When Innocence Is Not Enough

Julie and Joel

by Diane Fanning

If your child were murdered and you were charged with committing that homicide but you knew you were not the perpetrator, how do you cope with knowing that your innocence simply was not enough to pull you out of the vortex of a criminal justice system operating in an alternative reality?

Can you imagine anything worse ever happening to a parent?  I can't.

It is what happened to Julie Rea after the murder of her ten-year-old son Joel Kirkpatrick.  She described the intruder in her home.  She suffered injuries that the emergency room doctor said could not have been self-inflicted.  She passed lie detector test.  Law enforcement did not believe her. 

Represented by an inexperienced, court-appointed attorney, she was convicted and sentenced to 65 years in prison.

Initially, I did not believe her, either.  I did not place any credibility in what was said by Julie, her friends, her family or her attorneys.   Then, I heard the prosecutor speak.  He said that there were no stranger fingerprints in the house; that no stranger would come into the house to kill a child; that the violence of the crime proved the perpetrator was someone very close to the child; and that a person does not come into someone's home without a weapon and pull a knife out of the kitchen drawer and use it to kill.

That's when I knew Julie Rea might not be guilty because I'd been interviewing serial killer Tommy Lynn Sells for my book Through the Window.  He did all those things at crime scenes.  I didn't suspect him then but thought someone just like him could have committed the crime. 

When I wrote to Sells about what the ridiculous things the prosecutor said, without any details of names, places or dates, he wrote back asking if the crime was committed a couple days before his murder of Stephanie Mahaney in Springfield, Missouri--maybe on the 13th.  That was how his confession began.  Still, I was skeptical until Bill Clutter, investigator for the Downstate Illinois Innocence Project, found corroborating testimony in the town of Lawrenceville, Illinois.



Julie Rea and Diane Fanning

From that moment on, I was convinced and was determined to do what I could to help find justice for Julie Rea.  The Center for Wrongful Convictions and an extraordinary Chicago defense attorney, Ron Safer, became involved.  Julie got a new trial and was acquitted of the crime.  Just last month, she received a Certificate of Actual Innocence from the State of Illinois. Julie handed me the Defender of the Innocent Award from the Downstate Illinois Innocence Project--definitely the highlight of my career as a crime writer.

Whenever anyone maligns the True Crime genre or is dismissive of my writing, I will always think of Julie and the role my book played in her tragic story.  It is just one example of why I think the genre makes a significant contribution and why I feel compelled to keep writing it.

But still something was missing and that was Justice for Joel.  After his murder, if the sheriff's office would have paid any attention to reports of a suspicious stranger in town, maybe deputies could have found Tommy Lynn Sells before he killed again.  But, instead, they myopically focused on proving Julie's guilt, hid some evidence from the defense and ignored anything that did not fit their theory of the case.

Today, even though the state has completely exonerated Julie Rea, the State's Attorney's Office refuses to investigate further--refuses to find Justice for Joel.

This Sunday night, on the Investigation Discovery channel, at 10 pm Eastern, On the Case with Paula Zahn presents A Mother's Nightmare, the story of Julie Rea, her son Joel and the many people including me, who stood up to find Justice for Julie and Joel.

Throughout the trial of Casey Anthony, Diane Fanning, author of Mommy's Little Girl, writes daily about the the pursuit of Justice for Caylee Anthony on her blog, Writing Is a Crime.

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Long Road to Justice for Caylee Anthony

Casey parties after Caylee is gone

by Diane Fanning

This morning, Tuesday at 9 a.m., in an Orange County Courthouse in Orlando, the state of Florida will step to the podium to present the opening arguments in favor of the conviction of Casey Marie Anthony for the murder of her toddler daughter, Caylee Marie Anthony. 

Following that, the defense will present its arguments for a not guilty verdict. Attorney Jose Baez has promised that he will explain why Casey didn't report her daughter missing and answer a lot of other questions in the first three minutes.  Odds are he will claim the death of Caylee was an accident, or he will point the finger of guilt at a member of Casey's immediate family, or perhaps at one of Casey's friends.

