Casey Is NOT Safe From Double Jeopardy Laws?

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It's galling to see a murderer go free and not be able to have another chance to bring justice. I hate the verdict! However, chipping away at the Fifth Amendment rights that we all share is, IMO, much more horrifying. Would we really want to give our local, state, and federal government the power to hound us, even if we are innocent of wrongdoing, with repeated trials, turning our lives to chaos and depleting all our resources? As taxpayers, would we want to foot the bill for multiple trials brought by prosecutors who might be hellbent on winning weak cases?

It is a slippery slope,indeed.
 
Just ask

William Dunlop
http://www.cps.gov.uk/news/press_releases/152_06/

Or

Mark Weston
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/dec/13/loner-convicted-murder-double-jeopardy


Double jeopardy laws have been changed in England, Wales and some States of Australia. It can certainly happen in America and it can be retrospective. It only takes ONE person to take on the system and change it.
Can someone please read US vs Marshall Ayers and let me know if they think it can apply here? The Fedral gov't went after Ayers after he had been acquitted of murder...State only got him on a weapons charge.
 
It's galling to see a murderer go free and not be able to have another chance to bring justice. I hate the verdict! However, chipping away at the Fifth Amendment rights that we all share is, IMO, much more horrifying. Would we really want to give our local, state, and federal government the power to hound us, even if we are innocent of wrongdoing, with repeated trials, turning our lives to chaos and depleting all our resources? As taxpayers, would we want to foot the bill for multiple trials brought by prosecutors who might be hellbent on winning weak cases?
...and if the Federal gov't got her on related charges...wouldn't that be ok?
 
This verdict will hold in up in the SCOTUS. We just need to accept it and hope for FCA to screw up or for a REALLY creative reach-around on appeal. The state cannot appeal, so it is what it is.
 
Can someone please read US vs Marshall Ayers and let me know if they think it can apply here? The Fedral gov't went after Ayers after he had been acquitted of murder...State only got him on a weapons charge.

People have asked on the lawyers thread, there are answers over there. Casey did not commit any federal crimes, apparently.
 
There was a case maybe 10 years ago (if I'm remembering correctly) where a middle aged man tortured a woman in a house he had soundproofed. He and a current girlfriend did the torturing together, murdered her and buried her in the back yard. Her body wasn't found for many years until some excavating took place. The girlfriend took a plea bargain and testified against the man. He was found not guilty and released. He eventually 'found the lord' and admitted to the murder. Because of the double jeopardy laws he could not be retried. The last I knew he was a free man.

Does anyone remember this case and the names?
 
In researching this old case I noticed a number of similarities to the Casey Anthony case.

Mel Ignatow forced Brenda Schaefer to strip, photographed her in suggestive positions, raped, sodomized and beat her before killing her with chloroform.
PT alleged that chloroform was used on Caylee.


Former girlfriend, MaryAnn Shore led the investigators to the grave site, where Schaefer's badly decomposed body had been buried for over a year. The autopsy showed she had been abused, but any DNA evidence, from blood and semen, had decomposed.
Caylee's body was badly decomposed after lying in a flooded woods for 6 months.

One section of the recorded conversation between Ignatow and Shore contained the following dialogue by Ignatow: "That place we dug is not shallow. Beside that one area right by where that safe is does not have any trees by it." In court, the jury decided that one word on the tape was "safe", not "site", as the police believed. This led the jurors to conclude that the discussion involved a buried safe.
Jurors got hung up on single pieces of evidence instead of putting it all together as a unit.


Furthermore, Shore, the prosecution's star witness, wore a tiny miniskirt to court and laughed during her testimony, undermining her credibility in the eyes of the jury. The defense argued that Shore, not Ignatow, had killed Schaefer.
Casey's DT undermined and slandered witnesses. When GA became angry because JB badgered him on the witness stand jurors took his reaction to mean guilt.


In light of these considerations and their own desire to get the trial over with before the coming Christmas holiday, the jury acquitted Ignatow.
Reports are that someone on the CA jury had a cruise planned a few days later during the week following July 4th. They took less than 11 hours to come to a decision of 'Not Guilty'. In that short time they ate meals, took breaks, and were supposed to go over their Instructions as well as the evidence.


