Incompetence needs attention! - Part II

The Law & Order/CSI like drama surrounding Casey Anthony has come to a surprising close. After weeks of testimonies and years of curiosity a 'fair' jury found 25-year old Ms. Anthony not guilty of first degree murder of her 2 year old daughter. It hasn't been an overwhelming obsession for me as it has been for a lot of Americans. I haven't been glued to news channels and paying attention to every intricate detail on a daily basis; but I did keep up with each day's summary regarding happenings in court. I'm not one who's against the death penalty. I believe that if you commit intentional 'evil' crimes then you should pay for it, with your life. But the verdict of this case has made me question the effectiveness of the jury in decisions pertaining to my life or death. An obvious, smack-you-in-the-face kind of trial as this was mishandled by 12 ordinary people who have failed to provide justice for an innocent little girl.
2 year old Caylee goes missing, and instead of reporting to authorities her mother is seen partying and having late nights in local bars and nightclubs. She has made up stories and characters to cover her lies and 'estranged' behavior. She has tampered investigations by misleading the police and distracting them with unnecessary disturbing fiction that ultimately worked in her favor. Granted that the prosecution didn't have much more than circumstantial evidence to link her to the crime, but common sense and social behavior has been completely disregarded. Isn't emotional intelligence a good reason to question and confirm behavior? All throughout the testimony Ms. Anthony hasn't shed a single tear unless it was regarding herself. She has put her own family's honor into jeopardy by claiming she was abused by her father and her brother just so she can explain why she behaved in a 'strange' manner when her daughter went missing. This was, of course, not proven and the judge eventually forbade the defense to use this angle in the case any further.
This is a case with overwhelming and substantial reason to believe she killed her own daughter. Instead, the jury took only 11 hours of deliberation to conclude that she was not guilty and could possibly walk free. Any jury verdict has to be a unanimous decision. Each and every juror must agree and be convinced of the group vote. Really? Out of the 12 people on the bench, not even one took longer than 11 hours to question this erratic behavior by a supposedly 'innocent' mom? If this is the level of intelligence and conscientiousness that is going to be demonstrated in criminal cases involving life and death, then perhaps it is unfair to have capital punishment in the legal system in the first place. This case has proven that jurors can not only be incompetent and clueless, but can also be easily manipulated and disregard obvious facts.
And hey, Florida has once again raised questions of credibility. Like the mess up in the 2000 election wasn't enough, now they are set on letting murderers walk free!