(snipped for space)
I totally agree. The prosecution had such strong evidence in the smell of death in the car, a hair with a death band, a duct-taped body in garbage bags dumped in a place well-known to Casey and so on. And when combined with the actions of the defendant at the time, plus the 31 days, and then all the lies, well I think the prosecution believed that was all sufficient for conviction. And their reason for believing that was: It was all sufficient for conviction!
I still believe that their biggest mistake was not missing this computer evidence as much as giving the jury too much credit for being able to analyze and see the situation for what it truly was--a murder and subsequent cover up.
That jury was lost on all the scientific testimony, much of which was not easily decipherable to the average citizen. And such testimony went on for full days at a time. The prosecution basically lost the jury's attention, I believe, and then did not do what was necessary to regain it--basically speak at their level of understanding. Consider the days upon days of testimony that went right over most people's heads, and how a group of 12 who didn't really want to be there one minute longer than necessary were expected to listen to and then analyze it all--it was a recipe for disaster, IMO.
The prosecution could have brought this computer search evidence in and still not have had any effect on the jury. Because after a while, I think the jurors had simply quit listening.
All JMO.