The judge was so embarrassed by this verdict given, that he took the unusual step of writing a letter of apology to the Schaefer family. Schaefer's parents died before the trial began. According to some family and friends, their deaths were premature due to the heartbreak and stress of Schaefer's murder.
Casey ripped her family apart on the witness stand and I believe that GA and CA will divorce due to the stress.


Ignatow was brought to trial for perjury in his grand jury testimony. Knowing that he could not be retried for the murder because of double jeopardy, Ignatow confessed in court at his perjury trial. He turned to Schaefer's brothers in court and said that he had killed her, but that she had died peacefully.
One can only hope Casey winds up back in jail for something.

Ignatow served five years of an eight year sentence for perjury. The state later prosecuted him on perjury charges for testimony he gave in a case against Schaefer's employer for threatening to kill Ignatow if he didn't tell where Schaefer was. He was sentenced to nine years for that perjury charge.
Casey was only convited of Lying To LE and will walk out of jail with 'time served'. She may be appealing even that light sentence!

Mel Ignatow was released from prison for the second time in December 2006. He returned yet again to Louisville, living in a home four miles from the house where he murdered Brenda Schaefer.
Though I'm sure Casey will never return to live in Florida, she may rekindle the relationship with CA.


Whew! This was very time consuming. I hope there are no typos!
 
In researching this old case I noticed a number of similarities to the Casey Anthony case.

Mel Ignatow forced Brenda Schaefer to strip, photographed her in suggestive positions, raped, sodomized and beat her before killing her with chloroform.
PT alleged that chloroform was used on Caylee.


Former girlfriend, MaryAnn Shore led the investigators to the grave site, where Schaefer's badly decomposed body had been buried for over a year. The autopsy showed she had been abused, but any DNA evidence, from blood and semen, had decomposed.
Caylee's body was badly decomposed after lying in a flooded woods for 6 months.

One section of the recorded conversation between Ignatow and Shore contained the following dialogue by Ignatow: "That place we dug is not shallow. Beside that one area right by where that safe is does not have any trees by it." In court, the jury decided that one word on the tape was "safe", not "site", as the police believed. This led the jurors to conclude that the discussion involved a buried safe.
Jurors got hung up on single pieces of evidence instead of putting it all together as a unit.


Furthermore, Shore, the prosecution's star witness, wore a tiny miniskirt to court and laughed during her testimony, undermining her credibility in the eyes of the jury. The defense argued that Shore, not Ignatow, had killed Schaefer.
Casey's DT undermined and slandered witnesses. When GA became angry because JB badgered him on the witness stand jurors took his reaction to mean guilt.


In light of these considerations and their own desire to get the trial over with before the coming Christmas holiday, the jury acquitted Ignatow.
Reports are that someone on the CA jury had a cruise planned a few days later during the week following July 4th. They took less than 11 hours to come to a decision of 'Not Guilty'. In that short time they ate meals, took breaks, and were supposed to go over their Instructions as well as the evidence.


The judge was so embarrassed by this verdict given, that he took the unusual step of writing a letter of apology to the Schaefer family. Schaefer's parents died before the trial began. According to some family and friends, their deaths were premature due to the heartbreak and stress of Schaefer's murder.
Casey ripped her family apart on the witness stand and I believe that GA and CA will divorce due to the stress.


Ignatow was brought to trial for perjury in his grand jury testimony. Knowing that he could not be retried for the murder because of double jeopardy, Ignatow confessed in court at his perjury trial. He turned to Schaefer's brothers in court and said that he had killed her, but that she had died peacefully.
One can only hope Casey winds up back in jail for something.

Ignatow served five years of an eight year sentence for perjury. The state later prosecuted him on perjury charges for testimony he gave in a case against Schaefer's employer for threatening to kill Ignatow if he didn't tell where Schaefer was. He was sentenced to nine years for that perjury charge.
Casey was only convited of Lying To LE and will walk out of jail with 'time served'. She may be appealing even that light sentence!

Mel Ignatow was released from prison for the second time in December 2006. He returned yet again to Louisville, living in a home four miles from the house where he murdered Brenda Schaefer.
Though I'm sure Casey will never return to live in Florida, she may rekindle the relationship with CA.


Whew! This was very time consuming. I hope there are no typos!

Wow! Thanks. Were is Ignatow now?
 
