Casey Anthony trial verdict has made a majority of those who have been following the trial gasp in shock. Casey Anthony, mother of the dead two-year-old Caylee Anthony, has been found not guilty of murder, aggravated child abuse, and aggravated manslaughter, but guilty of four misdemeanor counts of providing false information to a law enforcement officer.
Dramatic turn of events during the trial included shocking revelations and allegations of incest and child abuse. The long list of lies fabricated by Casey Anthony and evidence collected by forensics had initially made all fingers point at her accusing her of murdering her child in the pursuit of a reckless social life.
While millions are stunned at the verdict and allege that the verdict wasn't fair, the fundamentals of the American judicial system centered on the concept of innocent until proven guilty, required more evidence than what was obtained against Casey.
In Casey Anthony's case the verdict has created more questions than answers as the judiciary failed miserably in solving the murder mystery, leaving it to the imagination of numerous whodunit stories. There have been similar cases in US history, where the judicial system had failed to provide proper answers to the public.
Have a closer look at America's top 8 most controversial trials which followed cold-blooded murders, where the public thought judiciary failed to provide justice to the dead victims: O.J Simpson Murder Trial, Lizzie Borden Murder Trial, Sam Sheppard Murder Trial, The Lindbergh Baby Kidnapping and murder, Leo Frank Trial, JFK Assassination, Sickles' Temporary Insanity Plea, and Casey Anthony Murder Trial.
The murder case of O J Simpson, former Heisman Trophy winner and star NFL fullback began with the televised police chase of Simpson in a white Ford Bronco through Los Angeles roads on June 17, 1994.Simpson was charged with murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman on the night of June 11, 1994.Simpson married Nicole Brown in 1985, but the couple split in 1992. On the day of murder, Simpson and Brown attended their daughter's play in Los Angeles and then parted ways. Brown went to dinner with friends, and Simpson left to pack for a flight to Chicago scheduled later that night. The next morning, neighbors found Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman murdered outside of Brown's Los Angeles condo.Initial evidence pointed in Simpson's direction. The limo driver who picked Simpson up to take him to the airport on the night of the murder testified that no one answered the doorbell when he arrived at Simpson’s house. While waiting, the driver then saw a large black person in dark clothes enter Simpson's house. Moments later, Simpson answered the door. According to the driver’s testimony, blood was found in some of Simpson's belongings, including his white Ford Bronco and a pair of socks.The trial began on January 24, 1995, after Simpson pled not guilty to the two murders. His defense team, led by Johnnie Cochran, turned the focus of the trial proceedings to alleged racism of the lead police detective in the case. Some felt that Cochran manipulated the race issue as a ploy to gain the sympathy of the jury which was majority-black. After more than four months of court proceedings, the jury acquitted Simpson of both counts of murder.Public questioned the jury's decision, as circumstantial evidence suggested the other way. To add to the bewilderment, Simpson was found liable in the wrongful death civil suit brought by the Brown and Goldman families soon after. WikipediaLizzie Borden, a 33 years old spinster at the time, was arrested in 1893, for the murder of her father and stepmother, Andrew and Abby Borden. The murder of Andrew and Abby Borden happened on August 4, 1892, in Fall River, Massachusetts. Lizzie’s arrest was prompted by the fact that she was home alone at the time of the murders and there were no signs of a struggle.The prosecution presented the infamous head of an axe that was thought to be the murder weapon. A friend of Borden's testified to seeing her burn a dress after the crime. But Borden claimed she burned the dress because it was covered in paint.Despite rumors circulating that Borden had a bad relationship with her stepmother, witnesses in the trial testified otherwise, and the prosecution failed to prove that Lizzie killed her parents, though no other suspect was found.The Lizzie Borden case continued to remain public's memory through the popular rhyme:Lizzie Borden took an axe,
Gave her mother 40 whacks,
When she saw what she had done,
She gave her father 41.WikipediaDr. Sam Sheppard was an American osteopathic physician and neurosurgeon, who was charged with the murder of his pregnant wife, Marilyn Reese Sheppard, in their home in the early morning hours of July 4, 1954. Sheppard claimed his wife was killed by a bushy-haired man who also attacked him and twice knocked him unconscious. The Sheppards' lakefront home was in Bay Village, Ohio, a suburb just west of Cleveland.
