1107 Anthony Versus the Public
It is not unusual for the media to be enthralled by high profile murder trials. Most of the time a particular case is elevated to special attention because of the social status of the accused, think O.J. Simpson, or because of the nature of the crime, think Ted Bundy.
The latest capital case to earn special media attention is the trial of Casey Anthony for the murder of her toddler daughter, Caylee. Caylee disappeared on June 16th of 2008. Six months later her remains were found in a wooded area not far from the Anthony home. Since then, the mystery and drama have hardly abated.
Sadly, to the discredit of not only the media, but also investigators, prosecutors and Casey’s defense team, Casey has already been tried and judged. One article recently called her the most hated woman inAmerica.
Anthony’s public conviction should be a wonder to behold, given the fact that in the last two and a half years the best the prosecution can come up with is purely circumstantial evidence. There is a lot of it but it is all still circumstantial. There is no confession or irrefutable link between Caylee’s murder and her mother. After examining duct tape, Caylee’s backpack, a laundry bag, a garbage bag, a heart-shaped sticker, air samples, hair samples, and stains from Casey’s car, the prosecution has no DNA link to Miss Anthony. They also have no provable timeline for the crime and only a theoretical motive.
As all ofAmericanow knows,Floridais a capital punishment state. Floridais also one of only two states,Alabamabeing the other one, that does not require the jurors to agree unanimously on which factors motivate them to recommend the death penalty. In addition, only half of the jurors are needed to make a death recommendation. The final decision is rendered by the judge.
The Anthony case is a good example of why a federal judge inMiamistruck downFlorida’s capital punishment provisions in June and rightfully so. Half a jury in partial agreement plus one judge sending someone to death row based on circumstantial evidence is not justice. The U.S. Supreme Court made that clear in its landmark 2002 Ring v.Arizonadecision which guttedArizona’s capital punishment statute.
This does not mean that capital punishment must be abandoned or that Casey Anthony is not guilty. What it does mean is that the need for the ultimate punishment has to be reserved for only iron-clad indisputably proven cases. Even in the Old Testament, only two crimes called for the death penalty with no other options, a violation of God’s holiness and pre-meditated solidly proven murder. For all other crimes, even the ones which are so often cited to the contrary, other options existed at the behest of those sitting in judgment.
In a society which increasingly likes to view itself as sensitive to human, civil and personal rights, it is interesting to watch what happens when we lose our Judeo-Christian moorings. We are somehow able to rightfully rage against the abuse and murder of a two year old toddler based on those moorings but at the same time just as vehemently rage against allowing the God who created human, civil and personal rights into the public square.
It will always remain true that before human government, written law or supernaturally revealed Scripture, the principle of Life for life (Gen 9:5-7) was established for all generations. Given man’s propensity to get things wrong, God allows man to err on the side of caution as opposed to severity.