In 2008, Casey Anthony was accused in the first-degree murder of her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee. As of July 5^th, 2011, she has been declared not guilty on the murder charges yet guilty on four counts of providing false evidence to law enforcement officials. These charges could still net her a year of jail time.

Most people are having troubles accepting such a verdict considering the circumstances this case revolves around. Anthony alleged she last saw her daughter June 16^th, 2008 but did not report her missing until almost a month later, July 15^th. On top of that, she only reported the child missing because her mother, Cindy Anthony, had tracked her down and demanding to see her granddaughter. Caylee’s remains were not discovered until December 11^th that year.

On June 27^th, approximately 2 weeks after Casey last alleges she saw her daughter, she left her car parked in front of a random Orlando business. She claims she had run out of gas and had never gone to retrieve it. It was later towed to an impound yard where it sat until July 15^th, and on the same day Casey reported her child missing, her parents had recieved a letter about the impounded car and had gone to the yard to pick it up.  Numerous witnesses and impound yard employees had testified that there was a horrible smell coming from the trunk of Casey Anthony’s car.

Forensics showed that Caylee had been chloroformed, had her nose and mouth duct taped, and her body dumped in a plastic garbage bag. When former Orange County meter reader Roy Kronk originally discovered her body, he actually moved the body to hide it more, hoping a reward would be posted for this high profile case.

Many people still believe Casey is, in fact, the killer given the fact that she was spotted shopping, going out to clubs, she even participated in a bikini contest and got a tattoo. None of these fall under the normal behavior category for a woman who has lost her only child. Also, none of Casey’s friends could testify that Casey ever mentioned her child had gone missing, or believe that Casey appeared anxious, sad, or overwhelmed.

Casey’s original defense was that her nanny, only referred to as “Gonzalez”, abducted the child for ransom. The police were never able to track down this supposed nanny and the only nanny who matched the description in the area was cleared of having any connection to the Anthony’s. She is now suing Casey Anthony for defamation.

After the fake lead of the supposed nanny kidnapping, Casey provided an alternate explanation that a rich suitor, Jeffrey Hopkins, had paid her for the child and had run off with this imaginary nanny. After a calling Jeffrey Hopkins to the stand to testify, it became clear that this was once again another lie by a pathological liar.

Defense attorney Jose Baez told jurors that his client had made a lot of mistakes and bad decisions, but made it clear that it was not enough to justify murder. This was enough to convince a jury of 12 to provide a not guilty verdict to murder after only 11 hours of deliberation.