Casey Anthony - another capital case

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/05/11/florida.casey.anthony.death/index.html?hpt=T2
Judge: Death penalty not sexist in Anthony case

By Jean Casarez, In Session
cnnAuthor = "By Jean Casarez, In Session";


if(location.hostname.indexOf( 'edition.' ) > -1) {document.write('April 7, 2010 -- Updated 1701 GMT (0101 HKT)');} else {document.write('April 7, 2010 1:01 p.m. EDT');}
April 7, 2010 1:01 p.m. EDT


var clickExpire = "-1";
Casey Anthony teared up in court when her lawyer said her slain daughter had been happy and healthy.










var CNN_storyImageGallery = [{caption: "Casey Anthony teared up in court when her lawyer said her slain daughter had been happy and healthy.",image: "/2010/CRIME/05/11/florida.casey.anthony.death/story.casey.jpg"},{caption: "Caylee Anthony vanished in June 2008; her body was found six months later.",image: "/2010/CRIME/05/11/florida.casey.anthony.death/story.caylee.anthony.courtesy.jpg"},{caption: "Casey Anthony's lawyers are fighting to keep photos that portray her as a "party girl" out of the trial.",image: "/2010/CRIME/05/11/florida.casey.anthony.death/story.casey2.insession.jpg"}];cnn_stryichgInit();
STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• NEW: Judge declines to take death penalty off table in Anthony case
  
• Defense failed in arguments that death penalty was sexist, unconstitutional
  
• Casey Anthony is accused of killing her daughter, Caylee, in 2008
  
• Anthony has pleaded not guilty; her murder trial is set for May 2011
  

var cnnRelatedTopicKeys = [];

RELATED TOPICS

• 
  
  cnnRelatedTopicKeys.push('Casey_Anthony');
  
  Casey Anthony
  
• 
  
  cnnRelatedTopicKeys.push('Caylee_Anthony');
  
  Caylee Anthony
  
• 
  
  cnnRelatedTopicKeys.push('Criminal_Trials');
  
  Criminal Trials
  

(CNN) -- Casey Anthony will face the death penalty, a Florida judge ruled, rejecting defense arguments that capital punishment in her murder case was sexist and unduly harsh.
Judge Belvin Perry Jr. also rejected defense arguments that prosecutors were seeking the death penalty as a means to bankrupt Anthony's defense.
The judge did grant one defense request -- that prosecutors disclose evidence supporting the aggravating factors they intend to cite if Anthony is convicted of premeditated murder and they ask jurors to return a death sentence.
In death penalty cases, jurors are asked to weigh aggravating circumstances that make a crime especially heinous against mitigating factors that favor the defendant, such as a lack of prior offenses.
Anthony, 24, is accused of killing her daughter, Caylee, who was 2 when she disappeared in June 2008. Caylee's body was found that December in a vacant lot near the Orlando, Florida, home where she lived with her grandparents.
Casey Anthony's trial is scheduled to begin on May 9, 2011.
The defense maintains that prosecutors had originally said they would not seek death in the Anthony case but reversed that position in March 2009 when they learned that Anthony had $205,000 for her defense.
The bulk of the money came from ABC News for the licensing of photos and videos, Baez testified during a previous hearing.
"The court has the authority to bar the death penalty where the prosecution exercises its discretion in bad faith, for impermissible motives and in order to prevent the defendant from exercising her constitutional rights," the defense argued in court papers.
Judge Perry denied the motion, saying that judges are prohibited under Florida law from interfering with the state's decision to seek death. Although one exception includes circumstances in which bad faith can be documented, Perry said Anthony's defense had not proven bad faith.
The defense also argued that prosecutors sought the death penalty against Anthony because she is a woman, and that focusing on Anthony's lifestyle before she was arrested is gender bias.
Defense witness Elizabeth Rapaport, a University of New Mexico law professor and author, testified that the lifestyles of white middle-class mothers charged with killing their children receive much more media attention than those of defendants in other cases.
Under questioning by Anthony attorney Andrea Lyon, a nationally know death penalty expert, Rapaport said a mother perceived as "deviant" by a jury has a more difficult time defending herself.
Anthony teared up when Lyon noted in court that that despite her client's "party girl" reputation in the media, most of the witnesses have acknowledged that "Caylee was happy and healthy."
"Do you have any evidence that there is gender bias in this case?" prosecutor Jeff Ashton asked Rapaport in cross-examination. The witness responded that she didn't know much about this case and had only read a few press reports.
The defense argued that Anthony is facing more serious charges and harsher punishment than a man in the same position would receive.
Responding to Ashton's questions, Rapaport said that that men who kill their children usually are acting in a rage.
Women, Ashton argued, tend to premeditate a child's killing and have underlying psychological issues. Cases in which women kill without evidence of psychological disturbance are rare, he added.

