While many were surprised by the verdict in the Casey Anthony case yesterday, some things remained both predictable and consistent like Nancy Grace’s reaction to any defendant prevailing in a criminal case. Grace’s choleric persona was in full rage that the jury would deign to find the evidence insufficient to convict the woman who Grace had already convicted many times on her show. “Now, I know it is our duty as American citizens to respect the jury system and I do, believe me I do. I’ve struck over one-hundred juries. But I know one thing: As the defense sits by and has their champagne toast after that not guilty verdict. Somewhere out there, the devil is dancing tonight.”
I have been a long critic (here and here) of Grace’s snarling, sensational approach to law and journalism — an embarrassment to both professions. Whether it is attacking the weather or pushing grieving mothers to suicide, Grace has been denounced as an unhinged bully who brought the same abusive tendencies from court to the camera. She is CNN’s Glenn Beck.
It was particularly interesting to hear her again cite her career as a prosecutor because she left that occupation while facing serious ethical charges for prosecutorial misconduct.
Grace last night however was almost speechless. Unfortunately, it did not last:
“The defense team is inside a bar having a champagne toast, right now. . . Now, you know what? I’m not a preacher and I’m not a rabbi, but there is something wrong with that ’cause Caylee is dead. And her body decomposed just fifteen houses away from where the Anthonys put their head on the pillow overnight. Everyday searching, searching for this little girl . . . “Now, I know it is our duty as American citizens to respect the jury system and I do, believe me I do. I’ve struck over one-hundred juries. But I know one thing: As the defense sits by and has their champagne toast after that not guilty verdict. Somewhere out there, the devil is dancing tonight.”
She insists that “Tot mom’s lies seems to have worked.” That is what CNN now offers for legal analysis.
What is strange is the reaction of the media. Over at CBS, Jodie Chen actually broke down in reading the verdict. The fact is that many of us said that the evidence was pretty weak and circumstantial in the case, though most expected a conviction. That a jury was able to overcome the high emotive aspects of the case (fanned by the prosecution and people like Grace) is a testament to their independence.
Jonathan Turley
“actually goes a long way to prove (yes, I said PROVE) reasonable doubt in and of itself… think about that world!!”
Mike from CT,
I like your reasoning.
the fact that there is so much division about the outcome of this case – and believe me there truly is; the problem is we only tend to hear the voices of the “poor sports” (Nancy Grace, JMV, etc.etc…. are you listening!!) who are outraged by the verdict – actually goes a long way to prove (yes, I said PROVE) reasonable doubt in and of itself… think about that world!!
in this country, a crime suspect is presumed innocent and it is up to the state prosecutors or plaintiffs to PROVE beyond a reasonable doubt and within a moral certainty of guilt…. not the other way around… in other words, the defense does not have to PROVE their client INNOCENT…. this is a tremedously big difference…. any good justice system is really not about justice or finding the truth, ultimately or otherwise… it should only be about one thing: achieving the neccessary degree of PROOF to support a contention or hypothesis… and in this country, we assign this task exclusively to somebody who accuses another person of a crime… you must PROVE they are guilty not that they must PROVE themselves INNOCENT… very, very,. very, big difference… by rendering a verdict of not guilty the jury is not implying, suggesting, or claiming Casey Anthony is INNOCENT…. does everybody see the distinction….
we are all saddened by what happened to this little girl, Caylee Anthony, with her beautiful angelic smile and because of this we want to see justice done here, especially if there was fould play involved…. but the state failed to prove there was even a homicide here… indeed, the medical examiner couldn’t even definatively state a cause of death… making her assertion that this case was a homicide just absolutely absurd… now, it could be the case that Caylee Anthony had an otherwise pre-mortum undetectable congential heart defect (just hypothesizing here) and she died suddenly, completely unexpectedly and here mom in a panic, completely shocked, tried to take some action, maybe to cover it up… maybe to place blame on another person… because she was fearful that she would be blamed for it… to do this, she had to lie, maybe even stage a murder…who knows…. anything like that is certainly plausible… or maybe she really did do this in a premeditated fashion and as luck would have it there is no actually physical evidence to support this contention…. but let us not confuse, if the latter was the case, the increidbly good luck Casey had in not having the sufficient amount of evidence against her to warrant a conviction as having anything to do with the incredibly bad luck little Caylee had in being born into such a dysfunctional, lying, sociopathic family that ultimately would play a big role in obscuring what exactly happened to her… certainly do not try to undermine the legal justice system by villifying the outcome in this case…we all know that life is unfair… the legal system tries to balance the scales… but sometimes this is not possible… deal with it world…. nothing is perfect!
