America's Criminal Defense Group - Our Legal Blog

According to a USA Today article (“Caylee’s Law” online petition builds interest after verdict), there are some that wonder if a law, such as Caylee’s Law, is needed at all. Brevard Circuit Judge Preston Silvernail said this conversation would not be taking place if the jury had returned a different verdict.

“I believe there are existing laws dealing with aggravated child abuse, child abuse, child neglect including placing a child in harm’s way so I am not sure a new statute is necessary,” he said. “I know some may have believed the defendant guilty, but the jury selected by both sides and approved by the court made a decision based on the law, the evidence and their own experience.”

What does that have to do with failing to REPORT the DEATH or disappearance of a child in a reasonable amount of time.

There was no actual evidence to prove that Casey Anthony abused or neglected Caylee prior to her death, hence the verdict. But, not reporting that her child had died or was missing for such a long period is probably why there was no longer any evidence.

-George J. Cole, esq.
Senior Blog Contributor
America’s Criminal Defense Group

The Casey Anthony trial brings at least one common problem to the forefront. That is the problem of prosecutors overcharging cases. It is now common for prosecutors to charge equal to their immagination not equal to the facts presented in the case.

In the Casey Anthony case the prosecutor charged 1st degree murder with the death penalty. I think that with this charge the jury was forced to review all of the evidence with the thought that the jury could be sending a woman to her death. With that responsibility the jury became over sensitive to the task before them and I think that this set the stage for the not guilty finding. Of course this was not the only factor, and I will add to this post in the future, but I believe that this was the beginning of the end for the prosection.

My hope from all this is that prosecutors will in the future temper the charges they make against defendants to reflect the facts in the case and not reflective of their immagination. Such over zealous charging does nothing to serve the ends of justice.

Anthony Partipilo is the Supervising Attorney for America’s Criminal Defense Group