Casey Anthony Trial - The State's Case: Is It Enough?

The State of Florida is nearing the end of its case in chief. Have they proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Casey Anthony is guilty of first degree murder, aggravated child abuse, aggravated manslaughter of a child, and providing false statements to law enforcement?

The easiest first: No doubt the case has been made for Anthony's having provided false information to LE. She admits it via her defense team. Guilty as charged on those counts.

Here are Florida's statutory definitions for the other charges:

First Degree Murder

The premeditated design to effect the death of the person killed...or...the killing of a person during the perpetration (or attempted perpetration) of a number of offenses, including aggravated child abuse.

Aggravated Child Abuse

The abuse of a child rises to the level of "aggravated" when a person commits aggravated battery on a child; willfully tortures, maliciously punishes or willfully and unlawfully cages a child; or knowingly and willfully abuses a child and in so doing causes great bodily harm or permanent disability/disfigurement of the child (this is the "aggravated battery" part).

Aggravated Manslaughter of a Child

This occurs when someone causes the death of a child under 18 yrs due to culpable negligence. Neglect is defined as a caregiver's failure to provide a child with the care, supervision and services necessary to maintain physical and mental health and/or the failure to make a reasonable effort to protect a child from abuse, neglect or exploitation by another person.

Neglect can be repeated conduct or a single instance of neglect or omission that results in, or could reasonably be expected to result in, serious injury or a substantial risk of the death of the child.

"Culpable negligence" is defined as exposing another person to personal injury or, through neglect, actually causing physical injury to another.

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Now that we have definitions of the charges, let's see how they might apply:

Aggravated Manslaughter of a Child: At the very least, the case has been made for that charge. Even if Caylee died in the pool as defense claims, then Casey obviously failed to provide Caylee with the care, supervision and services necessary to maintain her health and/or failed to protect Caylee from abuse or neglect by another person.

Let's say the defense scenario is true -- if Casey left Caylee unsupervised in a home with doors unlocked to the patio and a ladder in the pool (the pool she knew Caylee loved so much), she is culpably negligent for having exposed Caylee to a potentially deadly situation.

I would also argue that she's culpably negligent for not having called 911 to try to have a professional medical person revive Caylee. I think an Aggravated Manslaughter conviction is the best the defense can hope for.

Aggravated Child Abuse: If the jury believes Casey Anthony either chloroformed or duct taped Caylee, then she is guilty of Aggravated Child Abuse since it is (at the least) a willful and knowing act that resulted in great bodily harm.

First Degree Murder: It must be proven that Anthony either premeditated the killing OR that Caylee died in the perpetration of Aggravated Child Abuse. That "or" is very important -- while it's to the state's advantage to prove premeditation, it's not necessary if they can prove death occurred during the commission of Aggravated Child Abuse., since that also qualifies as First Degree Murder.

Therefore, if the jury believes Caylee died as a result of Aggravated Child Abuse by Casey, then (regardless whether premeditated) it follows that she should be found guilty of First Degree Murder.

We'll look at supporting (or not) evidence in the next post.