We don't even prosecute half the crimes that take place now...they only take on ones they feel sure they can win, they are not going to try people over and over...

I agree. I also think it's unconstitutional to keep trying cases until the public feels the SA gets it right, or if the "right" jury is seated. I'm all for mistrials and hung juries, but if there's been a verdict, there shouldn't be a do-over. If so, I want to see OJ tried again -- that's not gonna happen.

I have accepted the verdict, in as much as I don't like it. I can't let the anger and hatred get to me. FCA will get her comeuppance, I'm sure of it. If not on this earth, in the afterlife.

This may not be the popular opinion, and I just want to emphasize that it's my opinion only. Thanks.

Mel
 
That's something the State of Florida needs to figure out. There are so many obscure laws that I bet they could find something.

The U.S. Department of Justice would make a decision about whether she has committed a federal crime, not the State of Florida. Murdering your daughter isn't a federal crime in itself. I've seen posters mention lying to FBI agents and violating Caylee's civil rights as possible federal crimes she may have committed. I'm not holding my breath.
 
It will never happen.

I agree with these simple four words.
The only thing I can **pray** for at this point (and I KNOW it will never happen) is that HHJP grants AF her last minute motion for a non DP retrial. I understand the FL taxpayers wouldn't appreciate this, but my God..... to quote JB 'it's a travesty". Dang.
 
Can someone please read US vs Marshall Ayers and let me know if they think it can apply here? The Fedral gov't went after Ayers after he had been acquitted of murder...State only got him on a weapons charge.

I haven't read it yet, but am going to now. I still believe that there must be some charges that can be lodged against her and it wouldn't cross double jeopardy. Something having to do with obstruction of justice, or along those lines.
If these jurors felt so sick re: their verdict, then someone, at least one should have had the Chutzpah to hang the jury and give it to one who wouldn't have a problem doing their job.
But IMO we will hear about her again, you can't be a cold blooded murderess with ice running through your veins and not get into trouble again. Not with all of the theft and lies to boot, WTH we're they thinking?
Talk about a MORALLY BANKRUPT individual, Wow :sick:
 
I would certainly vote for it to change. It's obscene to see someone get away with the murder of a little child.
I am not getting my hopes up at all, but I do agree something needs to change. People keep saying it's sour system and we should just accept and respect it, but I simply cannot accept or respect a system that allows a child murderer to go free. Are reevaluation and reassessment not a good thing? Should we not frequently reflect on certain aspects of our system of justice and evaluate what things could be changed for the better?
I think it's time for everyone to stop and take a deep breath. Yes, Casey Anthony is a<modsnip> who in the very least should be locked away for life. But to amend the bill of rights in an attempt to extract revenge against her defies common sense.


Think of the consequences of giving the state an endless supply of mulligans to use at their leisure. Rule of law and the role of the jury would mean nothing. Quality of work by the prosecution and the police would suffer. Presumption of innocence would be no more and bias of the jury would be impacted since guilt might be assumed if an individual is tried again and again and again. Burden of proof would be a thing of the past. The opportunity for abuse of such a power is mind-boggling.


Protection from double jeopardy, along with presumption of innocence, speedy trial etc, was written into the bill of rights because the founders realized that the state, with its superior resources was capable of using its power to trample the rights of those it didn't like -- political dissidents*, religious minorities*, etc.


As lousy as it is, Casey Anthony is forever barred from prosecution for any of the offenses arising from the charges contained in the indictment including child neglect etc. As hard as it might be, it's time to let it go.
 
Think of the consequences of giving the state an endless supply of mulligans to use at their leisure. Rule of law and the role of the jury would mean nothing. Quality of work by the prosecution and the police would suffer. Presumption of innocence would be no more and bias of the jury would be impacted since guilt might be assumed if an individual is tried again and again and again. Burden of proof would be a thing of the past. The opportunity for abuse of such a power is mind-boggling.


Protection from double jeopardy, along with presumption of innocence, speedy trial etc, was written into the bill of rights because the founders realized that the state, with its superior resources was capable of using its power to trample the rights of those it didn't like -- political dissidents*, religious minorities*, etc.


.
snipped by me for emphasis

I concur.The whole thought is positively frightening.
 
Allowing double jeopardy in the US would require a constitutional amendment. That will never happen, IMO.
 
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