Media Scrutiny Makes Casey Anthony Case a Difficult One to Try

COMMENTARY | The headlines are full of Casey Anthony. The trial has started for the alleged killing of her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee. Casey faces a myriad of charges, including first-degree murder.

Can Casey Anthony get a fair trial?

Jessica Hopper and Ashleigh Banfield have posted an article at the ABC News website titled "Casey Anthony Trial: Sullen Casey Anthony Cries During Opening Statements."

Anyone who knows me personally or reads my writing knows I am not inclined to give people breaks when it comes to something like potential murder. Still, this case has me bothered.

To begin with, according to ABC News, there has been a problem putting a jury together. While over the years notoriety has always been an issue at times forcing trials to have their venue changed, is there anyway to deal with Facebook? Is there anyway to deal with Twitter? How many people have not heard of this case and, perhaps more importantly, how many have not formed some opinion?

The judge in the case suggests that this trial may exceed the size and notoriety of O.J. Simpson's. The original defense lawyer is being sued for not keeping private information out of the press. Would these comments be made (both superfluous) if there was not a national audience?

Then there is the opening statement by the prosecutor. Listen to this person and you will hear a lot of drama. It makes sense; after all, there is an entire nation watching. However, if a person read 31 days of my history I would cry too, especially if it was being read outside of the courtroom walls.

This would be well and good if the trial was designed to turn public opinion against an alleged criminal. However, I thought that a trial was designed to find the truth. Is that best served by bringing a trial into the public eye?

There are a lot of unanswered questions. A lot of fingers point to Casey Anthony being a murderer. However, that doesn't mean she is. In this country, we are supposed to believe in a person's innocence prior to a trial.

Isn't it rue that we have gone out of our way as a country to give terrorists fair trials?

I am not smart enough or enough of a futurist to know whether or not Casey will get a fair trial. However, there are a couple of things that should be considered:

Casey Anthony may have a mental problem and, further, she may have made some bad decisions that have her "looking guilty."

I don't know whether she is guilty of killing her daughter or not. I do know that a circus is no way to conduct legal matters, especially when a life is at stake.

References:

ABC Website, Jessica Hopper and Ashleigh Banfield, "Casey Anthony Trial: Sullen Casey Anthony Cries During Opening Statements"

ABC News Website, "Casey Anthoney Trial: Finding Jurors a Problem"