NULLIFYING A CHILD’S DEATH
(….and sending it into Cold Case limbo)

Justice may not have been served in this terrible tragedy, but the constraints of the law had to be observed. That’s the essence of what an Orlando, Florida, jury determined in the case of Casey Anthony, a 25 year old mother accused of murdering her two year old daughter Caylee. So….she was found “not guilty” of that crime.

The death of any child, particularly such a young one under such murky circumstances, has a heavy emotional impact on a community. It’s thus understandable that public reaction to that verdict has been so loudly angry, and ready to apply mob justice against a perceived unfit mother guilty of infanticide, etc., etc..

The especially wrenching thing about this case, and probably the main reason so many folks are convinced this young woman deserves lynching, is her apparent indifference to her child’s  disappearance, waiting more than a month before reporting that to the police, and, during that time, partying and otherwise enjoying Orlando’s nightlife, without care. These are the two main factors driving the intensity of the community’s disgust with this result.

The reality of it is something else. The prosecution obviously screwed up in making its case, and the jury (apparently despite its own personal feelings about it) had no choice in returning the verdict it did, leaving unanswered a lot of nagging questions. That is:

–       If the mother didn’t kill that child, who did?

–       What could have been the motive behind it?

–       Who else would have had motive, means, and opportunity to do so?

–       Was it in fact murder or accidental/negligent homicide, and why was forensic science unable to determine that?

–       Who covered up the child’s death, by putting it in a trash bag, and dumping its body in a swamp, away from its home?

–       Why did the mother wait so long to contact the police about her missing daughter?

–       Given the family’s dysfunctional relationships revealed at trial, who else may have been involved?

We may never know the real answers to any of those questions. All we’re left with is the nullifying of a child’s death….and sending it into Cold Case limbo.

CENTURION