The body discovery site

This day of reckoning has been delayed for quite some time. From the moment of Caylee's death in mid-June 2008, her road to justice has been long and full of obstacles. She spent days unnoticed in the trunk of a car driven by her mother, Casey Anthony. She was then dumped in the undergrowth--her location unknown to anyone but her killer.

No one else even knew for nearly five weeks that she was gone.  It was then that her grandmother, Cindy Marie Anthony, reported her missing.  Nearly six months after Caylee was last seen alive, the poor child's decomposed body, with duct tape wrapped around her skull, was found less than half a mile from the Anthony home.

Still, her mother would not admit to what her daughter had done.  She lied again and again and again. Each prevarication more outrageous than the last. And, somehow, Casey seemed to think she would be believed if only she kept lying. 

That string of lies will surely be part of the deliberations of the jury at trial's end.  They'll also consider some controversiaal evidence--the cans of air taken from Casey's car. The defense argued that allowing the jury to smell the contents turns jurors into witnesses. I did not find that argument compelling because it is only a matter of which sense is being invoked. Juries are taken to crime scenes all the time. There they use their eyes to observe. Here the state wants them to use their noses. I can't say that I've seen all that much distance between the two. But as Stacey Dittrich said on the Levi Page Show, the odor from those cans will permeate the area where they are opened. Let's hope for everyone's comfort that they are taken outside to sniff and not expected to smell the odor of decomposition inside a closed space.

Judge Belvin Perry has estimated that the trial will last six to eight weeks.  That length of time seems as optimistic an approximation as his prediction that the jury would be seated in one week; it took twice as long.  Six hundred and forty seven subpoenas have been issued to witnesses--an enormous, time-consuming number. Even if only half of them are called to the stand, it's hard to believe it could be all over before the end of July.  At this point, there is really no way of knowing how long this trial will last.

From June of 2008 until May of 2011 is a long time--nearly three years after Caylee Anthony died. By the time the trial is over, we will be near the date that would have been Caylee's sixth birthday. She's waited a long time for justice. Let's hope Caylee Anthony finds it in the courtroom of Judge Perry.

Diane Fanning is the author of the best-selling Mommy's Little Girl, the only book about the death of Caylee Anthony. Watch for updates about the Anthony case on Diane Fanning's blog, Writing is a Crime,

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Is Justice Ever Possible for Dyke and Karen Rhoads?

by Diane Fanning

"I'm told I'm naive to expect prosecutors in an adversarial system of justice to seek truth rather than victory and go wherever the evidence leads them. Until now, this story seemed to underscore that naivete and serve as yet another frightening example of how the engine of the State, once in motion, can roll right over the innocent as well as the guilty."  –Eric Zorn, Chicago Tribune

I knew the basic outline of facts in the 1986 double murder of Dyke and Karen Rhoads. I knew that two innocent men, Herb Whitlock and Randy Steidl, were convicted of that crime. Herb received a life sentence, Randy the death penalty.

I knew there were problems with the investigation. I had no idea of the extent of the problems. If it weren't for Bill Clutter, investigator with the Downstate Illinois Innocence Project, maybe none of us would have ever known.

Clutter traced the unethical behavior of law enforcement back to the original investigators in Paris, Illinois. They rounded up two witnesses: the town drunk and a known drug addict. They plied the two with booze and fed them the story of Herb and Randy's responsibility. It didn't matter that they contradicted each other in places. It didn't matter that other, more reliable witnesses possessed information that made their stories lies–the investigators simply ignored that information.

The unethical–in fact, criminal–behavior of these officers was complicated by the less than honest prosecution team. Ed Parkinson and David Rands hid exculpatory evidence from the defense. The two state's attorneys were familiar to me; they also played a major role in the perversion of justice that resulted in the wrongful conviction of Julie Rea.

After years behind bars, the injustice perpetrated on Herb Whitlock and Randy Steidl was finally receiving the attention it deserved, thanks to Clutter's relentless investigation. The Center for Wrongful Convictions rallied to their cause, and 48 Hours began producing a show about the case.

