Innocent?

For the last two days, people have been weighing in on the whole Casey Anthony trial thing. Mostly, it is people who remember back to the OJ Simpson trial. I am shocked at the number of people who want her dead. Let's go into a few points of fact.

First, she was the last person seen with Cailea Anthony. There are no eyewitness reports after that. Second, her family including her former fiancee thinks she did it. Third, her trunk smells funny.

That is the basis of the prosecution's case. They say the trunk smells like a decaying body. According to an interview with the DA this morning, the evidence is circumstantial. Circumstantial evidence leaves room for reasonable doubt.

In giving a "not guilty" verdict, it does not mean that they believe Casey Anthony is innocent. It means that they did not believe that there was enough evidence to convict.

Why are people demanding the death of Casey Anthony? People online are threatening her. What happened to "Do not judge, for by the standard you use, so it will be measured to you" (-Jesus Christ, as recorded or Matthew 7:1)? We live in a nation of innocent until proven guilty. We live in a nation of trial by jury. The jury, twelve peers, listened to the whole of the trial, not just what some jerkwad news commentator said FOR THE PURPOSE OF GETTING RATINGS (after all, their job is to make controversial statments to get ratings). Based on the entirety of evidence and testimony, they made a decision. We have to trust the system. It is better for the guilty to go free than the innocent to be needlessly punished.

This is not the OJ trial. Her defense was not based on "He's African-American. And a football player. He must be innocent." (I feel the need to address the glove thing, when leather gets wet, it shrinks as it dries. Not fitting is no defense.) Their defense was the lack of evidence. Yes, she was a deadbeat mother. Yes, she went out and got drunk after her daughter disappeared. People cope in funny ways. Some people act the opposite of how they should in times of distress because they are trying to avoid feeling. I see it in my job a lot. It happens.

You may disagree with me. That's fine. It doesn't hurt me. This I know: we don't know what happened. We won't until we get to heaven and ask God, and by that point it won't matter. In the mean time, we need to keep faith in the system, even when we don't like it. Because if it were you on trial, you would want a fair shake with your constitutional rights. So stop demanding her death. The system, no matter how perfect, is the best system we have, and one that the rest of the world is jealous of.