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Learning Goal: I’m working on a law discussion question and need support to help me learn.Answer initial question 250 words. Respond to 3 classmates 250 words each.Initial Question: State of Florida v. Casey Marie AnthonyIn October 2008, Casey Anthony was arrested and charged with the disappearance and murder of her two year old daughter, Caylee. She was originally charged with giving false statements, child neglect, and obstruction of a criminal investigation – this was later expanded to include first degree murder, aggravated child abuse, aggravated manslaughter of a child, and four counts of providing false information to police. In December 2008, Caylee’s skeletal remains were discovered.After a long contentious trial, on July 5 2011, the jury found Anthony not guilty of first-degree murder, aggravated manslaughter, and aggravated child abuse, and guilty on four misdemeanor counts of providing false information to a law enforcement officer. Jurors cited lack of evidence directly linking Anthony to the murder.On July 7, 2011 Anthony was sentenced to one year in jail and $1,000 in fines for each of the four counts of providing false information to a law enforcement officer, with the sentences to be served consecutively. Anthony received three years credit for time served plus additional credit for good behavior, resulting in her release date being set for July 13, 2011.Questions: Emotions aside, do you believe the prosecution overcharged the case? Why or why not? Was there enough evidence to convict Anthony as she was charged? Why or why not? What are you thoughts on the evidence presented by the defense?Classmate 1 Michael Wise: 1. Caylee Anthony deserved better. I believe the prosecution overcharged. I agree with criminologist Dr. Scott Bonn. He wrote an opinion piece (Bonn, 2019) where he opinedthat trying to prove something beyond a reasonable doubt in a death penalty case leaves the prosecution with a huge task on their hands. In such a case, the prosecution is asking people to execute someone and most of us are going to demand the prosecution give us significant proof before we will cross that line. You may be able to find a miniscule number of death penalty cases where circumstantial evidence convicted (such as Scott Peterson’s case), but that is not the norm. The prosecution’s inability to prove motive was equally disastrous for them. Although they were able to prove she was an accomplished liar and avid party goer, they could not show she did not love or care for her daughter.Nobody knows for sure how the jury would have responded if all they were doing was deciding guilt on a nonnegligent manslaughter or second-degree murder charge. But since both require far less criminal behavior than first-degree murder, there is a chance the jury would have convicted. Dr. Bonn mentioned the theory of “collective efficacy.” That theory says that people who live in a community typically have a greater sense of moral responsibility and connection to that community. This trial was held in a city on the other side of Florida from where the crime happened so perhaps the jury took a more demanding rational approach to their deliberations and not as emotional as folks in Caylee’s own community would have. Dr. Bonn concluded, “ That’s pretty much why Anthony was found not guilty of murdering her daughter by a jury of 12 reasonable people in Orlando while an outraged world watched. However, finding her not guilty is not the same as finding her innocent. The prosecution failed to convince the jury beyond a reasonable doubt that Anthony was guilty of premeditated murder. As a result, Anthony, a probable murderer, is free, while little Caylee cries out for justice from her grave.” Bonn, S. (2019, January 13). Casey Anthony Trial was a case of overzealous prosecution: Death Penalty was a bar too high. nydailynews.com. Retrieved January 11, 2022, from https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/casey-anthony-…2. There seemed to be more than enough circumstantial evidence to convict Casey Anthony. Unfortunately, there was not enough direct evidence. The prosecution was not even able to provide a cause of death (Hare, 2018). The indictment against Casey Anthony alleged a violation of Florida law ,Title XLVI, Chapter 782, Section 4, Paragraph (1)(a)1 (CNN, 2008). That statute says it is first degree murder to “unlawfully kill” a human, “when perpetrated from a premeditated design to effect the death of the person killed”. This meant the prosecution would have to prove premeditation, and aside from some computer word search activity, they had nothing. CNN. (2008). Casey Anthony Indictment. CNN. Retrieved January 11, 2022, from http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2008/images/10/15/cay…Florida Criminal Code, Title XLVI, Chapter 782.4(1)(a)1 (2021) Retrieved January 12, 2022, from http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0700-0799/0782/Sections/0782.04.htmlHare, B. (2018, June 30). ‘What really happened?’: The Casey Anthony case 10 years later. Retrieved January 11, 2022, from https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/29/us/casey-anthony-10…3. My first thought about the defense evidence is the evidence NOT presented. Jose Baez’ opening statement (Hopper and Banfield, 2011) proclaimed Caylee died by drowning in the family pool and the grandfather tried to conceal that fact. Baez also claimed Casey suffered sexual abuse at the hands of her father and brother as a child. “You will hear stories about a family that is incredibly dysfunctional, you will hear about ugly things, secret things, things that people don’t speak about,” Baez said. He never delivered on that claim. The defense in a criminal case is not supposed to have to prove their client did not do a criminal act as charged. The burden of proof is with the prosecutor. Generally defense teams will try to prove their client did not, or could not have, done something. Often this is by