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This is a guest post by Maria Rainier.
Unless you have been living under a rock, you have probably heard about Casey Anthony, a 25-year old from Florida who is currently being charged for the possible murder of her 2-year old daughter whose body was found in December of 2008.
In mid-2008, it was reported that Casey’s daughter, Caylee Anthony, had been missing for 31 days but was never reported missing by her mother. (Casey had originally told the police that a nanny took Caylee from her, but pictures surfaced of her partying in clubs while her daughter was missing).
Although Casey’s trial officially started less than a few weeks ago, for the past few years users on various social media sites like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter have been discussing Casey’s “web of lies” in numerous discussion boards.
The Casey Anthony trial is expected to last another six weeks, and if she is found guilty she could be sentenced to death. Her trial has set off a media storm, as popular TV shows like Nancy Grace, Prime News, Issues and even the Dr. Drew show have covered the story and have constantly reported on Casey’s web of lies and her sociopathic ways.
The social media frenzy in the case against Casey
Many are comparing the Casey Anthony trial to the O.J. Simpson trial due to the media frenzy, but unlike the O.J. Simpson trial which occurred in 1995, social media has certainly impacted the Casey Anthony trial coverage.
Not only can you watch the trial live on TV, millions of users have been tapping into sites like orlandosentinel.com, wesh.com and wftv.com to watch the trial and comment on live discussion boards as well.
Furthermore, several journalists from mainstream newspapers are now tweeting from the courtroom so people can get notified about court proceedings if they are at work and are unable to watch the live video online.
How social media has impacted the jury pool
Thanks to social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and even YouTube, the jury process took much longer than expected because both the defense and the prosecution had to ask each and every juror about what sites they accessed on a daily basis.
One prospective juror was excused from attending the trial due to the fact that he posted jury instructions on his Facebook page, and joked about how there was a “book coming soon” on his profile. Another prospective juror had apparently tweeted on their Twitter page that “Cops in Florida are idiots and completely useless,” referring to the fact that it took months to not only find Caylee Anthony’s body, but to charge Casey Anthony with murder as well.
Social media being used as evidence
Not just limited to the jurors, Casey Anthony had also maintained a MSspace page before she was locked up behind bars in late 2008. Due to this fact, a lot of the evidence which has been used in the case, references her various postings on MySpace and Facebook, as well as pictures that were posted online which show her partying in the days and weeks after her daughter went missing.
The social media affecting the Casey Anthony trial is just proof of what is to come, as from now on it will be extremely difficult for both lawyers and judges to have control over all of the evidence and information that is released before and during trials.
For the past two years social media users have been able to access pictures, videos and postings related to the Casey Anthony trial and started discussing the case before it even began, (experts have termed these people as “armchair detectives.”)
Thanks to the latest developments in technology, “innocent until proven guilty” may prove to be difficult, at least when it comes to the “case against Casey Anthony.”
Maria Rainier is a freelance writer and blog junkie. She is currently a resident blogger at First in Education where she’s written on medical equipment repair jobs along with a piece on online surgical technology programs. In her spare time, she enjoys yoga, playing piano, and working with origami.
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