Photo Essay

posted by Kristi Houston Gilbert at 7/05/2011 02:12:00 PM Pic 1 

Here is a photo of Casey and Caylee Anthony taken at an unknown time by the Anthony family before Caylee went missing. This video streamed across America when the case went from a kidnapping to a murder charge. The photo displays the innocence of young Caylee before she met her tragic fate.

Source: State of Florida via Wikimedia Commons. Date not posted pic 2

A mugshot of Casey Anthony after arrest by Orlando Police Department. She was charged with child neglect and obstructing a investigation. These charges were enough to hold her while the investigation continued.

AP Photo/Red Huber, Pool July 1st 2011 Pic 3
 

Casey Anthony in session at Orange County Courthouse in Orland Florida. Here she is hearing the prosecution tell the jury of how there is no possible way her mother was home to search chloroform on the internet.

Joe Burbank / Reuters, Article by Nate Rawlings June 23rd 2011 Pic 4 

Casey Anthonys parents leaving court on May 25th 2011. The emotional stress of the case is over bearing as seen here in Mrs. Anthonys' face. In the end the case destroyed the Character of the family and friends of Casey Anthony.

Associated Press photo for Masslive.com Pic 5
  

Casey Anthony standing with Lawyer Jose Baez. listening to the verdict that she's been acquitted of murder. No one expected her to go free. She was charged with lying to police during an investigation. Her sentence was a year.

youtube Casey Anthony Video Diary Pic 6
  

Casey Anthony free at a unknown location making video diaries. She is currently in hiding for fear of what the public could possible do to her. This picture was taken off of Youtube. She hasn't been seen since the video was posted.

Work Cited

• posted by Kristi Houston Gilbert at 7/05/2011 02:12:00 PM Pic 1 
• Source: State of Florida via Wikimedia Commons. Date not posted pic 2
• AP Photo/Red Huber, Pool July 1st 2011 Pic 3
• Joe Burbank / Reuters, Article by Nate Rawlings June 23rd 2011 Pic 4
• Associated Press photo for Masslive.com Pic 5 
• youtube Casey Anthony Video Diary Pic 6

 

Argument

 Derrik Salovitz

Professor Pappas

English 101 College writing Hybrid Class

April 28, 2012

      What I have chosen for a argumentative thesis is the trial and dismissal of the accused Casey Anthony. I believe she is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt and should face life imprisonment. Some people believe that she was without question, innocent in the accusations made of her alleged misconduct that lead to the death of her daughter Caylee Anthony. On the other side, the majority of people believed that without a doubt that Casey Anthony was the direct cause of her daughters death. This case has been the most controversial murder case since the OJ Simpson trial.

    It was on June 16th 2008 that 2 year old Caylee Anthony was last seen alive ("time line in the Casey Anthony case"). According to Casey Anthony, her daughter drown in the family pool by accident.( Hopper) reported her daughter had been kidnapped and was missing. Throughout the search for her missing daughter Casey went on living her life and even concealing the death of her daughter. Unfortunately because the remains of Caylee Anthony's body were so decomposed and possibly tampered with, the cause of death could not be determined. The body was found with duct tape attached around the mouth region, but because the body could have possibly been tampered with by the men who found it, the duct tape evidence was inadmissible. Casey stated that the reason she didn't tell the truth to begin with is that she was scared. Her defense said that the little girl died in the family pool before the missing persons report was filed ("Hopper"). The defense attorney also stated that her upbringing had a lot to do with why she was lying. According to the defense, Casey had been molested by her father when she was a little girl and was brought up in a household full of liars ("Hopper"). The defense also stated that the father tried to hide the accidental drowning as well as disposed of the body.

