I guess I should add, though, that I absolutely do not believe Casey will be given the death penalty. She has the devil's own luck, and that 31 day delay, plus the 5 additional months before Caylee was found, all combined to make it impossible for LE to gather the kind of evidence that would insense jurors enough to enable them to sentence her to the same ending she gave her daughter. Unlike Casey, jurors have consciences and hearts, and so they will feel compelled to spare her life.
I'm hoping for LWOP, but realistically, I think she will end up with a fairly hefty prison sentence instead.
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I so totally agree with you, Friday. I, like you, also felt very down about these latest revelations on how the FBI had "destroyed evidence". My Ident daughter (CSI in the States) always brings me back to earth with a jolt though, and reminds me that common sense should prevail.
1. IIRC it was the FBI fingerprint analyst that first saw (or thought she saw) the sticker residue on the duct tape as she began her testing. Consequently, there are, I believe, no photographs and no forensic evidence that it did, in fact, exist. So as evidence, it would have been speculative at best. Given the fact that it may not have existed in the first place, she technically did not destroy it during the course of her work.
2. DNA, hairs and fibres are frequently transferred by forensic analysts as they collect and examine potential evidence, despite every attempt to prevent it, just as criminals invariably leave something at the scene. Finding and excluding an FBI analyst's hair on the duct tape is not contaminating evidence, nor would it nullify any incriminating hairs found on the same tape.
So, although the media, The A's, Mr. Conway, et al., have had a field day playing this up, I still feel the forensic evidence that we know of, and maybe some we don't yet know of, is compelling. Add to that the circumstantial evidence you noted in your previous post, and it's still a done deal IMO.