"In my 30 years" as a prosecutor, Ashton said, "this is the first time we have had the evidence for the jury to determine if death is the appropriate penalty."

So what do you think? Should this be a capital case? Should all murders be a capital crime? If yes to some and no to others how do we make that determination? Should any crime warrant the death penatly?

I do not think we should have the death penalty, for different reasons: we do not have the right to take a life, life imprisonment is worse than a painless death, sometimes innocent people are convicted, etc.

But how do you feel about someone who wants the death penalty? Would you fight to have the death penalty withheld? I mean if the convicted person wants to be executed rather than imprisoned.

I am opposed to capital punishment in all cases even if the convicted person wants to die. Life in prison would be terrible. I could imagine a scenario where someone would rather be dead. I just don't believe that it should be up to them.
.

Scott wrote:I am opposed to capital punishment in all cases even if the convicted person wants to die. Life in prison would be terrible. I could imagine a scenario where someone would rather be dead. I just don't believe that it should be up to them.
.

And, you can derive that rule from the supreme court "right to die" cases.

I believe each state should decide how they want to proceed with this. The system should certainly be improved to insure that innocent people are not put to death and now with DNA and stronger scientific evidence improvements are being made.

I have no problem with the death penalty. It is up to the states.

I think Ms. Lyon's gender biased argument was total hooey.

I tend toward states' rights in general, but in this instance I think we should get rid of the death penalty nationally. For all the reasons stated and just because.... for god's sake, the death penalty?? Are we still there when we know that a million factors affect it? Let's get civilized.

LWOP is good enough to me.

LWOP would have to be more restrictive before I would support it.

VA has life without parole and I don't know of any cases where someone serving such a sentence was released. There is a similar law in CA. I read that ALL states except Alaska have some life without parole provision in their law. Ziggy, do you know of any cases where someone was given life without parole then later released?

...I also think the "gender biased" argument Ms.Lyons brought up made sense....just by reading in Websleuths about the case I see there are a lot of people prosecuting Casey for being a "non conventional mom" instead of for the crime she (well,I do think she did it) commited...the expert that talked brought up the Darlie Routier case and I think that was a great example of what happened there...Darlier Routier is on death row and I don't think it was proven beyond a doubt at all that she's the one that killed her children,going back to websleuths when you bring that up there ,they're all like "read the transcripts,read the transcripts" I read the transcripts and all they prove to me is how "gender biased" that trial was,it was a complete character assasination of Darlie Routier and I believe she mostly got convicted because of this,not the actual evidence....as much as I do think Casey Anthony is guilty she should be able to get a fair trial...and of course I'm against the death penalty in any case but I think in her case it barely even classifies as a death penalty case within the law....and I do think the humangous media attention ( which is no doubt gender AND race biased) plays a big role in even going for the death penalty....oh and about if someone who would prefer the death penalty,I'm with Scott ,I don't think that should be up to the convicted person.....now I do support the right to die ,the right for assisted suicide for someone with a terminal disease,I do believe that person should have the right to choose that option....
....oh one more thing,was anyone else completely freaked out by the long white screen before it got to the long list of people that were exonerated? Did you do that for dramatic effect Scott ...it worked for me...I was almost in a complete trance after the long white and then that list hits even harder !

Scott wrote:VA has life without parole and I don't know of any cases where someone serving such a sentence was released. There is a similar law in CA. I read that ALL states except Alaska have some life without parole provision in their law. Ziggy, do you know of any cases where someone was given life without parole then later released?

No I don't. But lifers tend to marry and have children etc. I can't support that.