On Monday we celebrated the 235th birthday of the United States. The celebration took the form of parades, barbecues, and fireworks. That’s the way we roll.
On Tuesday, a jury in Florida found a young woman in Florida not guilty in the murder of her daughter. The outcry against the verdict was immediate and vociferous. It’s not as if people had some insight that the 12 jurors good and true did not. No, the outcry was largely due to the fact that Casey Anthony had already been tried and convicted in the only court that matters to most people these days, the media. People like the despicable Nancy Grace had been holding court on this issue for many months, and their verdict had long since been established.
In one day we went from celebrating the greatness of this country to betraying the one of the very pillars that this country was founded on, i.e. a fair trial by a jury of our peers. Key phrases like, “beyond a reasonable doubt,” and “the presumption of innocence,” were simply cast aside because someone on television said so.
I don’t know much about Casey Anthony. From what I do know, she doesn’t seem like a very nice person. That however still doesn’t make someone liable for execution by lethal injection in this country, no matter what Nancy Grace says. From the little I’ve heard and read about the trial, it would appear that the prosecution failed to make their case against Ms. Anthony.
The jury was charged with making a decision based on the that case, not on whether they thought that Casey Anthony murdered her daughter. All I can say is thank goodness that they were sequestered. If the jurors had had access to the media during the trial, the powers that be would be filling that lethal syringe right now.
Justice was done yesterday. Casey Anthony received a fair trial by a jury of her peers. The Constitution and the Bill of Rights have prevailed. Now that is something to celebrate. Happy Birthday America.
Ray Charles – “America the Beautiful”
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