        The prosecution sees the case in a different point of view. The prosecution believed that Casey Anthony was tired of the responsibility of parenthood and looked for an out. The investigation started as a missing persons case after July 15th 2008 when Casey Anthony reported that she hasn't seen her daughter in over month after dropping her off at the babysitter. Casey then took the police to the last place she seen her daughter which was a vacant apartment said to be owned by the babysitter Zanaida Fernandez Gonzalez ("Hopper"). Then Casey takes Police to Universal Studios where Casey said she worked. Truth be told she hasn't worked there in over 2 years. The truth then came out again as there was no babysitter involved. The prosecution found out that Casey was deceiving them and had been partying and clubbing the whole time that her daughter was missing. Caseys father retrieved her car from the local impound as it was considered abandoned. Upon retrieval he said it smelled as if something died in it, which after it was repossessed by the police department, it was said to have traces of bodily fluids in it. Casey had been misleading the investigation while evidence was growing more and more scarce with each passing day. The skeletal remains of Caylees body were found on December 11th 2008, not far from the Anthony home. The prosecution also was told through out the investigation that someone at the Anthony home looked on the internet about chloroform which is commonly used to knock people unconscious. The internet search was done while Mr and Mrs Anthony weren't home. Along with the internet search Mr. Anthony said that his daughter Casey borrowed a shovel from him.("Casey Anthony case files")

     The jurors had a hard case to deliberate. The evidence was looking as if Casey was solely responsible for her daughters’ death and cover up of evidence. The jurors main responsibility to find Casey guilty without a reasonable doubt. Most of the evidence found could be considered inadmissible due to holes in the investigation. The skeletal remains were thrown out of the case because the men who found them touched the bag in which the remains were. The car that was abandoned with possible human remains in it was thrown out because it was considered circumstantial in that it couldn't be proven beyond a reasonable doubt that it was human remains. Casey borrowing a shovel could have been for a completely different reason and therefore was not admitted into evidence. During trial Casey Anthonys mother admitted that she is the one that looked up chloroform for a completely different reason and was in fact home that day. No evidence proving otherwise makes the Internet evidence hearsay. The testimony by Mr and Mrs Anthony even though it showed poor character upon them selves, validate almost everything the defense says. The parents said that they did not have anything to do with the killing or cover up as well as they did not molest their daughter. On the 5th of July 2011 Casey Anthony was acquitted of murder but found guilty of lying to police. ("Casey Anthony Case files")

    In my opinion I can understand where both sides are coming from. On one hand you have someone who seems to have had a rough child hood being brought up with abusive manipulative parents. Raised as a liar who wasn't completely aware of what she was doing was wrong. But on the side of the prosecution I see a case and a story that is purely fact based. It seems to me that even though some of the evidence was circumstantial, no one can deny the fact that she was negligent in the reporting of her dead child. Instead she gave the authorities the run around until all the evidence was tampered with and altered. The authorities weren't able to run an investigation to the best of their ability because of the false report done by Casey Anthony reporting a kidnapping rather than a wrongful death. I believe the jurors aren't responsible for the outcome of the case, but rather the the poor investigation, prosecution, and circumstances surrounding the evidence in this case. ("time line in the Casey Anthony Case"). Truth be told, no one will ever truly know what happened to Caylee and what would possess a person to disgrace someone's deceased body by giving it an improper burial. It just goes to show that the justice system is flawed.

    work cited
Hopper, jessica. "Casey Anthony Trial: Defense Team Claims Caylee Anthony Drowned in Family Pool." ABC News. (2011): 1-2. Web. 9 May. 2012. <http://abcnews.go.com/US/casey_anthony_trial/casey-anthony-trial-defense-claims-caylee-anthony-drowned/story?id=13674375
Investigavtion Discovery , . "Casey Anthony Case Files ." Casey and Caylee Anthony: Case Documents. (2012): n. page. Web. 9 May. 2012. <http://investigation.discovery.com/blogs/criminal-report/casey_anthony_full_coverage/files/caylee_anthony_files.html>.
"Timeline in the Casey Anthony Case." Huffington Post . (2011): n. page. Web. 9 May. 2012. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/05/casey-anthony-case-timeline_n_890699.html>.

