2009.04.13 State To Seek Death Penalty For Casey Anthony

[Dear Prudence]

Snipped from this article:
http://www.wesh.com/news/19168682/d...orl_break&ts=T&tmi=orl_break_1_03190104132009

Last year, Casey Anthony's parents, George and Cindy Anthony, released a statement regarding the state's decision not to seek the death penalty against their daughter. "In response to the state's intent not to seek the death penalty came as no surprise to us this afternoon," the statement said. "Our family believes Caylee Marie is still alive and our efforts have not lost focus to the objective of bringing her home. Today's announcement only supports our theory that our granddaughter is still with us, and we will continue investigating all tips and leads that support our position despite what the authorities continue to say."

I had forgotten about this statement until I just read it again today. I used to feel twinges of sympathy for them, like when reading this statement, UNTIL I get to the very last phrase "despite what the authorities continue to say." That was just completely unneccessary. It's things like this that have always made me question the A's motivations.

I wonder if they will have a statement regarding the state's decision to now seek the death penalty against their daughter.

 

[Brattigirle]

I have a strong suspicion that the SA has "upped the ante" to the death penalty because they don't have any more damning or conclusive evidence against KC, and they're trying to maneuver her into accepting a plea.
I hope to God that I'm wrong.

Does anyone else agree? I guess we need a poll, don't we.

WOW I so hope your not right about this one .

 

[McSev]

(bolded by me)
Thanks for that.
Sometimes, I know that I forget that the job they do for victims is a priceless thing. They don't take it lightly.

No, they don't take it lightly. And I think a lot of people forget over time where this case was back in August and September. Remember when it looked like all they had was circumstancial evidence and no body? At that time, everyone was disppointed there was no death penalty - probably even the State Attorney's office was let down. In fact, most media lawyerin' types speculated that the death penalty wouldn't be on the table because they hadn't found a body and at the time, they were right.

Here we are today - with a body. Doesn't it seem simple enough now that they have a body, they could, given what they have as evidence and circumstances, so intricately weaved together? I think so. Very Scott Peterson like, if you ask me, and see where he ended up.

 

[Friday]

Does anyone agree that this might just be a strategy to push her to plead (beg for a deal)?...........therefore mitigating the expense as much as is possible? This is costing huge tax dollars at a time it can least be afforded.

I agree that this may very well be a strategy by the SA to push KC to plead, but I don't think saving the cost of a trial is the motivation. I think the SA either has no additional damning evidence, or worse--some of the unreleased evidence they have may be useful for the defense if it's turned over to them.

ETA, By "useful for the defense," I am not referring to exculpatory evidence, of course, but rather to little things such as character blemishes of SA witnesses, etc.

 

[piratemom]

I am so worried that she may get off if the jury doesn't all agree now that this is a DP case. I am also worried now they will have to bring in better more competant attorneys now this is a DP case and that may help KC as well.

What would be lovely is if a plea deal was struck and there were no trial and she would go to jail.

 

[whisperOFwings]

LOL...It's my birthday too!!! I had a really bad day, and this news brightened it a bit. it means SA possibly found the heinous smoking gun.

We can be cold together and eat birthday cake

happy birthday maureen:dance:

 

[RR0004]

This is heartbreaking. I hadn't thought of no one being there to speak for and of Caylee at the sentencing phase (should Casey be convicted). I have seen many videos of family speaking of their lost loved one, retelling tales, and most of all, of things they will never enjoy together again. My goodness, that poor angel won't have anyone to say those things for her.

I picture all of us here marching, arms linked together, right up the courthouse stairs...Caylee's voice.

 

[Suzie002]

ITA, Gypsy. The DP didn't phase her before when it was on the table, and it won't phase her now.

But that was before they found the body. Remember her allegedly saying, "they haven't even found her clothes?" She broke down when they announced skeletal remains were found there. She thought that between her, the family and JB, they would be able to convince a jury that there Caylee was alive and well living with Zanny. I don't think JB will let her plea but I am hoping a DP qualified attorney gives her better advice.

 

[RR0004]

I agree that this may very well be a strategy by the SA to push KC to plead, but I don't think saving the cost of a trial is the motivation. I think the SA either has no additional damning evidence, or worse--some of the unreleased evidence they have may be useful for the defense if it's turned over to them.

ETA, By "useful for the defense," I am not referring to exculpatory evidence, of course, but rather to little things such as character blemishes of SA witnesses, etc.

Say it ain't so. No...I can't allow myself to believe that.

 

[McSev]

I agree that this may very well be a strategy by the SA to push KC to plead, but I don't think saving the cost of a trial is the motivation. I think the SA either has no additional damning evidence, or worse--some of the unreleased evidence they have may be useful for the defense if it's turned over to them.

ETA, By "useful for the defense," I am not referring to exculpatory evidence, of course, but rather to little things such as character blemishes of SA witnesses, etc.

Or perhaps a recent lab test provided the final smoking gun. There's nothing to say what hasn't been released wasn't just obtained. If so, her attorney would have been notified of it -- and may have been notified of the State's intent informally.

Notice he's not speaking directly to the media today - only the spokesman.

 

[ElementaryDearWatson]

I have a strong suspicion that the SA has "upped the ante" to the death penalty because they don't have any more damning or conclusive evidence against KC, and they're trying to maneuver her into accepting a plea.
I hope to God that I'm wrong.

