nation by acquitting all but one of the officers. The verdict proved to be the spark that ignited a powder keg of strained racial relations. Riots broke out in the city's most urban areas and even the president had to get involved.
[cnn-video url="http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/crime/2011/07/06/vault.los.angeles.riots.cnn"%5D
Fans rally behind Michael Jackson – Child molestation allegations again surrounded Michael Jackson in 2005, resulting in a criminal trial. While some were surprised the King of Pop was found not guilty, his enthusiastic fans never doubted his innocence. They rallied behind him, cheering his victory. One person even released a white dove for each not guilty verdict.
[cnn-video url="http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/crime/2011/07/06/vault.michael.jackson.verdict.cnn "]
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Comare this to OJ, lol??
Let's see, he was famous and rich, this girl is unknown and pennyless, but other than that there are all kinds of similarities, sure!
Exactly.. Im at work and everywhere I look there is phones, televisions , and computer screens watching every smirk of this sociapath... Since when did the death of a child become the next summer blockbuster... The only way to prevent this sick lady from profiting from this is to not feed into it... its bad enough she got away with it, lets not make her rich too...
I would like to know if anyone ever proved who the real father of Cayce Anthony was – was it the guy who was killed in an accident last year. If so, surely there are Paternal Grandparents that have been totally overlooked. If Lee and Cindy Anthony will not get justice for this baby, why don't the Paternal Grandparents take the load of them to civil court and sue their pants off so that none of them benefit from this travesty. OJay was taken to civil court and lost – more information is allowed in a civll suit. Maybe then at least we would know what happened to the baby. God bless her little soul!!
i wonder if she'll wanna go 2 the cemetary aftr she gets out?
Only if they have a bar there...
Sure, because that is where one finds the "Bella Vita."
Well, SOMEONE killed that child. Is it still being investigated? If (ha) Casey didn't do it than who? If Casey is the murderer than maybe it's better she goes on to live and suffer each and every day for what she did. Mind you, she won't suffer right away but in the years to come she will. If anyone accepts her when she's out in the world it will be trash just like her.
One request please... can everybody please stop using that awful Grace-ism "Tot Mom"??!!??
As for the verdict. The trial was not for worst mother of the year. It was a capital murder trial. The coroner couldn't even provide a cause of death. Without that, how does the jury know it even has a murder on its hands? Let alone the murderer???
Don't you mean disGrace- ism?
Thank you Steve!! If I hear the term "tot mom" one more time.............UGH!! She has a name and it's Casey Anthony. Even if you think she did it, there is no reason for that. She has called her that for months and it's sickening.
Ok whatever happened, she didnt report her child missing or an accident for 31DAYS that is CHILD NEGLECT and you should be ashamed for your post.
Like I always say, there is no justice in this world, except in Antarctica, no wait, that's "just ice" ... 🙂
Best just not to ever kill anyone. Most courts have over 95% conviction rate!!
*Edited to add* And the similarities between these cases is that the prosecutors were overzealous and overreached with the charges and went all in without enough solid evidence to convict. They went for broke and lost. And the biggest similarity in all of these cases is the media hype and misrepresentation of facts they spewed day in and day out. If people only relied on the "facts" the news presented, then they perceived them all to be guilty. The media doesn't report news. It fabricates and manipulates to get people to "drink the kool aid" and go along with their unsubstantiated opinion.
I'm sick of hearing "reasonable doubt". When your 3 year old goes missing for 31 days and you don't tell the police or your family, you are GUILTY of CHILD ABUSE. This jury did not take the time to think through the options. There is
nothing admirable about their decision. Also, the judge should not have allowed the defense and the prosecutors to
tell the jury what the meanings of the charges were and keep harping on "reasonable doubt". That's the judge's job
and he should have defined "reasonable". There is not such thing as "guilty beyond the shadow of a doubt" as I
heard somebody say today. I can see why they didn't want to apply the death penalty, but that was a separate
phase. This is so sad.
Well, whether you are sick of hearing it or not, that is the way they decide whether to convict or acquit. Reasonable doubt means acquittal. And the jury did their job!! They did what was required of them by the terms of the law. You don't agree. That's fine. But you were not on the panel that made the final decision. And I applaud these people for what they did. They acquitted because the prosecution did not prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt-the standard that it takes to convict by legal definition. Even the prosecutor admitted it was a case where there could be heavy reasonable doubt. He commeded the jury and respects their decision. He is disappointed but not disrespectful.
I agree with child abuse/neglect. It's insulting to my intelligence that someone can ignore a missing child for 31 days and not be brought up on charges. There are laws protecting neglected pets, but apparently not children. I can agree that there was not enough evidence to convict on capital murder, because even if she wasn't concerned about her daughter that doesn't equal 1st degree murder. I would have been the one juror that refused to budge on child abuse, but this is what happens when you live in a country full of morons.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eCRMOBOqpU&feature=youtube_gdata_player
CASEY ANTHONY HAS SOLD HER SOUL TO THE DEVIL. AND HE WILL TAKE GOOD CARE OF HER
Sorry Willie, but I don't believe God would give Satan the pleasure of having domain over others. Satan and Casey will lead separate and very different eternities. I would make Satan's eternity VERY BORING.. Casey's will be very tormented. Not my place to say, but that's how I would do things. A different afterlife for everyone according to how they treated others.
