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| Not "Mother of the Year" |
In the pursuit of justice, sometimes our courts get it wrong. Most outside observers would say defendants such as OJ and Casey Anthony got away with murder. In the case of Anthony, justice prevailed. There is a reason why there are so many layers and technical specs when it comes to evidence presented in a court of law. Like the verdict or not, the judge in the Anthony case would not allow certain facts, such as Ms. Anthony's partying ways in the wake of her daughter's disappearance, to be admitted as evidence since it had no bearing on the ultimate question in the case: Did Casey Anthony murder her daughter? And so the case came down to the jury's opinion about new, untested science in order to make a decision and the result is Ms. Anthony will now live in an undisclosed location for the rest of her life (maybe). A Criminology professor of mine put it this way (paraphrasing): "In the United States, justice is for accused, truth is for the victims." When the court system seeks justice for the victim, many times, not only is the accused run over but the truth is often made victim as well. Case in point: Mr. George Wilson, Rainier, Washington, 1911.
