Juror number 12 in the Casey Anthony trial has quit her job and is leaving the town she lives in because she fears for her life. She is afraid the public backlash against the verdict is so great she is not safe if she stays in her current town and job. Her husband is moving with her. I've noticed two things about the trial that worry me.
The first is that sometimes the public tends to jump on a person as guilty before they even know all of the details. Our criminal justice system is set up so that if a person is tried, they are presumed innocent until PROVEN guilty. It does not matter if an individual has a gut level reaction that a person is guilty, or even that they are probably guilty. If there is reasonable doubt, then a person must be acquitted. It is impossible to get 100% certainty most of the time, and if there is doubt as to whether the person is guilty even though it may "seem" like they are, then the correct decision is to acquit.
The second thing that bothers me is that people are now sending death threats to jurors, Casey Anthony, and her family. This mob mentality is a pathetic excuse for rational analysis. The criminal justice system is set up so we can live in a civilized society and there are not random witch hunts based on hints of suspicion. People are tried by a jury of their peers and then declared guilty or innocent. The fact that people seem to be willing to just throw this out when they disagree with a decision gives me much pause as to the future of this country.
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