I am disgusted, but we the people allow our justice system to be faulty. We as a people need to take a stand and change some of our laws. We just allowed a murderer to go free, poor Caylee the little girl gone to soon.
I dont know how to feel about the verdict. I didn't think she would get convicted on first degree, but I did think she would be found guilty of a lesser charge. The state of Florida screwed up when they didn't charge her too with improper disposal of a body – but I guess they felt they had a win-win case and wouldn't need to. Hindsight is 20-20. I am the most angry because just like with the JonBenet Ramsey case, nobody will ever be held accountable for this child's death either. And that is the sad part. What I do not understand is, how come she isnt held accountable to some degree, being the mother of an under school aged child who is ultimately her responsibility! Its not like she can go out and get caught up with a crowd of bad people. She was a baby. And she is gone. Why is there no laws to protect the small children?
I think the prosecution messed up their credibility when the lead prosecutor was too busy laughing during defense testimony than acting like a professional.
Raven Darr
Virginia
Both sides agreed she is a psychotic liar. Does the Defense team think that they are so special that she wouldn't also
lie to them? If they are so comfortable with her " not guilty" verdict, then I think everyone on the Defense team with small children should take a vacation and leave their kids with Casey to babysit.
I wonder if some of these attorneys who represent clients they know are guilty ever suddenly try and find religion? I don't think it works that way in our creator's eyes. You can refuse to represent someone.
the only reason O.J. got off was because he was black. it was all in the name of political correctness. shameful.
Why is everyone faulting Defense for winning? They were obligated to seek a victory for their client!
Why is there NO ONE faulting the Prosecution for their mishaps, mistakes, premature witch hunt. If they would have waited a little bit, she may have hung herself and this case could have been a slam dunk. The prosecution ran this case based on public outrage and this case failed to find Casey guilty because they lost sight of what they needed have in evidence to GET a conviction. The prosecution failed horrifically!
First, This should NOT have been a Capital Murder Trial seeking a death penalty.
Second, They should have inserted some lower level charges that the jury could understand and comfortably use to convict with. The indictment only included Black Charges or White charge no grey charges to give the jury an option other than “set her free” or “Kill her” . Prosecution was too confident in their case because they felt they had full public backing based on media coverage BIG MISTAKE!
They keep making statements :”we really didn’t think a not guilty verdict was realistic” and even during the trial used statements such as “Hopeful” , the body was “more than likely in the trunk of the car”.
If you ask other people to kill someone based on a “hopeful” or “possible” and let this lie in their hearts for the rest of their lives you better be speaking from a place of undoubted FACT! not “hopefully”! Personally, I wouldn’t take that burden on either. This jury had no option but the one they chose. We still do not know how this baby died.
Third, They carted that girl to prison so fast, again to appease public outrage when they knew from professional experience leaving her loose a little longer would have, could have moved her to start confessing to persons close to her.
Fourth, Jeff Ashton Laughing during the closing…… Is he so Stupid that he thought laughing visibly in a trial where a poor little girls Life was brutally stolen from her was a good idea! The media keeps faulting Jose Biaz for his “laughing guy comment”, At that very moment, I thought it was brilliant for him to point out Jeff Ashton’s indiscrepancy to the jury. Biaz made sure the jury saw WHO was not taking the death of this baby serious and it hurt prosecution immensely. If I am a jury in that court, all I can think is “what could possibly be funny in this court room?”
PLEASE STOP LOOKING TO FAULT THE DEFENSE TEAM FOR DOING WHAT THEY CAME TO DO! PROSECUTION BLEW THIS CASE COMPLETELY! Jeff Ashton then grossly sabatoshed any support he had with that jury by laughing in the midst of a trial about a dead baby. After all the horrific photos, the tear jerking testimonies, HE’s LAUGHING? Really???
Also – Defense is not celebrating Casey is a killer running around free….. They are celebrating their own end to relentless hours of work, stress probably high tensions and finally getting their own lives back to normal. It’s appalling that this country can do nothing but criticize this team of professionals who did exactly what they took an oath to due.
IF YOU WANT SOMEONE TO BLAME… BLAME THE PROSECUTION THAT TOTALLY MISSED THEIR MARK!!!!!
@Tia: Good point about the laughing part, but I believe Casey laughed or smirked a few times as well. I don't like the gallows humor that comes in a court case like this one either. I think from what I've seen that the jury should have at least came back with a child abuse conviction. No child goes missing for 31 days and everyone in the family thinks it's normal.