My apologies. The photo has been taken down from the photobucket link. The photo is of Cheney Mason exercising his free speech rights to members of the public standing outside the large front glass windows of the restaurant during his champagne celebration:
http://amerpundit.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/cheneymason.jpg
This is the someone who quoted Atticus Finch:
http://i863.photobucket.com/albums/ab19 … arhead.jpg
This is a photo of Cheney Mason “Dancing”. I can’t figure out how to copy a photo to this JTBlawg.
Mike A-
With Nancy Grace there’s no such thing as “unused rope”. The kangaroo court is always in session.
There’s that damned “beyond a reasonable doubt” thing screwing up our necktie party again. Nancy Grace comes from a long line of American amateur hangmen whose only gift is a loud voice and a burning desire to kill. These psychopaths have been leading lynch mobs since the beginning of our country. For them the execution can never be fast enough or harsh enough. Nancy Grace has a long record of trying, convicting, and demanding the execution of the wrong person in her own personal kangaroo court. John and Patsy Ramsey, the Duke lacrosse team, etc., etc.,etc. Someone else will have to complete the list- I stopped watching her video lynchings long ago. There will always be a place for Nancy Grace in American television. If CNN ever decides to lift itself out of the mud and dump her, there’s always FOX.
FFLEO,
An excellent point. The very same freedom of speech that allows people to make fun of Nancy Grace also allows her to say whatever ridiculous thing she wants. That is quite fair.
@Formal Federal LEO – What a fine moniker, Nancy “Disgrace”!
However, in our allowed criticisms of her, we must unanimously concede that we cannot disallow Nancy Grace’s free speech rights regardless of how bloated, bombastic, and disdainful are her comments. Ultimately, the N. Grace’s and Westboro Baptist’s of the world will never effectively triumph because free speech rights engender both positive and negative outcomes—dependent entirely upon the ‘grace’ or disgrace of the messenger.
If you think Nancy Grace is angry now, wait until she finds out her hardware store will not give her a refund on the unused rope.
The beauty of consensus, Rich.
I guess there’s been an outcome that everyone can agree is positive–Nancy Grace looking the fool.
I think its sad that no one will probably e
ver know what happened to this child and what she really had to go through, and the main concern out of all of it being discussed here is Nancy Grace’s behavior. Shame on us and shame on the media…
“Both my daughter and son-in-law are licensed social workers who work for the Department of Children and Families. They deal with lots of tragic family situations. I don’t know how they face going to work every day.”
Elaine,
I feel for them knowing exactly what they are experiencing. While from a sense of satisfaction that work was the most inspiring of my career, I finally had to move on because it was affecting me too much. I once broke down sobbing at my desk after reading an account of a 3 year old’s death at the hands of his father. People rushed in to help me because I was so uncontrollably sad. They are both fighting the good fight and I wish them well.
Mike S.,
“Every year there are hundreds, if not thousands, children’s death cases in the US. Where is the media’s advocacy for all of those children? Where is
the outrage?”
Both my daughter and son-in-law are licensed social workers who work for the Department of Children and Families. They deal with lots of tragic family situations. I don’t know how they face going to work every day.
I’ll add something else to what you wrote in your comment. While we have politicians quibbling about how they’re going to address the problems of the deficit and the national debt while not raising taxes on the ultra wealthy or corporations, social services and education are taking big cuts. Many of the people who work closely with children are losing their jobs. Social workers get overloaded with cases. As you said, there are lots of children out there in the world that too few people give a damn about.
