Thank you for this - I'm late to the thread and was sitting here pondering the statement regarding what made people assume the duct tape was on her face when the skull was so decomposed - and was quite "in awe" at the statement.
And yes, the duct tape had to be cut out of Caylee's hair on each side of her face, even after six months of skeletonization, animals pulling the remains apart and being submerged in swamp water for weeks during the flood.
I also want to point out that this jury was not there to decide on the death penalty. Even for a guilty decision on the most serious charge, the option was there for LWOP. But this part of the trial was only to decide guilt or innocence on the three charges. The penalty phase is the second part of the trial.
The jury doesn't even decide on death. There are laws in place for this decision, and during the penalty phase, after deliberating all the aggravating and mitigating factors, they make a recommendation. But the judge has the final decision.
And they got "stuck" on cause of death. The prosecution does not have to prove either cause of death, or motive. But there is no way around it - if you have the number 4, there are a wide range of numbers that can add or subtract to arrive at the number. But the final equation can never be 0+0+0=4.
In other words ICA was completely innocent despite all the scientific evidence, but Caylee was still duct taped, dead, and thrown in a swamp like garbage.