Does anyone else agree? I guess we need a poll, don't we.

Friday, I'm afraid you may be right. I think they are trying to force a plea.

 

[LisaNY]

If there ever was a case that deserved to have the DP imposed it is this one. There is no worse crime than a Mother harming her child. I think the SA knew back when the body was identified that they will be going for DP. Because of all the evidence they have against her, the SA have probably been scratching their head, wondering why noone is advising this perp to plea for lesser sentence, which led them to wonder if defense did not have KC's best interest at hand. Will KC's little hand written note come into play during any DP appeals process?

My disclaimer: I am against anyone causing the DEATH of another human. That being said, I do believe the DP is necessary as both a deterrent and penalty for intentionally murdering another human, ESPECIALLY a child.

 

[Where's Andre]

It appears to me that your link is listing the number of people on death row and the poster you responded to was referring to the number of executions performed. Two very different things.

This is from the same link you cited (thanks, it is informative) and it lists state executions carried out per capita:
http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/state-execution-rates

Confusing raw counts with rates is a peeve of mine, so when I saw it mentioned that Florida is just below Texas-- I got a bit confused myself and posted before I thought.

Thank you for that link, I didn't see the execution rate page-- I could have saved myself a little work.

You see, I had noticed my mistake and went to a similar link with raw executions per state since 1976, and calculated per capita 2008 numbers in a spread-sheet (actually per 100,000 numbers to get the numbers to a managable size)

Here's the link:

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/executions-united-states-1608-1976-state

And here's the top 14 rank I calculated. It's a little different than the link you provided-- due probably to demographic shifts.

1. Oklahoma
2. Texas
3. Delaware
4. Virginia
5. Missouri
6. Arkansas
7. South Carolina
8. Alabama
9. Louisiana
10. North Carolina
11. Nevada
12. Georgia
13. Florida
14. Arizona

 

[Friday]

If KC does take a plea, she will never do it in advance of the trial. Instead, she will wait until the trial is well underway and only if/when everything is so clearly going against her that the jury is practically applauding the prosecutor.

 

[Suzie002]

Not true. One juror pities her, and it's a hung jury. Then the prosecution can hone their case and make it tighter the second time.

Three notable cases with a hung jury:

Betty Brokerick
Menendez Brothers
Phil Spectre.

All were found guilty on second go-around.

And unless prosecution drops charges entirely, she will not be free. She will stay where she is until the second trial.

Thank you for this post. I didn't think it was a cut and dried that if one person didn't find her guilty, she walked. I thought of Phil Specter today who had a mistrial. Even then she can be retried, she wouldn't just walk. Thank you.

 

[Friday]

You are correct that the charts have been showing that this week Casey was going to be coming unglued! :dance: The astrologers amaze me everytime with how accurate they are when reading the stars & planets!
Here's to our WS's astrologers! :clap: :clap:

They deserve a big round of thanks for the time they devote in all of the cases they work on! :clap:

:angel:

Could someone please give me a link to the place in the astrology threads where "predictions" are listed with the dates shown? All I find are posts discussing them.

TIA

 

[Spangle]

This is heartbreaking. I hadn't thought of no one being there to speak for and of Caylee at the sentencing phase (should Casey be convicted). I have seen many videos of family speaking of their lost loved one, retelling tales, and most of all, of things they will never enjoy together again. My goodness, that poor angel won't have anyone to say those things for her.

Which might be why they don't want Caylee's bio's father known.

 

[JBean]

Read Please

 

[ThoughtElf]

I have a strong suspicion that the SA has "upped the ante" to the death penalty because they don't have any more damning or conclusive evidence against KC, and they're trying to maneuver her into accepting a plea.
I hope to God that I'm wrong.

Does anyone else agree? I guess we need a poll, don't we.

Sorry, on this one we don't agree.

I think it is forensic evidence &/or the result of something in the interview with DC that resulted in Judge Strickland's complaint. Possibly a combination of both.

I don't think the State believes Casey will plea as a plea would involve an admission of guilt. I believe they're as convinced as many posters are that KC will never confess.

At a minimum, I agree with the posts by attorneys that note the stakes have gone up with any plea the SA would settle for.

 

[Dear Prudence]

Confusing raw counts with rates is a peeve of mine, so when I saw it mentioned that Florida is just below Texas-- I got a bit confused myself and posted before I thought.

Thank you for that link, I didn't see the execution rate page-- I could have saved myself a little work.

You see, I had noticed my mistake and went to a similar link with raw executions per state since 1976, and calculated per capita 2008 numbers in a spread-sheet (actually per 100,000 numbers to get the numbers to a managable size)

Here's the link:

http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/executions-united-states-1608-1976-state

And here's the top 14 rank I calculated. It's a little different than the link you provided-- due probably to demographic shifts.

1. Oklahoma
2. Texas
3. Delaware
4. Virginia
5. Missouri
6. Arkansas
7. South Carolina
8. Alabama
9. Louisiana
10. North Carolina
11. Nevada
12. Georgia
13. Florida
14. Arizona

Nice work Andre, thanks! I like statistics, so keep them coming. The one I linked was 2006 I think, so a little dated compared to yours. Thanks for an updated version.