I posted the following video on the other Casey Anthony thread. This song by Martina McBride tells the sad story of way too many children in this country:
There is much in the trial coverage by Grace and others that has angered me to the point of rage. In particular it is their pious inanities that their motivations are to find justice for Caylee, that we should think of poor Caylee and the cruelty of allowing her remains to rot in a garbage dump. If I believed their true feeling were for this child and not for the ratings and fame they garnered from sensationalizing this case, I might cut them some slack. It is obvious. however, that their care for the child was merely their public posing in pursuit of their careers.
In NYC I worked 8 years for their Child Welfare Agency, then called Special Services for Children. I was the first Supervisor of the High Risk Unit Pilot
Project, located in Brooklyn. We were tasked with investigating the worst cases coming into the Brooklyn field Office each day. These were the DOA’s, 3rd Degree Burns and most severe fractures/abrasions. This work was a crusade for me, since a deeply held belief of mine developed from my own childhood, was the credo “You don’t hurt little children!” Those that knew me and knew of my work characterized me as a political radical, whose child welfare philosophy was somewhere to the right of Attila The Hun. Nevertheless, I was always careful to ensure that I and my workers always investigated thoroughly and never violated the rights of the accused.
I was so successful running this pilot project that I was given two career choices. The first was to head up a proposed City-Wide group of sex abuse units that was to be piloted in all five boroughs, or to work in Central Office as the Deputy to the most experienced program developer in the Agency. I chose the latter, the lesser career choice, because the proposal for the sex abuse units included reuniting children with their abusive parents when feasible. I couldn’t do that because my feelings are so strong in this that I believe in “one strike your out” for parental sex abusers.
In my latter child welfare role I became the investigator for the NYC Death Panel, which investigated the handling of all children’s death cases by
child welfare workers, in NYC. I give my credentials because when it comes to the purposive death of children I have far more experience than most so-called experts in the field and I am invested with enormous empathy for abused and murdered children.
Every year there are hundreds, if not thousands, children’s death cases in the US. Where is the media’s advocacy for all of those children? Where is
the outrage? That phony empathy and outrage only seems to focus on those cases that the media feels it can sensationalize to its own profit. Their tears to use the cliche are “crocodile tears” born of opportunism.
With their pseudo pious posing they cast premature judgment on the facts of the case and in doing so found a villain that could engender sensationalism and advance their smarmy careers. They forgot that by our system the Prosecution has to prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt and the 12 most important “triers of fact” found they hadn’t. That these jurors were able to do so in the face of all the preceding flim-flam and the presentation of a flawed prosecution, is a testament to the best our jury system has to offer. As much as child abuse hits me on a visceral level, so does the correct workings of our legal system. This is why the TV talking heads covering this trial brought rage to the fore in my feelings. Damn them all for their ignorance and superficial angst.
Geeba Geeba
1, July 6, 2011 at 10:38 am
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Hi Nancy!
How’s tricks?
And just who would be dancing with the Devil? Nancy herself.
For her to still be in the public eye means she had to make some type of deal with the Prince of Darkness.
Strike two Nancy, another one and your out!
The media I think with this case has put a very bright spotlight on itself,I heard a guest on one show say”if the now Governor of Florida had gotten half this attention from the “MSM” he would have never been elected”>
This carries over to a lot of what going on right now,This debate about the debt,media dosen’t really tell people how we really got here for example.
They say (3) strikes your out,OJ simpson trial,Caylee Anthony and here on the east coast the “alleged” rape in the Kahn trial.
And here’s some of whats going on with that and some of the (media).
Maid accusing Strauss-Kahn of sex assault files libel lawsuit over tabloid’s prostitute claim.
http://www.thespec.com/news/world/article/558340–maid-accusing-strauss-kahn-of-sex-assault-files-libel-lawsuit-over-tabloid-s-prostitute-claim