Ethnography

  For my ethnography assignment I decided to write about my wife's uncle. He is a police detective in the city of Canton. On a normal day of work he would wear khaki pants, either tan or black with black dress shoes and a long sleeve shirt with a tie. On his belt he had a holstered Glock nine millimeter pistol and his badge. I asked him what a normal day was for him working as a police detective. He responded saying " It's either really slow, or really fast. There's hardly no in between." He went on telling me about his activities from the time he wakes up to the time he leaves work. Most of it was a lot of investigation work having to do with records from stores and receipts because he was a detective working solely with theft.

 I then asked him what he thought of his job and how he liked being a detective. He said he loved his job but was ready for retirement. After doing the job for over twenty plus years he wanted to finally be able to relax with his wife. I asked if he could describe a recent case with me to try and get a better understanding of how everything plays out in a theft investigation. He told me a story of how recently a few teenagers robbed the house of distant relatives taking credit cards and cash. They used the credit cards locally which made it extremely easy for him to trace to the teenagers. All he had to do was find out where they used the card last and approximately what time and get the video footage from the store the cards were used. The same teenagers were in a number of stores wearing jackets from the local high school, buying random expensive things. They could be easily identifiable by there appearance in the videos because of these jackets. He later asked the relatives who had been robbed if they recognized the faces of the teenagers who were at all the stores. They were horrified to recognize that the teenagers were family members. that's pretty

memoir

 Criminal justice is a broad system that includes the practices and institutions that are put into place to uphold the law. The system aims to sustain social control, diminish crime and hold those who violate the law responsible for their actions. Laws are rules that the government sets and enforces, and laws often help maintain order within society. As a citizen of the united states I grew up in a society based around certain laws that I was expected to follow. However the society in which I grew up in made it challenging to obey those laws. I was born and raised in the city of Brockton Massachusetts for most of my childhood life, where drugs, gangs and violence became a norm for me very early in life. It was while living in Brockton where I had to make hard choices that would forever affect the man I was to become. It was while living in Brockton where I learned that criminal justice would perpetually be an important part of my life. It took a long time for me to fully understand the impact in which it had.

 Brockton was a challenging environment where poverty and violence was affecting everyone in the community. With my mother working long hours, I quickly learned that I had to be self reliant, in doing so I made friends who were in a similar case. I lacked discipline and I was making my own rules. I lied, did drugs, and broke the law relentlessly without being caught.  When I was 15 years old I robbed a gas station at gun point. I was caught and charged. After a long court process resulting in me being put on probation. My father gained custody of me where he instilled discipline, and taught me the difference between right and wrong. Maybe it was getting arrested, or maybe it was a change of scenery, but I realized at that point that I couldn't be the person I was and I desperately needed to change. I was tired of hurting the people in my life that were suppose to matter the most.

While in high school I made the decision to join the United States Marine Corps where I felt I could benefit from the structure while serving my country. In 2008 I deployed to Ramadi, Iraq as a Machine gunner. There was no fighting and we acted like a police force ensuring the locals were not committing crimes against the public. It was an easy seven month deployment that made me very grateful for the things I have in my life. I returned home in 2009 and was put into a leadership role where we started training for a deployment to an unknown destination. Little did I know that by 2010 I would be in Afghanistan. I deployed with some of the most respectful and courageous men I have had the pleasure of knowing. We worked tirelessly while engaging in some of the most horrendous firefights Afghanistan has ever seen. It is my deepest regret that we did not get to bring all the guys home alive. I lost one of my best friends and mentor while I was over in that terrible place. Unfortunately there are some things you can not change. What I have learned from his death is that regardless of how much I try or want for things to change, there are always going to be evil people in the world wanting to do harm on others. I feel as though it is my moral obligation to keep these things from happening in any way, shape,  or form. Although I have always thought about being a Massachusetts State Trooper, the events leading up to this point in my life has set that goal in stone.

 My enlistment from the Marine Corps ended in June. I'm now taking the appropriate steps towards my overall goal which is to become a Massachusetts State Trooper. From my early childhood where I lived the life of crime, to early adult years where I swore to protect my country against all enemies foreign and domestic. It seems my whole life was based around the concept of crime and justice. It just so happens that my theme is actually the thing that made me the man I am today. I have learned from my mistakes and I plan to be a better role model for others to emulate. My theme crime and justice has been a very important factor in my life that I take very serious. Hopefully someday I will be able to lower crime while increasing justice as an occupation.

