So I actually swore that I wasn't going to go there. I was just going to skip over Casey Anthony and move on to other things because people have talked enough about it. There isn't anything that I'm going to say that hasn't already been said. Even my feelings about it are pretty moot at this point. It won't change anything.

Then I started watching this true crime show about the case of Baby Grace. There is some small amount of me that vaguely remembers reading something about it in passing but I don't remember details. I was pregnant with Bianca when it happened and barely pregnant with Bowen when it went to trial so I was otherwise occupied I guess. Either way if you don't know what it's about I'll just say that it involves a mother and step-father who beat a 2 year old girl to death...using a belt, throwing her across the room, and dragging her by the hair and holding her head under water. All to teach her a lesson so that she'd "behave" better. During this time the poor little girl looked up at her mother and said "I love you". They took her body, put it in a sterilite container, and after a couple of months brought it out to sea and dumped it. I was in tears watching the thing. It is completely unimaginable to me and I later hugged both my kids so tightly they were upset at me for invading their personal spaces.

Now this isn't like the Casey Anthony case at all. I mean this couple admitted to doing it and eventually were found guilty and sentenced to life in prison. But it brought me back to Casey Anthony anyhow. I'm convinced she did it. There really is no doubt in my mind. I admit to being shocked that she was found 'not guilty'. I admit to even being a little angry about it and thinking of how dumb the jury was. I even agree with a friend of mine who said that 'if she were a guy she would have been found guilty'. I don't doubt that for a second. I mean no one wants to believe that a mother would kill her own child and when you put any doubt in their head then they going to go with what they want to believe is true...whether it is right or not. A jury had no problem of convicting Scott Peterson in what was pretty much a circumstantial case. I remember when that verdict was read I was actually a little surprised. I think he did it but I didn't think there was enough evidence proving that he did without a doubt. Yet I was angry with the Casey Anthony jury for doing what I thought should have been done with Scott Peterson. There was a doubt...which even though in my heart seems unreasonable...it still is a doubt.

I am vehemently against the death penalty because of the fact that an innocent person could be convicted and killed for something they didn't do. Look at the West Memphis Three case. I read books on that and watched documentaries. I have no doubt that they are innocent yet are sitting in jail...one on death row. So even though I see why there is doubt in the Casey Anthony case I still feel like she got off O.J. Simpson style and I'm still mad at a jury that I can't help but feel was incompetent. I guess that is why I wouldn't make a good juror. I let my personal feelings cloud my judgement way too often. I'm not saying it is a bad thing but there is no way I could have sat in that trial and heard that she didn't report her child missing for 31 days and hear all her lies and not automatically think that she did it. Maybe she didn't. Maybe it was an accident. Maybe she is just guilty of being a really shitty mother. Even so maybe that should be a crime. It's all over facebook about wanting to pass a law that makes it a crime not to report your child missing within a reasonable amount of time. I think that's fair. We are all our children have to protect them. When as a parent you can't stand up and make sure you do what it right for your child then you should be held accountable for your actions. Like in Baby Grace where the mother herself may not have done all the horrific torture but instead allowed it to happen. It was her job to protect her child above anything else. Because our children depend on us for that. When you choose to become a parent then that's what you sign up for. Putting the lives of someone else forever ahead of yours. I would give my life before I'd let someone hit my child with a belt let alone beat them to death. I freak when my child is out of my sight for more than 2 seconds let alone 31 days. Anything less is a crime and that without a doubt Casey Anthony is guilty of.