THE LEGAL SYSTEM ON DISPLAY...
...the Casey Anthony Trial is now 40 days old...and counting...
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The defense is now making its case in the Casey Anthony Trial (I probably don't have to tell ya, but she stands accused of killing her little daughter, Caylee.) Up front, I'll admit I'm not watching this phase as closely as I watched the Prosecution's. But it's easy to see what the tactics of the Defense Team are: Throw anything at the wall and see what sticks. Defense attorney Jose Baez has been threatened with Contempt of Court for not having had his witnesses deposed according to the Deadline established by the Judge. Mr. Baez will most likely be subjected to the will of the court after the trial's over. He might even find himself disbarred. But that's off in the future, not now.

Meantime, Casey Anthony informed the court that she wanted to have the trial halted because she said she was "incompetent to stand trial". Oh yeah? She's in constant communication with her lawyers, "assisting in her own defense". So the judge had three mental-health professionals analyze her behavior, and the end result is, she is able to continue to stand trial. Meantime, various Expert witnesses from various forensic fields have been paraded to court for the Defense, all trying to negate the forays into the case which the Prosecution's witnesses tried to establish a week and a half ago, if not two weeks ago.

Not Exactly Mother
Of The Year

I've been reading all the reports and watching all the shows concerning this trial, but one thing that hasn't been brought up, is that the last time anything negative was heard in court regarding the Defendant happened a long ago. The Defense is managing to put a whole lot of time in-between the Prosecution's case and the eventual end of the trial. I heard a lot of shocking things from the Prosecution, but it's all rather numbed-down at this point in time. The fur is really gonna fly come the Final Arguments. Like a train wreck, this whole thing is hard to look away from.

Not Exactly Broadcaster
Of The Year

Nancy Grace (pictured at left) has built a TV Career by riding this case like a deranged cowgirl since Casey Anthony was first tossed in jail three years ago. I am all for reporting the facts and sharing opinions, but Nancy really takes the cake. She brings on a guest, spends ages asking a long, drawn-out question to the guest being interviewed, tailoring the question's answer to conform her own viewpoints. When Nancy asks for more information from her own correspondents, she runs them down on the air (The Zenith of Unprofessionalism); if the report doesn't totally satisfy her, she harangues them some more until she gets what she wants. Tonight, she went from accusatory (she's especially good at that) to almost crying, "why is no one thinking of this little girl?" Nancy, you're a Mom; I get that. Casey Anthony is in a whole lot of trouble; I get that too. But what you do is harsh, amateurish, and shouldn't hide behind the guise of being a news program.

I don't like the way Nancy presents her subjects. She operates from a bully pulpit. She harangues and belittles many of her guests, shouting, shouting, shouting, talking over her guests' answers, framing her questions to fit her opinions, after which she brings on some more staffers, all the while yelling, gesticulating and virtually screaming at them, too. Nancy Grace is Harsh. She used to be a prosecutor. That by itself is okay. But she's a Pit Bull in a Skirt. Unprofessional in almost every way by broadcast standards.

My take on all of this is that Casey Anthony is Guilty of Something. Will she get the Death Penalty? She might. I'd say she has a 40-60 chance. An exact cause of death hasn't been established, so the Prosecution has had to assemble countless exhibit items in a rather delicate framework, hoping that the Defense won't wreck the structure with all kinds of desperate stuff. In my last post regarding this trial, I said "things are gonna get nasty"...and I'll change that now, to "nastiER". The whole thing is quite a spectacle. The legal system on display. Finally, if you think you've had a bad day, you could always be Casey Anthony. She's not exactly having a lot of fun these days.

At the end of every show, Nancy Grace alters her tone drastically, assuming a low, hushed, whispery tone of voice and thanks her audience for watching, bidding adieu with "good-bye, friend". I don't trust people who can change on a dime like that. It's been accepted that Casey Anthony's family is dysfunctional; I'll bet Nancy Grace is a bit dysfunctional, too.