The jury found Sheppard guilty of second-degree murder with life imprisonment as the evidence suggested no forced entry. Opened drawers and his overturned medical bag seemed too tidy for a random break-in, said the prosecution. Also, Sheppard's testimony was given rather stiffly and formally. Evidence of extramarital affairs capped off the prosecution's case.But the sentence was overturned in 1966, where he was acquitted. A civil suit for wrongful imprisonment filed by Sheppard's son and tried in 2000 found Sheppard liable. WikipediaCharles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr., 18 months old toddler, at the time and the son of aviator Charles Lindbergh and Anne Morrow Lindbergh was abducted from his family home in East Amwell, New Jersey, near the town of Hopewell, New Jersey, on the evening of March 1, 1932. Over two months later, on May 12, 1932, his body was discovered a short distance from the Lindberghs' home. A medical examination determined that the cause of death was a massive skull fracture.Bruno Richard Hauptmann, a German ex-convict, was arrested and charged with the crime. In a trial Hauptmann was found guilty of murder in the first degree and sentenced to death. He was executed by electric chair at the New Jersey State Prison on April 3, 1936. Hauptmann proclaimed his innocence to the end.Hauptmann's guilt was questioned by the public as he never confessed, in spite of offers to commute his sentence and monetary help for his wife and son. Circumstantial evidence which proved him guilty was believed to have loopholes.WikipediaLeo Max Frank, a Jewish-American businessman, was convicted on August 26, 1913 of the murder of one of his factory workers, 13-year-old Mary Phagan. She had been strangled on April 26, and was found dead in the factory cellar the next day. Frank was the last person known to have seen her alive, and there were allegations that he had flirted with her in the past.The prosecution's arguments hinged on the testimony of a black janitor at the factory named James Conley. Conley said that Frank had killed Phagan and told Conley to dispose of the body. He also said that Frank had planted notes by the body blaming a black person for the crime.The trial turned controversial shifting the focus to Jew-hatred that resonated during the era. Crowds inside of the courtrooms continually hurled Jewish insults during the proceedings and the white supremacist group the Klu Klux Klan even formed the Knights of Mary Phagan in response.Frank was convicted to death by hanging, despite forensic evidence pointing to Frank's innocence. As a result of the shaky evidence, the governor of Georgia commuted the sentence to life imprisonment. Subsequently, an angry mob kidnapped Frank from jail with little resistance and killed him by lynching. In 1986, the Georgia State Board of Paroles pardoned Frank. WikipediaJohn F Kennedy, the 35th President of the United States, was assassinated at 12:30 p.m. Central Standard Time (18:30 UTC) on Friday, November 22, 1963, in Dealey Plaza, Dallas, Texas. Kennedy was fatally shot while traveling with his wife Jacqueline, Texas governor John Connally, and the latter's wife, Nellie, in a Presidential motorcade.Lee Harvey Oswald, the sniper, was arrested for the assassination after investigators discovered a rifle hidden between two boxes with Oswald's fingerprints on them, along with empty cartridges in the Texas Book Depository. Two days later, Jack Ruby shot and killed Oswald.On March 14, 1964, Ruby was sentenced to death by electric chair for Oswald's murder. But the Texas Supreme Court overturned the ruling saying that the case's publicity obstructed Ruby's right to a fair hearing. Ruby died from cancer in 1967, before he could be tried a second time.Despite the work of the Warren Commission and the House Select Committee on Assassinations tasked with investigating the assassination, no conclusions to the reasons and people behind it have ever been found. Many believe that Oswald acted as part of a conspiracy, and his relationship with Ruby also remains suspicious. WikipediaDaniel Edgar Sickles, a colorful and controversial American politician, Union general in the American Civil War, and diplomat, was charged with the killing of his young wife Teresa's lover, Philip Barton Key II, son of Francis Scott Key in 1859. He was acquitted with the first use of temporary insanity as a legal defense in U.S. history.He became one of the most prominent political generals of the Civil War. At the Battle of Gettysburg, he insubordinately moved his III Corps to a position in which it was virtually destroyed, an action that continues to generate controversy. His combat career ended at Gettysburg when his leg was struck by cannon fire.Before the jury, Stanton argued that Sickles had been driven insane by his wife's infidelity, and thus was out of his mind when he shot Key. The papers soon trumpeted that Sickles was a hero for saving all the ladies of Washington from this rogue named Key. The graphic confession that Sickles had obtained from Teresa on Saturday proved pivotal. It was ruled inadmissible in court but, leaked by Sickles to the press, was printed in the newspapers in full. Sickles’ strategy ensured drama, controversy, and, ultimately, victory for the defense. Sickles was acquitted.WikipediaA two-year old child from Orlando, Florida, Caylee Anthony’s disappearance in June 2008 attracted national media attention. Caylee's skeletal remains were discovered December 11, 2008, six months after she was reported missing by her grandmother, Cindy Anthony. Her mother, Casey Anthony, decided not to report her daughter missing, and was indicted on charges of felony murder, though she continued to maintain her innocence throughout her trial.Casey Anthony was found not guilty of murder, aggravated child abuse, and aggravated manslaughter, though majority of the pubic believed Casey was guilty, based on the circumstantial evidence obtained by forensics.“I have no regrets, just a bit worried. I just want for everything to work out OK. I completely trust my own judgment and know that I made the right decision. I just hope that the end justifies the means. I just want to know what the future will hold for me. I guess I will soon see – This is the happiest that I have been in a very long time. I hope that my happiness will continue to grow– I've made new friends that I really like. I've surrounded myself with good people – I am finally happy. Let's just hope that it doesn't change,” Casey Anthony’s diary entry on June 21 read, immediately after Caylee went missing.Forensics found that the keywords “neck breaking", "how to make chloroform", and "death" were searched from Anthonys’ home computer prior to Caylee’s disappearance. Though the prosecution claimed to have got ground-breaking evidence against Casey throughout the case, the jury acquitted Casey. Wikipedia
