Monday, May 23, 2011

Casey Antony Trial Begins Tomorrow


We’ve all waited nearly three years for this day. There have been oceans of motions, shenanigans by Casey’s family and her defense team, endless hearings, and endless media coverage. There has been silence from the prosecution team which has slogged through the morass to arrive at this day. For every media “event” and every “cameo” by the defense, the team of Linda Drane Burdick, Jeff Ashton, and Frank George have been deep in the volumes of discovery, crafting their case.

In the center of this circus, Casey Anthony has traded her party-girl face and assumed the visage of a fear-ridden jailbird.

Dr. Lillian Glass has an excellent article up today about the changes in Casey.


I am eagerly awaiting the opening arguments. Will Jose Baez manage to explain everything in the first three minutes? I wish we could know how many times he has re-written his argument to fit the latest witch-hunt.

I’ve always thought that the comparison of the prosecution and the defense resembled the Aesop Fable.

The Grasshopper and the Ants


In a field one summer's day a grasshopper was hopping about, chirping and singing to its heart's content. A group of ants walked by, grunting as they struggled to carry plump kernels of corn. "Where are you going with those heavy things?" asked the grasshopper. Without stopping, the first ant replied, "To our ant hill. This is the third kernel I've delivered today." "Why not come and sing with me," teased the grasshopper, "instead of working so hard?" "We are helping to store food for the winter," said the ant, "and think you should do the same." "Winter is far away and it is a glorious day to play," sang the grasshopper. But the ants went on their way and continued their hard work. The weather soon turned cold. All the food lying in the field was covered with a thick white blanket of snow that even the grasshopper could not dig through. Soon the grasshopper found itself dying of hunger. He staggered to the ants' hill and saw them handing out corn from the stores they had collected in the summer. He begged them for something to eat. "What!" cried the ants in surprise, "haven't you stored anything away for the winter? What in the world were you doing all last summer?" "I didn't have time to store any food," complained the grasshopper; "I was so busy playing music that before I knew it the summer was gone." The ants shook their heads in disgust, turned their backs on the grasshopper and went on with their work.

Credit for picture and fable

On a personal note, I had hoped to watch every day of the trial live. However, Real Life intervened in the most pleasant of ways and I won’t be able to post this Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. However, if WFTV keeps up the good work on posting the video, I will have Saturday evening, Sunday, and Monday to go through them. I hope to be able to post a blog entry on those days later on Memorial Day.

My nephew will be graduating on Thursday and it’s one graduation I can’t miss. My personal “ant” will be getting his PhD. He already has a job for the fall teaching at an excellent university.

I call him my Ant because he’s one great guy. He started college at 19, attending part time while working full time. He put a roof over his own head and paid his own tuition. He then went on to tutoring and teaching jobs to put himself through the rest of college. He taught his way through his Master’s at an Ivy League university and now his PhD.

He never asked his parents for money, he knew they had no money. He had bad times for a long time, but never gave up on his goal.

Now that he’s achieved his goal, I have to be there to see it happen!

It was a no-brainer decision. I compared him to the “grasshopper” who is the star of the courtroom circus. She never worked much, stole from everyone around her, and couldn’t be bothered to make up that ½ credit she needed for a high school diploma. The Grasshopper wanted to do nothing but party, do the social network "thing," and lie, cheat, and steal.

See you all in court tomorrow at 9 SHARP!

12 comments:

donchais said...

Heartiest congratulations to your nephew!

Enjoy his wonderful achievement!

ritanita said...

I am such a proud Auntie!

Anonymous said...

Great analogy, it's a bit confusing when applied to your nephew's situation -- isn't he like the ants as he toiled for his future and prepared himself for this glorious day of his graduation, whereas the grasshopper is the one looking to freeload off of the hard labor of others?

Perhaps you can further clarify?

Anonymous said...

P.S. CONGRATULATIONS are in order for your beloved nephew!

Anonymous said...

What a beautiful photo of that little girl, with the eyes of an angel! Sadly, it seems that she became or was seen as nothing more than an "inconvenience" in the eyes of her own mother.

ritanita said...

Thanks Anonymous!

LOL! That's what I get for writing too early in the morning. It's been edited and now makes sense.

I have a feeling I was equating Ant to Anthony!

Let's just hope Aesop was right!

Anonymous said...

"In the center of this circus, Casey Anthony has traded her party-girl face and assumed the visage of a fear-ridden jailbird."

Very well stated! She finally realizes that her wings have been clipped!

Anonymous said...

We hear ya...lol...the word "Ant" in the last sentence also needs to be changed to "grasshopper," or else the sentence rephrased.

Anonymous said...

Congratulations to your nephew , An wonderful achievment ! I don't think Casey realises that her wings are clipped yet ? What with all the smiling and posing during jury selection . I think once she is thrown in the general population or wired to chair ? She may get the message ?

ritanita said...

Thanks to all of you who spotted my multiple Ant vs. Grasshopper! I guess I usually associate Ant with Anthony!

I think Casey knows that her wings are clipped, but she holds out hope they will grow out when she and Cheney Mason leave the courtroom arm in arm.

Let's see... How many prospective jurors said that they believed Casey was innocent?

By the way, I NEVER listen to people who try and predict the outcome of a trial based on voir dire.

I remember commentators in the Scott Peterson who ended up being very wrong! Same can be said for many other trials.

After a long time in the courtroom viewing the facts of the case, most juries make the right decision.

Sprocket said...

ritanita, you picked spot on photos for this entry. Caylee front and center. It's what this case is all about.

I don't think you can predict a trial based on voir dire either ritanita. However, voir dire IS the most important part of the trial.

I've been told that by practicing attorneys and those in the MSM for a long time now.

You have to find a group that will (hopefully) work together and be able to apply logic and reason to your evidence.

Although I won't be able to watch the opening statements with all our T&T readers, I'll be relying on your excellent recap when I'm out of court this evening.

Nora said...

I'm stunned - now Baez's defense is drowning, and abuse of Casey by George and Lee? (I think they're all abusive in that family.) Aha - and what about the duct tape and heart sticker? Drowing victim?