Should SA seek to prove that "the murder was committed for pecuniary gain"?

[manatee]

Maybe the SA could use the factor of her selling the videos for gain because I know if it were my child missing and I truly wanted her found I would have GIVEN the videos and pictures to as many news outlets as possible to get my child's face out there. If I were on the jury that is how I would look at it. Why did she SELL them instead of giving them for free.

good one! And if she sold it, why not use the money to find your missing child?

 

[zoey]

Maybe the SA could use the factor of her selling the videos for gain because I know if it were my child missing and I truly wanted her found I would have GIVEN the videos and pictures to as many news outlets as possible to get my child's face out there. If I were on the jury that is how I would look at it. Why did she SELL them instead of giving them for free.

ITA---I know I would also be on every TV that I could begging over and over---I wouldn't have just let others "speak" for me---It would have been made known about my baby--along with humongous tears and everything else that goes with it...I wouldn't have cared to chitchat with my "boyfriend" of a month---I would be on the LE steps seeking my daughter....

 

[zoey]

good one! And if she sold it, why not use the money to find your missing child?

also keep in mind when the reward money was out there & ga & ca told kc about how much it was--her first thought was something like---hmmmm that would almost make bail....:furious:

 

[Cat13067]

I agree.

No way did Inmate Anthony know her murdered child would bring that kind of money to her or that she would even have to defend herself against filicide.

In her mind, I believe she just thought the police would take her word on things. I can't imagine why she didn't think LE would check into her statements, look for this imaginanny...or that lying to police was a crime..

No, this doesn't fit, IMO..

Justice for Caylee

I'm not saying that they could prove it. I'm only suggesting that this may be a way to bring in the fact that she sold photos into evidence...even if the jury does not agree at the end that #5 was one of the aggravating factors

KC was taking photo's, and videos of Caylee to JB's office before she was indicted for murder. At the time of KC scrap booking Caylee's photo's she was charged with child neglect, and child endangerment along with the check fraud charges.

Do I believe she killed Caylee for financial gain-no, but why would a mother sell photo's and video's of her missing child unless she knew she was going to be charged with murder. With that said, I believe only the murderer would gear up, and sell things to pay for her defense.

 

[Cat13067]

Within 48 hours of KC's arrest KC stated that LE told her if they didn't find Caylee they were going to pin it on her. KC had to know that LE would charge her with child neglect, and child endangerment before she killed Caylee. It is standard knowledge when a child goes mssing under a mother's watch she would be a POI in the disapperance of her daughter. KC had to know this before she killed Caylee. So, if she knew this she knew she would need an attorney to represent her against these charges. With that in mind I change my vote to yes.

 

[Paintr]

KC was taking photo's, and videos of Caylee to JB's office before she was indicted for murder. At the time of KC scrap booking Caylee's photo's she was charged with child neglect, and child endangerment along with the check fraud charges.

Do I believe she killed Caylee for financial gain-no, but why would a mother sell photo's and video's of her missing child unless she knew she was going to be charged with murder. With that said, I believe only the murderer would gear up, and sell things to pay for her defense.

Maybe one of the news outlets offered money for exclusive photos or videos of Caylee, and dollar signs flashed before someone's eyes. None of the characters closely associated with KC nor KC herself seem immune to the lure of easy money. (I don't include Lee or most of KC's friends in this statementt)

Maybe KC wasn't planning to fund her defense (even if others were). Maybe KC just grabbed a chance to make money. Perhaps she thought that others were collecting money out of Caylee being missing, why shouldn't she?

 

[Soju]

I had a different thought about pecuniary gain ... more as a loss ... KC couldn't even support herself without stealing, and Caylee was an additional "expense" ... also KC parents spent a lot of money on Caylee that was previously available to her ... the other thing that sticks in my mind with KC going with the kidnapping story is maybe she intended to try to extort money from her parents but was found before she had figured out how she was going to do that ... just throwing it out there but wondering if pecuniary gain can be looked at from a standpoint of saving the defendent money and removing a financial burden .... JMO

Great thought, denjet. I hadn't thought of it that way. I had always considered Caylee to be a financial asset to casey. When she had caylee, she (casey) was able to mooch off her parents longer than she might otherwise have been able to. George and Cindy might have kicked casey out long ago if there wasn't a baby involved, you know? Caylee was an additional expense, but not for casey. I don't know.

When I think of pecuniary gain as a motive for murder, my mind jumps to insurance policies, wills, expensive health care, etc, so thanks for adding this!

 

[KeyboardCat]

I doubt that Casey had any idea this would become the media circus it has. She probably had no reason to suspect that any of Caylee's belongings or images would become profitable. That being said, I believe that in her mind, people finally see Casey as the star she really is. I need to go hug my children now.

 

[Baznme]

My thoughts are that SA may want to use #5 aggravating factor in order to bring in the evidence that KC sold photos to ABC . This way they can allow the jury to decide if it should count or not.
What do you all opine? lawyers? what are your thoughts?

