Analysis of Criminal Case

This document provides an analysis of the Casey Anthony criminal case, including a summary of the case, details of the trial, the sentence, and arguments for and against her guilt. The document discusses the lack of direct evidence, the use of circumstantial evidence, and the elements required to prove murder. References to relevant legal cases are also provided.

Running head: ANALYSIS OF CRIMINAL CASE
ANANLYSIS OF CRIMINAL CASE
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1ANALYSIS OF CRIMINAL CASE
ANSWER 1:
SUMMARY OF THE CASE:
The case:
Casey Lee Anthony, the Florida mother who was criticized by the entire nation after
being accused of murdering her 2 year old daughter, was however acquitted by the court due to
lack of evidence. The little girl went missing in July 2008. After a thorough search for six
months, the decomposed, partially rotten dead body of the toddler was found with a duct tape on
her skull, wrapped in a blanket inside a trash bag, in the woods near the Anthony house. The
prosecution alleged Anthony on several grounds including first- degree murder (Ensiminger,
Ferguson and Papet 2016).
The trial:
The trial lasted for six weeks where the prosecution sought death penalty as a punishment
to her and alleged that the mother wanted to free herself from the parental duties and so
murdered her daughter to free herself from responsibilities. The prosecution contested that Casey
first made her daughter unconscious by using chloroform on him, then used duct tape to make
her shut mouth and finally tossed her breathless body in the woods. The defense counsel argued
that Caylee accidentally got drowned in the backyard pool of the family George, Casey’s father
disposed of the body. Casey did not disclose the truth as she was scared of her father George.
The defense did not produce any evidence to show how Caylee died. However, it challenged
every evidence produced by the prosecution, stating it to be ‘fantasy forensics’. Casey did not

2ANALYSIS OF CRIMINAL CASE
testify. The medical examiner mentioned that the duct tape as a reason to term the death as
homicide. However, she listed it as ‘death by undetermined means’.
The sentence:
The jury found Casey Anthony not guilty of first degree murder, aggravated
manslaughter of a child or aggravated child abuse. She was held guilty of four counts for giving
false information to the law enforcement as she had falsely told the investigators that she was
working at Universal Studios and that she was leaving Caley in the care of a nanny. Though she
was sentenced to one year imprisonment along with a fine of 1000$ for each count, but she was
released by the judge after calculating her credit for the time already served and good behavior.
Answer 2:
In the present case, Casey Anthony was released as the prosecutors could not show direct
and physical evidence to prove Casey as a murderer in spite of massive investigation and
impressive forensics. If all the evidences could be arranged and linked properly, Casey could be
held for murder and not with manslaughter as the intention of killing of Calley was very clear to
Casey. There was no question of manslaughter at all. The prosecution tried to make up for their
lack of direct evidence by presenting bulk of tangential forensic evidence. In this trial, Casey can
be convicted for committing the offence of murder if the prosecution emphasized on the
following points (Socia and Brown 2016).
To convict Casey on the charge of murder, prosecutors must prove the following:
 Actus Reus: the prosecutor has to show the presence of actus reus by showing that Casey
did an act which was prohibited by law (Robinson 2017). The prosecution argued that

3ANALYSIS OF CRIMINAL CASE
Casey suffocated Caylee to death by using duct tape. Prosecutors held that there can be
no other reason for tying a duct tape on Calley’s face other than killing her. It was a
logical conclusion but the prosecutors and the Medical examiner failed to prove it. She
was accused of hiding the dead body in the car, allowed it to decompose for several
months and finally disposing of it. But they failed to prove so as there was no murder
weapon recovered, even though the tape can be the murder weapon, it had no DNA of
Casey or Caley, no fingerprints were found, post mortem cannot show real cause of death
as the body had decomposed, there was no confession by Casey and there was no eye
witnesses to the whole case. The prosecution could not prove the actus reus (Seal 2017).
 Mens Rea: the prosecution instead of relying on the actual mens rea, focuses on
secondary issues like Casey was partying out, getting tattoo, enjoying life even after her
child went missing (Beecher-Monas and Garcia-Rill2017). All these facts did not point
out towards the guilty mind of Casey of murdering her child.
 Concurrence of actus rea and mens rea: the concurrence of these two within reasonable
time frame must be present to constitute the murder offence. In this regard, the
prosecutors must show that Casey caused aggravated child battery causing serious
murder and that Casey had the criminal intent at the time of murder. As discussed, the
reason and death time cannot be proved.
 Causation and actual harm: the prosecutor must show that the wrongful ct is the result of
the harm. In this case, it must be shown that Casey’s behavior was the probable result of
the harm.
The prosecution desperately tried to relate suffocation with Casey. However they
could not show any circumstantial physical evidence to relate them. The prosecution tried to

4ANALYSIS OF CRIMINAL CASE
‘connect the dots’ by putting together all random, arbitrary facts in order to prove the murder by
the accused. In the similar case of LEWIS v. STATE.53 So. 2d 707 (1951), the prosecutors
constructed the issues of the case properly which helped to convict the accused mother.
Answer 3:
There are mainly two types of evidence, direct and circumstantial evidence. Direct
evidences are those that can be proved by personal knowledge of the witness or observation of
the fact. Again, circumstantial evidence is the direct evidence of the fact from which one can
generally infer the presence or absence of another fact. Substantial evidence on the other hand
means such evidence as people with reasonable mind may accept as sufficient to support a
conclusion which was observed in the case of Richardson v. Perales, 402 U.S. 389, 401 (1971).
In this case, the prosecution could not show any direct evidence to prove Casey guilty,
they mainly emphasizes on substantial and circumstantial evidences to support the case. Thus
they failed to contend that the circumstantial evidence brought at the trial was not strong enough
to prove the offence.

5ANALYSIS OF CRIMINAL CASE
References:
Beecher-Monas, E. and Garcia-Rill, E., 2017. Actus Reus, Mens Rea, and Brain Science: What
Do Volition and Intent Really Mean. Ky. LJ, 106, p.265
Casey Marie ANTHONY, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. No. 5D11–2357
Ensiminger, J., Ferguson, M.A. and Papet, L.E., 2016. Was There a Body in the Trunk: Volatile
Organic Compounds in the Trial of Casey Anthony and the Evolving Search for a Chemical
Profile for Human Decomposition. SMU Sci. & Tech. L. Rev., 19, p.275
Richardson v. Perales, 402 U.S. 389, 401 (1971)
Robinson, P.H., 2017. Should the Criminal Law Abandon the Actus Reus-Mens Rea
Distinction?. In The Structure and Limits of Criminal Law (pp. 3-28). Routledge
Seal, L., 2017. Letters to Casey Anthony, a woman accused of murder. In Law in popular belief.
Manchester University Press.
Socia, K.M. and Brown, E.K., 2016. “This Isn’t About Casey Anthony Anymore” Political
Rhetoric and Caylee’s Law. Criminal Justice Policy Review, 27(4), pp.348-377
Socia, K.M. and Brown, E.K., 2016. “This Isn’t About Casey Anthony Anymore” Political
Rhetoric and Caylee’s Law. Criminal Justice Policy Review, 27(4), pp.348-377