tearing apart the prosecution case moreso than making their own case. That is what happened in the Casey Anthony case. Most of the defense case was designed to poke holes in the prosecution case and create enough reasonable doubt that a jury would be hard-pressed to vote guilty. The defense did a good job of refuting prosecution evidence, which admittedly was weak to start with. The prosecution was not able to prove cause of death or even time of death. They only had circumstantial evidence to show Casey might have been responsible for the child’s death. Some of their best evidence, related to proving there was a decomposing human in the trunk of Casey’s car, was based on emerging science at the time that analyzed carpet samples and found volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that are present in human decomposition. This evidence came from Dr. Arpad Vass, a research scientist at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The defense brought in two experts of their own including Dr. Kenneth Furton and they effectively countered Dr. Vass’ testimony (Ensiminger et al., 2017).The defense did a good job using government personnel to provide testimony beneficial to the defense. It is hard to argue they are biased in favor of the defendant because that is who is paying them when they are actually being paid by the government. For example, there was prosecution testimony about the duct tape found with the child’s remains but a government witnesses provided beneficial testimony to the defense that helped negate the value of the duct tape evidence (Fell et al., 2011). One of the defense witnesses, Krystal Holloway, admitted to an affair with Casey’s dad and claimed the father said the death was an accident (Mann, 2011). Even though that testimony at trial differed some from her initial police interview, the defense was likely able to plant some doubt in the juror’s minds. It did not help that Dad also publicly said Caylee was missing while he was telling Holloway she was dead. The fact the defense was able to bring doubt to Dad’s earlier testimony where had claimed no affair with Holloway led to the judge advising the jury they could consider the discrepancy when assessing Dad’s credibility as a prosecution witness. Ensiminger, J., Ferguson, M. A., & Papet, L. E. (2017). Was there a body in the trunk: Volatile organic compounds in the trial of Casey Anthony and the Evolving Search for a chemical profile for human decomposition. SMU Scholar. Retrieved January 13, 2022, from https://scholar.smu.edu/scitech/vol19/iss3/3Fell, J., Longo, A., & Cook, K. (2011, June 9). Day 14: Photos of Caylee’s skull make Casey Anthony ill, court ends early. Internet Archive – Wayback Machine. Retrieved January 12, 2022, from https://web.archive.org/web/20111004165750/http://…Hopper, J., & Banfield, A. (2011, March 11). Casey Anthony Trial: Defense Team Claims Caylee Anthony Drowned in Family Pool. ABC News. Retrieved January 13, 2022, from https://abcnews.go.com/US/casey_anthony_trial/case…Mann, C. (2011, June 30). Casey Anthony Trial update: George Anthony’s alleged mistress takes the stand. CBS News. Retrieved January 12, 2022, from https://www.cbsnews.com/news/casey-anthony-trial-u…Classmate 2 Jessica Miller: Americans are protected by procedural due process under the 5th Amendment of the Bill of Rights. We are supposed to receive proper protection and treatment during a civil or criminal case. Casey Anthony had the same rights when she was arrested and charged with killing her daughter Caylee in 2008. The district attorney presented evidence to a grand jury, and they agreed it was enough probable cause to go to trial. She was charged with first-degree murder, aggravated manslaughter, child neglect, and four counts of providing a false statement. The prosecution did overcharge regarding first-degree murder and aggravated manslaughter charges. The state attorney knew that they would have a hard time with forensic and physical evidence that would connect Casey to the criminal intent of the death of Caylee.The charges of providing false information to the police were straightforward and easy to prove in court. She lied to the police multiply times and did not report her daughter missing. John and Cindy Anty had to report the crime, a red flag for the police. Casey and her parents both have a legal obligation to report Caylee’s disappearance based on the duty to act by a special relationship. Parents and children fall into this category.The prosecution could not prove a physical act of Casey’s killing her daughter. Witnesses could not positively say that Caylee’s body was in the car due to not finding blood or DNA evidence. “Assistant state attorney Jeff Ashton asked Dr. Vass if he believed there was a dead body in the trunk of the defendant’s car. Vass said he did because there’s no other plausible explanation to explain the results” (McCaffrey). However, he could not testify 100% that it was Caylee’s body that had decomposed. Also, the forensic scientist could not positively identify the hair in the car’s trunk belonged to Caylee. There was evidence that worked against them which was the search for chloroform. Cindy Anthony admitted to searching for chloroform and not Casey. The prosecution evidence could not connect the defendant Casey to the crime.Murder, in the first degree, has to prove that there is intent to harm another person. Casey’s allegations of sexual abuse by her family also made the jury doubt her parents, and Casey accused Anthony’s parents of accidentally drowning Caylee in the family pool. The defense attorney injected doubt and suspension on the entire family, and the lack of physical evidence led to the non-guilty verdict.This case brought strong emotions because a child lost her life, and millions watched the trial on television and media. Everyone has an opinion on whether Casey Anthony is guilty. “When the American criminal justice system acts, the public takes notice and forms an opinion. If the media attaches to