(AP Photo/Red Huber, Pool)
The highly publicized Casey Anthony trial came to a close Tuesday afternoon. When the jury declared Anthony not guilty of murdering her daughter, the American public responded with outrage at the verdict.
For those following the highly emotional case for the past three years, no punishment for the death of then two-year-old Caylee Anthony was simply unacceptable.
However, in contrast to the general population’s reaction, SMU Associate Law Professor and former prosecutor Jeff Bellin was not surprised by the result of the trial.
“This was a difficult case for the prosecution due to the absence of evidence of what actually happened to the child. The prosecution’s theory that Casey Anthony suffocated her daughter using chloroform and duct tape was, in the end, just that, a theory,” Bellin said. “The jury was asked to answer the question, did the prosecution prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Casey Anthony intentionally killed her child in this manner. They answered no, and my sense is that it was a reasonable application of the applicable legal standard to the proven NotGuilty.” Some tweets even went so far as to call the trial, doubt.”