That's when Michale Callahan entered the picture. Callahan, a lieutenant with the Illinois State Police, was newly promoted to investigations commander over a nine-county area in Eastern Illinois. His first assignment: Take a fresh look at the murder of Dyke and Karen Rhoads.

When he started on the case in 2000, Callahan assumed that he was expected to uncover the truth.  He believed that if he found merit in anything uncovered in his investigation, it would lead to a re-opening of the case.  Soon, he learned that the truth was the last thing the state wanted to find.

At first, he thought he must be mistaken about his suspicions.  He had always believed the Illinois State Police where he'd served for decades was an honorable institution–above politics and dedicated to justice.  That idealism was soon dashed when he stood in the office of his superior officer.  She told him that he could not re-open the case.  It was "too politically sensitive."

Callahan was not a political puppet.  He was a man of principle.  He could not accept the fact that any murder was "too politically sensitive."  Although he'd been ordered to stop investigation of the case, he continued to work with federal law enforcement in any way he could.  He'd discovered a fetid stream of corruption running through the state government and its agencies, iincluding the Illinois State Police. He could not ignore that.

Callahan's reward for pursing truth and justice?  His payment for uncovering institutional corruption?  He was removed from the investigations and stuck in a desk job in the patrol  division.  They insisted it was a lateral move for the betterment of the department, but Callahan knew better.

Michale Callahan's book, Too Politically Sensitive, is the story of the corrupt culture in the highest reaches of Illinois government, the pursuit for justice for the Rhoads and the cover-up order by the highest ranks in the administration of the Illinois State Police.

It is a warning to all of us.  Illinois is only the canary in the coal mine.  There is corruption in every state that needs to be ferreted out before it takes complete control of our system of justice as it has in the Land of Lincoln.

Yes, Herb Whitlock and Randy Steidl have been vindicated and released from prison after approximately two decades behind bars.  What about the two victims, Dyke and Karen Rhoads?  Will they ever find justice?   Even if new dedicated, ethical detectives took over the case at this point, the original investigation has been so compromised, it would probably be impossible to identify and convict the real killers.

Instead, those who committed the cold-blooded, vicious murders of Dyke and Karen Rhoads still walk among us–smug in knowing they got away with murder, confident in the protection they continue to receive from a corrupt state agency and the excessively unethical prosecutors who orchestrated this travesty of justice.  And no one has been punished for perpetrating this deliberate miscarriage–no one but the one man who blew the whistle.

When the Casey Anthony trial begins, currently scheduled for May, you'll find daily updates of the case on Diane Fanning's blog, Writing is a Crime.

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Casey Anthony Drama Approaches Final Act

By Diane Fanning

As we get closer and closer to the trial of Casey Anthony for the murder of her toddler daughter Caylee, it is looking more likely that the end will be anticlimatic.  Instead of terminating in one explosive scene after another on a tense courtroom stage, it appears as if it will end with an abrupt drop of the curtain as Casey whispers "guilty."  A last minute plea bargain seems nearly inevitable.

I know a lot of people will disagree with me saying that Casey is too narcissistic to accept any level of responsibility for her actions, and her lead attorney Jose Baez is too arrogant and media-hungry to let this one go.  Those arguments have merit.  But many stubborn clients have succumbed when they truly accept the real possibility that the curtain call will be a lethal injection.

You see the signs of willingness to deal on both sides.  Baez is acting reckless with the judge--burning bridges through neglect and frontal assault.  He's missed the judge's deadlines even after being cited for the same offense.  Then last week, he topped it all with a motion for a rehearing.  He wrote that Judge Perry had inaccurate facts and was biased.  He didn't ask the judge to recuse himself.  He simply threw a gauntlet.

The defense did have a point--albeit a small one.  The judge did incorrectly describe the room where Casey had her initial lengthy discussion with law enforcement but everyone understood his meaning.   Did Baez and costar Cheney Mason really think the judge would give them a do-over by allowing a rehearing?  If they did, they were wrong.  He denied that request, like so many others.

