It is because of the bizzare , horrific behavior of her and her whole family. It is facinating to observe. Especially her Mom. She's as crazy as Casey is.

Maybe the fact that the poor child was dead for over 30 days, while her mother partied, before the authorities were notified???? And then she was considered 'missing' and thousands searched for her...

ML

Media coverage probably. It's on constantly.

I am with you Susan. I try not to follow it, but it's just the rehashing of the same bits and pieces on channel after channel. Speculation on top of speculation. What good does it all do. What will happen will happen despite all the talking heads regurgitating the same old same old. This happened with the Lacey Petersen case also. I also can't understand why these trials drag on so long. Murder trials can be over in just a few days. I believe it has to be that the Media is the reason that these cases turn out to be so high profile. There seem to be certain ones that they latch onto.

think magic has the right answer...

only loser in this is caylee....

I too never followed it. After seeing all the same garbage regarding OJ Simpson, loosing a todler in the Minot area about 3 years ago, never found, mom who child was taken awy from and living with mom's sister and now both are in FL. Just waste of time to see so many people lie about so much.

What maddielee said. The child was missing for 30 DAYS! And the partier Mom continued to excuse her absence, giving a fake name of a fake nanny with home the child was supposedly with .... but ... making things up about that, as well. One way or the other, guilty or not, Casey is a poor excuse for a mother. However, if we jailed people for that alone, we would have to have jails on the moon. so said for baby Caylee, and all others who have mo-rons for parents.

For me...

a) she was my daughters age so I see everyday what that little girl was like and cannot fathom anyone murdering a baby like that.

b) she was missing for 31 days before her mother informed anyone - my kid would be missing 31 seconds!

c) Casey was out partying like nothing happened.

d) the bizarre happenings just don't add up.

Sure would have liked to be a fly on the wall when the jury discussed their verdict! How can they justify their decision?

I just spoke with a friend who's a criminal defense lawyer. He wasn't surprised by the decision because he said the prosecution didn't have that strong of a case. It was largely circumstantial, and juries aren't supposed to convict when it's in that much doubt, no matter how convinced they might be that the defendant was guilty.

I cannot watch anything about abused or killed children. But I am amazed, not having watched any shows about this, that she got off.

I agree with what maddielee said too.

And, while her child was "missing" and her mother was partying, she got a tattoo that means "beautiful life."

I'm a criminal defense lawyer and I agree with your friend, Susan. I didn't follow the case closely, but I did read some trial excerpts and summaries, and it seemed like the case was almost wholly circumstantial. No definite cause of death, no murder weapon (as a poster said in another thread, the duct tape could be the murder weapon - but only if the prosecutor was able to prove that it killed the little girl), no DNA evidence or much (any?) other physical evidence linking Casey to the death.

I can imagine that many of the jurors will say something like, "We definitely thought she did it, but the judge told us to keep our emotions out of it and look at the facts, and there just weren't enough facts there to convict."

It's the unknown that intrigues people. Like the JonBenet case. No one knows exactly what happens so they speculate and surmise until they put something together to make 'sense' of it.

I have a Kali that is 3, watching her enjoy life so much made me so sad about the one that had that taken away. I can't imagine enjoying my life if something happened to her. That is what made me watch.

I didn't follow it - I knew the main details and would listen to the updates on the evening news but I wouldn't go out of my way to watch coverage. There have been too many of these cases and I just tend to tune them out.

Once again, the justice system has failed...We still have a precious little girl that will be gone forever and no truthful answers....I certainly hope all those people that served on the jury will be able to sleep at night....I'm sure Ms Anthony and her family will have no problem.....

Was it such a big deal nationwide or was it primarily local? Around here it hasn't been in the news much. There's a lot of other things bumping it out of place. However the local coverage has been unreal. I was reading in the broadcast sources about the local stations who kept coverage going even while it was on break, how basically all the stations covered it ongoing and pre-empted even the soaps with little complaint. Station ratings were higher than with other programming so of course they're going with what attracts viewers.

I suppose it's something in which you have an interest, or feel somehow compelled to follow. I had no interest in it so I didn't follow it.

Circumstantial can be a convincing case *if* it's properly presented. The trick is to get a jury who isn't just looking for a reason to acquit and to present the evidence logically and convincingly. But to present something like suggesting that a roll of duct tape in the trunk is powerful evidence, you shot yourself in the foot.

My big question is how many people now will say "she was acquitted so she didn't do it" like they say about other "celebrities" (they like) who get off. And how soon will she write a book?

