No. It's fact.
In Florida, the death penalty is not available for felony murder.
I believe this is correct (although not with 100% surety), the DP is not available in Florida for felony murder due to Edmund v. Florida of 1982. Before this 1982 case Florida did impose the DP for felony murder. However I believe there was a conviction in 1975 for felony murder in Florida that was later upheld on appeal in the 90's (maybe 1998) in Florida. I just don't remember the case wish I had more info on that. The DP is available as a punishment for other states however.
Tison v. Arizona 1987 upholds that Felony Murder can be punishable by the DP and the US Supreme Court has stated that felony murder does not violate a persons 8th amendment rights. Other states site this case to up hold the DP in these types of cases. So if anyone has evidence (ie. links) either way could you please link it. Would like to know exactly how Florida treats Felony Murder and the punishment options for it in Florida.
However KC can receive LWOP for a Felony Murder conviction in Florida. Aggravated Child Abuse in my opinion will be the felony that the state will claim Casey committed that led to Caylee's death for a felony murder conviction. Knight (brought to us by Lin) shows that this charge (felony murder) does not have to be listed in the charges. If they (the state) go the Felony Murder route. The state can ask that the jury to be instructed on felony murder with out actually charging her with it.
Personally I think this felony murder question is going to be a moot point. I don't see that state going that route personally. Given that we are still a ways away from trial I think there is going to be more and more evidence released in the case from the Sunshine laws in Florida (not due to "leaking' info on part of the state). I think once we see all the evidence in this case, is when the hammer is going to come down on Casey.
There is not one shred of evidence pointing to anyone other then Casey. Any kind of accident theory can also be thrown out the window. The defense and Casey have already thrown that kind of defense away anyways. The circumstantial evidence in this case right now is overwhelming. Many have been convicted on far less then what we have seen already in this case.
In my opinion the best outcome in this case for Casey is going to be LWOP. Keep in mind we the public have yet to see all the evidence by the state. Yes Casey is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. However people are allowed to form there own opinions based on the evidence at hand. Thus far, the over all consensus seems to be Casey is guilty. That's not to say that "not guilty" is not a valid argument. I think it should be noted though that many people after reviewing some of the highlights of this case have come to a conclusion of guilty at first glance pretty quickly.
I have yet to see one valid argument about Casey being innocent or proof of such innocence. Every argument for Casey is based on skewed interpretation and looking for loop holes by the defense. In my mind the defense tossed out the one thing that could have saved their client early and that was the accident defense. That ship however has long since sailed. They said she was innocent in a court of law. Where is the proof to back such a statement (we'll see in February)? It's one thing to claim your client is not guilty, it's a whole other ball game to claim they are innocent.
Also the evidence after the fact does not point to an accident. Duct tape, driving around with body, lying about the childs where abouts, Casey's over all behavior (parties, boys, financial crime spree) all point towards this not being a accident. At no time did Casey ever show the emotion or the normal behavior of someone in grief for an accident to have occurred. Yes people do grieve differently, but when a mothers child dies they don't act the way Casey did, and it doesn't take a doctorate in psychology for someone to recognize that.
People see "31 days" and other highlights such as Casey's lies and her behavior and it's hard for any lay person to not look at that and the overwhelming circumstantial evidence and go "Yep she's guilty". Also juries do and are allowed to use their own judgment, and reasoning of the evidence presented to form their verdict (If not verdicts would be handed out by computers using a set mathematical formula. Evidence goes into box = get verdict based on 1's and 0's). I think this overwhelming consensus also shows that most potential jury members are going to hand down a guilty verdict. The DP also ups the ante as well by providing a more conservative "death penalty qualified" jury.
Given what we the public have seen and what we are going to see as time ticks closer to trial I would say it's a pretty safe bet Casey is going to be found guilty. I think the only possible variance for the out come of this case is going to be in the sentencing phase. LWOP or DP.
As an aside, I also think many of Casey's possible appeal claims are being dashed by the work of the Judge. Strickland is making sure many of the more common appellate issues are being taken care of. I'm sure later after her conviction some lawyer or activist group somewhere will want a slice of the money making pie/ publicity and come up with some obscure appellate reason later that will be shot down.