The victim: Caylee Anthony

The defense is also sounding desperate.  Baez's voice even quavered during arguments about evidence last week.  He's acting like a man who knows that if he can't get the evidence thrown out, he doesn't have a chance at trial.  I'm surprised he hasn't filed a motion denying the existence of Caylee Anthony.

Before this week is out, they'll all be back in the courtroom where Baez and Mason will argue about the inclusion at trial of the stain in the car trunk, all references to the smell of the car and dismissal of any mentions of the heart sticker placed on the duct tape fastened over little Caylee's mouth.

Judge Perry may give him one or two wins in his mountains of motions but not enough to weaken the state's case appreciably. Baez is not the country's most brilliant legal mind but even he can understand how dire things look for his client.

On the other side of the aisle, the prosecutors are feeling the pressure of budgetary concerns and the ruling that there has been sufficient pre-trial publicity to warrant not selecting jurors from Orlando or Orange County.  Rather than make a change of venue, Judge Perry decided to import a jury from elsewhere.

When Ninth Judicial Circuit Court spokesman Karen Levey estimated the cost of supporting that sequestered jury for eight weeks would be $360,000, an outcry arose.  Lydia Gardner, the clerk of circuit courts in Orange County said that without more funding from the state senate, the court could not afford a trial for Casey Anthony.  Florida, like just about every other state in the Union, is seeking to cut expenses, not to find places to dole out taxpayer dollars.

To me, it seems the stage is set for a plea bargain.  And it could come at the very last moment.  I sat in the courtroom on the first day of jury selection for the Richard McFarland trial and it happened right before my eyes.  I found it hard to believe that an agreement was not reached before that moment in time.

Will the players in the Casey Anthony drama all gather on the stage before a packed courtroom audience and the eager cameras of In Session for a performance that will never begin?  Or will the show go on?

May 9 is less than six weeks away.

Diane Fanning is the author of MOMMY'S LITTLE GIRL, the only published book about the tragic fate of little Caylee Anthony.  When the Casey Anthony trial begins, you'll find daily updates of the case on Diane Fanning's blog, Writing is a Crime.

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Ponderous Plodding toward Justice for Caylee Anthony

Casey Anthony

by Diane Fanning

Sometimes the gears of justice turn so slowly that they appear to be frozen in place. This month, Casey Anthony hit a milestone: 853 days in custody since her arrest in October 2008. She now has the distinction as the longest-serving female inmate in the population at Orange County corrections center, the area's county jail.

Nonetheless, with the trial less than three months away, it appears that justice is about to catch up to her and grind her to bits. Recent events look very grim for the defense.

Casey's attorney, Jose Baez, was fined by the judge for missing a deadline last December and has missed yet another one. He is under investigation for the second time in the last three years by the Florida Bar Association, and the prosecutor's office has launched a parallel tampering investigation sighting Baez in the crosshairs. The prosecutors are now asking the judge to hold the attorney in contempt of court.

A much ballyhooed defense witness, volunteer searcher Laura Buchanan,  is at the root of the tampering issue.  She signed a form swearing that Caylee's remains were not at the location where they were later found.  She wrote: "It is my opinion that the remains of Caylee Anthony were not there during the time of our search.  I personally searched near the privacy fence and worked my way towards and then beyond where the body was found.  I did not notice anything unusual."

Caylee Anthony

This statement supported the defense's claim that Caylee was placed in that spot after Casey was already in jail. Therefore, someone else committed the crime. However, Ms. Buchanan had a Texas Equusearch form in her possession that she should not have had. Buchanan has now admitted to altering that form after meeting with the defense. She said, "I can't say that to be true because I still to this day don't know where she was found, what area or what she was near."

On top of that, matters have not gone well for the defense recently in the motions they filed. Baez wanted the lying and stealing history of his client kept out of the courtroom.  Judge Belvin Perry, however, said, "The state may be able to introduce evidence of collateral acts--such as lying and stealing--which are inexorably intertwined with the crime charged if necessary to adequately describe the deed, provide an intelligent account of the crime charged, establish the entire context out of which the charged crime arose or adequately describe events leading up to the charged crime."

