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.