a trial, it will only amplify the public’s opinion, likely influenced by the media’s bias ” (Battaglia, 14). Do you feel our thoughts on the verdict were influenced by the media?Robert McCaffrey. (2019). The State of Florida v. Casey Anthony: Day 11. University Wire.Battaglia. (2012). The Casey Anthony trial and wrongful exonerations: how “trial by media” cases diminish public confidence in the criminal justice system. Albany Law Review, 75(3), 1579–.Classmate 3 Kelly Cutiyog: There are two different types of overcharging: horizontal and vertical. Both types of overcharging are methods used by prosecutors to increase their chances of reaching a plea agreement. They also lay the groundwork for “charge bargaining”, a type of plea deal in which a prosecutor will agree to reduce or completely dismiss a charge or charges if the defendant please guilty or no-contest to other charges. (Graham, 2014) The difference between vertical and horizontal overcharging is the manner in which they are applied. Horizontal overcharging is when a prosecutor unreasonably multiplies the number of charges against the defendant. In doing this, they often charge the defendant with separate offenses for each crime he/she has participated and splitting a single criminal act into numerous charges. (Graham, 2014) In this instance, a prosecutor uses erroneous charges as a tactic to encourage a plea deal. A defendant will typically plead guilty to the main charge in exchange of having the other erroneous charges dropped. Vertical overcharging is charging a defendant for a single offense at a higher degree than the instances of the case can justify. The elevated charge usually includes a “lesser included offense”, or the actual crime in which the prosecutor is trying to convict. It is not to say that the prosecutors attempt to charge defendants with crimes that they are clearly innocent of, instead they set an “evidentiary threshold” at a lower level when writing up the initial charges. Whether horizontal or vertical, a prosecutor intentionally suggests charges that they do not actually want to persuade or guarantee a conviction. These unnecessary or disproportionately extreme accusations are used to incentivize the defendant to take a plea deal. The main difference is that horizontal overcharging is that a prosecutor anticipates dismissing specific charges in exchange for a plea deal, while vertical overcharging promises the defendant a substitution of charges in exchange for a plea deal. Only vertical overcharging involves charges presented based on “insufficient proof”. (Graham, 2014) In 2008, Casey Anthony was arrested for child neglect and charged for aggravated child abuse, capital murder, aggravated manslaughter, and four counts of lying to law enforcement officials; the charges were three major felonies and four minor misdemeanors. Additionally, prosecutors sought the death penalty in connection with the first-degree murder charge. As with any criminal trial, the burden of proof is with the prosecutor, they must prove guilt for the charges beyond a reasonable doubt. The prosecutor took a great risk in charging Anthony with first-degree murder and asking for the death penalty. It was a significant ask of the jury as well, to impose a guilty verdict would mean that the jury believed that the murder of Caylee was premeditated and that they would be not only be prepared to, but willing to sentence Casey to death. In this case, the state only presented circumstantial evidence against Anthony. None of the evidence presented directly connected Anthony to the crime. (Bonn, 2019) Anthony told lie after lie to investigators and did not seem affected by her daughter’s disappearance or death. There was no physical evidence that Caylee’s body was in the trunk of the car, there were no witnesses to connect her to the murder, there were no traces of Anthony’s DNA or indisputable signs of chloroform or decomposition in the trunk of the car. (Greenwald, 2011) The prosecution overcharged Casey Anthony in the death of her daughter with a first-degree murder charge and seeking the death penalty. As mentioned, the evidence presented was purely circumstantial, not direct evidence definitively connecting her to the murder. The prosecution knows that when indicting defendants on any charge, they have the burden of proof to justify why the defendant deserves that charge. In this case, they simply could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the murder was premeditated or justified a first-degree murder charge. She failed to report her daughter missing then lied when she finally did. The remains were so severely decomposed that there was no retrievable evidence of time or cause of death. (Valladeres, 2012) Despite this, the prosecution still brought a first-degree murder charge, with death penalty. This was a high-stakes tactical gamble for the prosecution, perhaps in hopes to obtain a plea deal prior to going to trial and the plan backfired. Despite this, Casey Anthony was not actually found innocent, just determined not guilty of murder based on the prosecutions failure to meet the burden of proof. (Valladeres, 2012)David Greenwald, July 6, 2011, Casey Anthony: The jury got this one right Davis Vanguard, https://www.davisvanguard.org/2011/07/casey-anthon… (last visited Jan 13, 2022) James Valladares, Hope springs eternal in the priestly breast a research study on procedural justice forpriests – diocesan and religious (iUniverse, Inc) (2012), https://books.google.com/books?id=F8VHDwAAQBAJ&pg=… (last visited Jan 13, 2022) Kyle Graham, 2014, Overcharging – KB Home Knowledge Bank-The Ohio State University, https://kb.osu.edu/bitstream/handle/1811/73451/OSJ… (last visited Jan 13, 2022) Scott Bonn, July 7, 201, Casey Anthony Trial was a case of overzealous prosecution: Death Penalty was a bar too high New York Daily News, https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/casey-anthony-… (last visited Jan 13, 2022)
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