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>.