From Casey's MySpace page

Perry also ruled that Casey's MySpace entries in her "Diary of Days" were admissible to show Casey's state of mind at the time of the crime. He did exclude use of the Jib Jab cartoon about the case. He also stood with the prosecution on the issue of Casey's tattoo, "La Bella Vita," declaring that any possible prejudicial affect was far outweighed by the probative value.

As to the testimony of the Anthony's neighbor, Brian Burner, about his shovel, Perry said, "There is nothing inherently prejudicial about borrowing a shovel, nor is a shovel 'gruesome' evidence that would intend to inflame the passions of the jury."

Anthony Lazzaro

Although the judge tossed out testimony from Anthony Rusciano about sexual relations with Casey and ruled the same on details of her sexual liaison with Anthony Lazzaro, he did allow that her relationship with the latter Anthony during the time period in question was "highly relevant," viewing her demeanor at the time and in light of the fact that she never mentioned to him that her daughter was missing.

The defense motions to exclude evidence seem never ending.  We haven't heard resolutions to all of them yet.  I can't imagine the judge throwing out Casey's statements to the police in which she lied about the nanny and her daughter's whereabouts in the summer of 2008, but I am anxious to her the judge's ruling.

The case looks--almost--like a cakewalk for the prosecution. The one sticking point may be proving to the jury's satisfaction that Caylee was a victim of homicide. Medical Examiner Jan Garavaglia could not determine a cause of death because of the ravages of decomposition. Intuitively, it is obvious that Caylee was murdered; her body was found stuffed in a laundry bag and tossed in an overgrown area.

Will that be enough for the jury? Or will they demand more before convicting Casey Anthony of premeditated murder? We will find out soon, enough, because the trial is scheduled to start in May.

Diane Fanning is the author of Mommy's Little Girl, the only published book about the murder of Caylee Anthony.  When the Casey Anthony trial begins, currently scheduled for May, you'll find daily updates of the case on Diane Fanning's blog, Writing is a Crime.

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The Tragic Life of Kelsey Smith-Briggs

by Diane Fanning

No matter what the circumstances, it is a tragic event when a 2 year old dies.  It's even worse when the child is murdered. Kelsey Smith-Briggs lost her life on October 11, 2005 at her home near Meeker, Oklahoma.

This death troubles me more than usual because of the many problems and questions that hang in the air more than five years later. My first concern is that the people hired by the state to look after the best interests of the children of Oklahoma, clearly did not perform their duty. No question about that since a judge awarded Kelsey's father more than half-a-million dollars because of their dereliction of duty.

There was no doubt in anyone's mind that Kelsey was being abused. The question was, by whom?  Her stepfather,  her father, her stepmother, her mother, her grandmothers? Did it all happen in one household or in multiple homes? The poor little girl suffered two broken legs and a broken collar bone in the year leading up to her death. 

Family members on both sides pointed the finger of blame at one another. The animosity between the two sides had escalated since Lance Briggs and Raye Dawn Smith had divorced before Kelsey was born. The Oklahoma Department of Human Services and Judge Craig Key could not sort out all the claims and counter-claims but transferred custody several times with varying of levels of visitation to the various parties. They never completely removed her from the situation where she was clearly in danger or reported her injuries to law enforcement.

Initially, the state charged stepfather Mike Porter (right) with first degree murder. Later, they added a charge of child sexual abuse. It all fit together.  The reports of suspicions injuries to Kelsey began at the same time that Porter entered her life. Prosecutors claimed that she died after Porter delivered a hard blow to her abdomen. Her mother Raye Dawn Smith was under suspicion but continued to cooperate with police, wanted an autopsy--although Porter objected--and hired a private investigator to look into her daughter's murder. 

At first, child neglect charges were expected to be filed against Raye Dawn. Filing a neglect complaint seemed reasonable to me. In another case, I felt that Rusty Yates should have been charged with child neglect when his wife Andrea drowned all five of their children. But he was not. 