Here is aggravating factor #5 as it reads:
5) The murder was committed for pecuniary gain or pursuant to an agreement that the defendant would receive something of value

The SA is not going to even try to pursue this unless they were sure they could make it stick. The way I see it, it was CA that realized she could create revenue from Caylee's pics, not KC. So, how does it even apply to KC? Just because that was the revenue used to pay the attorneys?

 

[KeyboardCat]

The SA is not going to even try to pursue this unless they were sure they could make it stick. The way I see it, it was CA that realized she could create revenue from Caylee's pics, not KC. So, how does it even apply to KC? Just because that was the revenue used to pay the attorneys?

I don't think it applies to Casey Anthony. I think that in order for that aggravating factor to be relevant to her, she would have had to plan this out with the forethought of it becoming profitable. That profit would have to factor into her reasons for committing the crime. I think to Casey Anthony, the publicity and money from ABC was just a happy coincidence. But because of the lack of regard for her daughter while she was alive, and the lack of concern over her daughter's memory, the very thought of Casey Anthony actually profiting in any way from the death of Caylee is particularly atrocious.

The way I interpret it, that aggravating factor cannot apply.

 

[sumbunny]

I don't see think Casey murdered Caylee for money. Haleigh on the other hand ~shrugs~

 

[manatee]

I doubt that Casey had any idea this would become the media circus it has. She probably had no reason to suspect that any of Caylee's belongings or images would become profitable. That being said, I believe that in her mind, people finally see Casey as the star she really is. I need to go hug my children now.

Well the "Docket" case was very recent to this. So she had seen what the media attention can be on a missing toddler

 

[Reagan]

If KC would have even imagined she could get 200,000+ from Caylee being dead... then I'm afraid Caylee would have been killed a lonnng time ago.

 

[Elphaba]

I voted no. I don't think monetary gain played an issue in Caylee's death.

 

[TrY]

My answer is "NO".

I don't think that Casey thought she was going to be making a boatload of money from killing Caylee when she did it. I don't think she killed her for money. Casey did it for other reasons, but money wasn't one of them.

It has turned out that Casey, her parents, other people, and various media outlets have financially benefited from Caylee's death, but that is a whole other matter.

I don't believe a jury would believe that financial gain was a reason that Casey killed Caylee.

 

[whiteangora]

I voted no. Of course Casey could be capable of doing just about anything for money, I doubt this was the reason she killed her daughter.

 

[Omachka]

As much as I wish I could have voted yes here, I had to vote no. The SA would never be able to prove KC had the possible future sale of photos to ABC in mind when Caylee was murdered. I think she just seized the opportunity to make some money off the death of Caylee when it presented itself.

I really doubt that the fact that she sold those photos to pay her lawyer will even be presented in the trial unless the SA can figure a way to get it in as a way to show how little she cared for her daughter. As distasteful and immoral as KC's behavior was with selling the memory of Caylee to the highest bidder, it isn't illegal so it may never get presented in trial at all.

I sure wish there were a way to punish someone for this... maybe I'll go write a letter to my state reps about this. Too late to apply to this case but it isn't something that should be legal IMO.

 

[AZlawyer]

I don't think the State will use this aggravator based on the later sale of photos/videos, as they have no evidence that this was part of the motive for the murder. Also, I doubt that HHJP will let them bring in the sale of the photos/videos as evidence, as they don't really tend to prove anything except that her lawyer has no class.

I have to wonder about the insurance, though. At Caylee's age, a policy would have been super-cheap. If Casey secretly obtained an insurance policy and was hoping to collect after Caylee was tragically killed by Someone Else, how would anyone know about that at this point? No one would have filled out the claim form because no one but Casey would have known about the policy. And I don't think she'd mention it to her family at this point.

But I don't think LE would know about it either. So I doubt this aggravator will be used.

 

[watcher9]

My answer was also "no".
KC deliberately killed Caylee in a fit of anger.
Selling pictures never crossed her mind at the time.
I believe JB was the one who brought up selling of the pictures
when he saw this could be a money making case.

 

[manatee]

I don't think the State will use this aggravator based on the later sale of photos/videos, as they have no evidence that this was part of the motive for the murder. Also, I doubt that HHJP will let them bring in the sale of the photos/videos as evidence, as they don't really tend to prove anything except that her lawyer has no class.

I have to wonder about the insurance, though. At Caylee's age, a policy would have been super-cheap. If Casey secretly obtained an insurance policy and was hoping to collect after Caylee was tragically killed by Someone Else, how would anyone know about that at this point? No one would have filled out the claim form because no one but Casey would have known about the policy. And I don't think she'd mention it to her family at this point.

But I don't think LE would know about it either. So I doubt this aggravator will be used.

bolded by me
AZ, what if they DO have evidence that this was part of KC's motive? I'm thinking about those missing person searches on her computer. She may have not known exactly that she would profit by selling photos but she might have thought about selling Caylee's story. There could be some evidence in those computer searches....maybe? So if they could show knowledge of financial gain PRIOR to Caylee's death they may be able to bring it in?