No justice: Casey Anthony verdict astonishing

There was a collective gasp across America Tuesday as the Florida mother who was photographed partying a month after her daughter was missing was found not guilty on all charges in connection with the 2-year-old's death.

And now, unfortunately, it is likely no one will ever know the truth about what happened to the little girl whose body was found in a Florida swamp.

There are no winners in the case -- although one of the more disgusting displays this week came from members of the defense team celebrating their "victory" and passing out self-righteous comments about how the doubts and comments about their performance in the case had been disproved.

It is hard to believe that they could even come close to drawing the conclusion that justice had been done after sending out every sort of goof ball theory they could to push the reasonable doubt option.

There is no way to completely tie Anthony to her daughter's death -- in part, investigators say, because the family waited so long to report the toddler missing. Too much damage had been done to the skeleton to determine a definitive cause of death.

And in the end, that is likely what the jury used to decide it would not pass judgment on the young mother.

The problem with the American jury system is that stuff like this happens. Seemingly slam dunk cases turn into surprise verdicts. That is the price we pay.

But what is so sad about the Anthony case is that it could have been prevented -- multiple times over. First, Casey Anthony could have not had a child she did not want. Second, her parents could have acted sooner and paid closer attention to the welfare of their granddaughter. And third, the child could have gone to a good home, or to the grandparents, if her mother wanted another life.

There will be lots of Monday morning quarterbacking in this case. That is to be expected.

But there is one indisputable fact that everyone involved should agree on without hesitation.

There will never really be justice for little Caylee.

And that is thanks, absolutely, to her mother.

In the end, no matter what happened to her as a child, Casey Anthony did not behave in the manner that is the duty of a mother. She did not protect Caylee, keep her safe, love her and cherish her.

And that is a judgment no jury verdict can erase.

Published in Editorials on July 6, 2011 10:58 AM