I just went and read an article on it because I was wondering if they decided not to go for lesser charges or what was going on. All they convicted her of was giving false info to police and didn't even go with child abuse, manslaughter or anything. Wow, they must've really felt sorry for her and/or the prosecutors must have really blown the case for the jury to not believe child abuse or anything. They must have believed the accident story. IDK, maybe that's what happened. Like I said, I haven't followed it. But I do find this part interesting. Now on to other things! LOL

I disagree that the justice system failed. The prosecution failed to prove "Beyond any reasonable doubt' that she did it. No one even knows how the poor baby died. I don't know who to credit but there's a quote that says "it's better that many guilty men go free than one innocent person be found guilty". I'm paraphrasing.

I agree with you, Mare. Even if Casey Anthony was guilty, the justice system prevailed because her guilt couldn't be proven. The court requires more from a jury than intuiting guilt or innocence.

Joanne stated it well in her post above.

Mare - the quote you mentioned is a well know law principal, although it's much older than Blackstone (even the Bible has a similar reference) his is the one that's often quoted.

William Blackstone was a English jurist in the late 1700's.. He wrote Commentaries on the Laws of England. His quote is called Blackstone's forumulation or ration ... "better that ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer".

I agree. So many people are appalled and saying that the justice system failed but it didn't. It did exactly what it was supposed to do and that is maintain innocence until proven guilty. As others have said, there wasn't enough evidence to prove she is guilty. Whether it's because of her good luck or because she didn't do it, we'll never know. But the facts are the facts.

All these accusations of guilt are based on speculation. Partying while her child is missing, while in poor taste, doesn't make her a murderer.

I personally think she did it but it's not up to me. It's much easier for people to demand justice based on circumstantial evidence when it's far from home, but I'm certain if one of the members here had a child at risk of being executed for assumptions and allegations, those opinions on "beyond reasonable doubt" would change.

I would take releasing a guilty person any day over destroying an innocent one. I'm also thankful our country has a fair court system. Many countries in the world don't have such a luxury.

I'm sorry if this offends some, but IMO, our legal system is only as good as the amount of money one has to pay a high price lawyer. A good, I mean a Real GOOD lawyer can get the most guilty person acquitted. OJ is just one example. There are more, celebs, or so-called celebs like Lindsey Lohan, Paris Hilton, numerous athletes, can get off from charges time and time again, with high price mouth pieces.

Sadly money does buy justice. And people tout the better guilty go free than but then again I've had tickets I couldn't afford to lose time from work to fight when hotdog cops were looking for a quota. Other examples that I won't go into.

What really troubles me about our system of justice is prosecuting cases they don't think they can win. In this case the state AG even hinted that he didn't feel they had enough to win it from what I read. Same goes for the lawsuits that they know they can't win but for the "day in court" they file them hoping for nuisance settlements and maybe get a "McDonalds" verdict, (appeal losses notwithstanding). Coffee in the lap and other stupid cases tie up the court system and bog down people getting a fair trial all too often. I say there should be a 3 strikes you're out for attorneys. You get 3 chances to file iffy cases and if it's ruled facetious one time a good sized fine, second time 6 months and suspended from practice for a year and the third time 10 years in jail and burn the barcard. That would help clean things up a bit methinks.

Cynic, can you imagine the outrage there would have been if the prosecutor had NOT brought Casey to trial? I think there are cases just like this one, where their hands are forced, despite lacking hard evidence. I am not saying it's right, just that sometimes it seems there is little choice in the matter. The outrage over the her acquittal bears that up, imo. Casey had been tried & found guilty in the court of public opinion & by the media long, long before the trial.... even before the body was found, in fact.

I didn't follow the trial at all, but I still saw/read enough to know a lot about the case. My opinion as to the OP question: I think a lot of people look at bad behaviors & think: I glad that's not me/mine, -or- "at least I'm not THAT bad".

Alisande,

Good question. I was one of those riveted to the trial. Or, should I say compelled.

It became a high-profile case through the actions of the family and the media, and very quickly most people thought Casey had murdered her child.

However, an element of mystery surrounds it, which so far, nobody has unveiled. That is, how did the little girl die? Couple that with the fact they are a white, middle class family, in the happiest place on earth "Orlando/Disney" and the case becomes becomes surreal.

Just like the prosecutor said - we enter into the rabbit hole.

And finally, I believe Casey is a sociopath. (Sociopathy is on the rise BTW). She has what psychologists call the 'halo' effect. That is, she looks and sounds like a 'good' person. But, she isn't. This goes against our basic scheme that there is some kind of order to events and people in the world - but there is not.