How can the Prosecution PROVE that Casey chloroformed Caylee in open air and then duct taped her?
It may be impossible to PROVE the exact cause of death unless the killer confesses. However, I believe that if the SA can prove KC was the only reasonable suspect with means, motive and opportunity, which should make all of the details that drive us crazy either irrelevant or moot.
Cases have been won with less evidence and without a body. I think that the jury will take into consideration all of the possible scenarios and figure out from the evidence what is the most likely and reasonable.
Whether chloroform was used as a drug to put her to sleep (or whether its presence in the car trunk can be explained by cleaning chemicals), or whether it was xanax or baby benadryl, or she was asleep or awake - there may be a variety of ways Caylee's demise happened, whether by negligent accident or premeditation (either in an angry rage-filled instant, or in a slow and calculated manner).
Regardless of how it happened, what is most inescapable is that KC is far and away the only realistic suspect, and after it happened she went to elaborate and convoluted machinations to hide it and lie about it to any and all that asked, while simultaneously behaving as if she was having the time of her life, in a social whirl of parties, sex, tattoos and a crime spree involving stolen money.
When she was finally caught, she lied to LE and was furious with both them and her family for holding her accountable for her responsibility of keeping her child safe and for interrupting her current lifestyle. She created a fictional villain, and when that did not seem to bear fruit, she tried to implicate friends that had only been kind to her, or ones she had already victimized.
This charade may have ended sooner had her family not been so willing to corroborate her obvious mendacity and, for whatever selfish reasons, to try to help her avoid the consequences of her actions (a well-documented enabling behavior that goes back long before this incident).
I'm starting to think that the jury will find KC guilty of whatever they can within the parameters of their instructions and the admissable evidence, and whatever sentence is handed down, very little mercy will be shown in terms of length of appropriate sentence. Her ridiculouse stories, her behavior, her condescending or angry demeanor, her lack of affect regarding the fate of her child, the fact her parents are on record before this happened as not trusting her to safely care for her child, all point to someone who did something, either from negligence, rage, or some other emotion that cost a darling little toddler her life.
I think at some point, the finer details will be immaterial and moot from a legal point of view.