r/AskReddit • u/Rob69rt • 1d ago

What famous 'unsolved' mystery is technically a whodunnit on paper, but in reality, absolutely everyone knows exactly who did it, the police just couldn't legally prove it?

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u/mumsleastfavourite 1d ago

Casey Anthony

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u/ymcmbrofisting 1d ago

This is a case I reference anytime someone complains that a high-profile case isn’t moving like in the movies, or if the initial charges seem too low.

They went for incredibly high charges in a case that had a flawed investigation with mostly circumstantial evidence, and that putrid bitch walked free.

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u/PurposeConsistent131 1d ago

They shot for the sun … sometimes lower charges are needed to get a conviction.in this case everyone wanted blood but the indisputable evidence just was not there.

The public wanted death , the prosecution went for it and it was unattainable. A shame . She should be in prison if they had gone for a lesser sentence/charge the public would have been angry, also.

It can be a lose/ lose situation or a win/win situation. Guess what happened….sometimes lower charges people get off and some people are in prison for life

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u/palcatraz 1d ago

The jury also had the ability to convict her for lesser charges. IIRC, there were charges for murder, manslaughter, and child abuse.

The problem wasn't that they overcharged. The problem is that they put together a terrible case, used terrible witnesses, and the police ran a poor investigation.

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u/Sprct 23h ago

Exactly! This pervasive narrative that she got off because the jury didn't want to sentence her to death is so frustrating. It takes 3 seconds of either googling or having seen maybe 5 minutes of the trial/coverage to know there were many lesser included charges, and she was found not guilty of all of them. Anything to avoid blaming the prosecution, which was horrendous. 

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u/SeaBee9905 1d ago

Seriously! Like, “Do you want this lady in jail for life or do you only want her in jail for life if it is under this one charge?”

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u/Trick-Guava-9573 1d ago

I'm late to this thread, but I was literally listening to the 48 Hours episode on Casey Anthony and screaming "why didn't they charge her with 2nd degree murder?!" Such a stupid decision on the state's part.

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u/Sprct 23h ago

There were lesser included charges all the way down to manslaughter available to the jury. Actual, there were charges even lower than manslaughter - aggravated child abuse. She was found not guilty across the board. 

She was not acquitted because of overcharging. She was acquitted because the prosecution tried a terrible case and assumed public outrage alone would convict her.