Reading Journal

Should I buy a gun?

  This article is about a woman whom under goes changes in her every day life that result in her supporting the right the bare arms. The story starts of with her and her significant other in her home where her boyfriend enters with a gun. When she is told by him that it is for self defense she is not thrilled and more irritated by the second. Later on down the line she becomes surrounded by criminal acts that seem to plague her. She becomes paranoid, thinking people are following her and watching her. This eventually ruined her relationship and life until the day she decided that she would no longer fear being the victim of a violent crime. She bought a firearm for self defense and took lessons to put her mind at ease.

  I was interested at how she was judgmental at the beginning because she was ignorant to every aspect of fire arms. She was irritated at her boyfriend for going behind her back and buying a gun when it was not her place to tell him otherwise. Later on in the article she does a complete turn around when she finally realizes she won't be at ease unless she has a way to protect herself. The writer was writing in a point of view style to be informative. I feel that she wrote a good article in that it was intelligent and well thought out. She put things in perspective for those who do not support the second amendment.

  I give this article a 4 out of 5 stars. It was well thought out and kept me reading.

Rhetorical Analysis

  This ad has many words in it that have to do with crime and justice. The message is black and white with surrounding words in gray, but there is a lot more to the overall message. The color and contrast send the message about law that when it comes to crime, it can never be just black and white.  This ad encourages the viewer to realize that there are many aspects of crime and law, and to consider that there is so much to the overall system and organization. The target audience seems to be anyone in the field of law such as attorneys, judges, police etc. The ad does not seem to be targeting younger viewers or anyone in unrelated fields.

  The targeted audience would look at the overall ad and see how each individual word connects with another. An example would be the words "theory" and "society", professionals in criminalization work on making theories on society from the region or area that they may work in.  Another example would be "codes " and "roman", these words date back to when Rome put laws and codes into there judicial system as to keep order and civility in the states they conquered. This message is getting the targeted viewer to analyze the ad in detail so he or she can receive the overall message. The ad was made with the whole purpose of everything surrounds both crime and law. Those two words are bigger and bolder then the rest of the words.

  I believe this ad is hit or miss with it's target audience. On one hand it is informative and will get you to think about its overall message. On another hand it is somewhat dull will lack of color, not really putting itself out there to catch your eye. I believe most people would just look over this ad without giving it a second glance. Anyone who did take the time to look it over would see how much is involved in the message being put out.

reading journal entry

The Doctor will sue you now

The Doctor Will Sue You Now

by Mark Seal + Follow 

  This article depicts the struggle of a forner millionaire who feels his name was ruined by the death of Michael Jackson. Dr. Arnold Klein believes he is entitled to money because his "good name" was ruined by the involuntary manslaughter trial of his former partner and Michael Jackson's personal doctor Conrad Murray. All of Dr. Klein's records containing Michael Jackson's medical history and treatment was brought to public eye illegally by former employees of his, showing the lack of attention and poor character of the doctor.  Since then Dr. Klein has gone to say that money has been embezzled from his accounts by terrorist's forcing him to file for bankruptcy.

   I thought the doctors sense of entitlement was ridiculous. He is partly responsible for the death of a human being and even though I do not have the most positive views of Micheal Jackson, he still has the right to live. Dr Klein feels that he is owed something from the community and I do not think this is justified based on his actions. Dr. Klein filed for bankruptcy in 2011 and said he was forced to auction off his art and memorabilia. I believe he should count his lucky stars that he is still alive unlike his patient whom he helped get addicted to Demerol, which resulted in his death.

   What I noticed about the writer is that all of his information is fact based. Most, if not all of his information, is written about events that have been documented and proven true due to the fact was in the spotlight of the media for a few years. Another thing I noticed was that the writer was biased in writing negatively about Dr. Klein, even if what he stated was true.

I give this article 3 out of 5 stars. Although informative, readers whom already have biased views of the overall situation may not persuaded one way or the other because the article was one sided.