This apparent legal bias baffles and disturbs me. Men are traditionally seen as the protectors of their families and, yet, fathers never seem to be held accountable when they do not fulfill that role. On the other hand, mothers are often charged with a crime for not protecting their child. The legal system does not place equal responsibility on both parents. A man is assumed free of blame while a woman is assumed guilty unless she loses her own life protecting her child.

Four months after the toddler's death, the state brought two charges against Raye Dawn (left): child neglect and enabling child abuse. But who committed the abuse? It seems logical to me that if you can determine who killed the little girl, it should lead you directly to the person responsible for her abuse. But no one has ever been convicted of Kelsey's murder; the state of Oklahoma has held no one responsible. 

The only person who testified that he witnessed multiple incidents of Kelsey's mother abusing her daughter--Mike Porter, the same person the state charged with murder. The prosecutor told the jurors that they knew Porter was responsible for the sexual abuse and murder of Kelsey but still he made a deal with the devil. Did they really think that an individual who sexually molested and murdered a 2-year-old child would tell the truth? Did they not realize he would lie to save himself?

Apparently. they did but didn't care. They made an offer: They'd drop the murder charge and give him a 30-year sentence if he would plead guilty to enabling child abuse and testify against Raye Dawn. Prosecutors allowed him to lie on the stand about his own involvement in the child's death, contradicting, in their closing arguments, his testimony. Aside from his testimony and the anecdote revealed by a suspiciously last-minute addition to the witness list, there was no evidence that Raye Dawn was the person who abused Kelsey. There was innuendo. There was circumstantial evidence.  But one thing was clear: Raye Dawn was not present when her daughter died.

The identical charge they placed against Raye Dawn was enabling child abuse. She was found guilty got a twenty-seven-year sentence.  Was there any proof that she was aware that Mike Porter abused her child? No. Even the Meeker police put the broken collarbone down as an accident. And the Department of Human Services report indicated that the broken legs were either caused by Raye Dawn or by Lance's parents. The judge ruled that there was no way to know who had committed the abuse.

The emotionally overwrought trial of Raye Dawn was filled with unanswered questions. If Raye Dawn is guilty only of sins of omission in not protecting her daughter, she has served enough time. If Mike Porter did, as the evidence indicates, sexually assault and murder the toddler, he should man-up and tell the truth for Kelsey's sake--to give that poor child a measure of justice denied to her by the courts and the prosecution. I don't see that happening. Parents in Oklahoma can only hope he doesn't live long enough to walk out of prison a free man.

This case has become such a tangle, it is impossible to be certain of much. Two things, in my mind, are without dispute: The system failed Kelsey when it did not protect from abuse and murder, and they failed her again when they denied her the justice of convicting her killer of murder.

When the Casey Anthony trial begins next year, you'll find daily updates of the case on Diane Fanning's blog, Writing is a Crime.

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Thanksgiving and Dads

by Diane Fanning

It's difficult to think about Thanksgiving without thinking about your dad. I can still see him standing at the end of the loaded dining room table, hovering over a golden turkey, a large knife and piercing fork poised in the air. He'd pause as he calculated just the right angle and the perfect place to sink the blade.

He'd slice the breast in consistently thin pieces--I still don't know how he managed that. Then, he'd masterfully separate one drumstick and then the other, passing one to my brother and placing the second leg on his plate.

I also remember the sad Thanksgiving. The one where we had hot dogs and baked beans. My Dad worked at the Baltimore Fisher Body plant of General Motors. Every year in August, he'd be laid off for two or three weeks while they turned over the machines to accommodate that year's new models. During that particular year, his union went on strike the same day he was supposed to return to work. On Thanksgiving, he still was without work, without pay and with three kids to feed. We were lucky to get the hot dogs. It made all of us appreciate the turkey even more when the next Thanksgiving rolled around.

Now, all I have of my Dad are memories. He passed away in 2005. At first, my father-in-law filled in the Dad gap. Then last year, he died, too. Both men suffered through years of progressively worsening dementia. They inspired my fourth Lucinda Pierce mystery, Twisted Reason.

It appears that their inspiration led me in the right direction. Publishers Weekly wrote: "Edgar-finalist Fanning skillfully illuminates the heartbreaking challenges facing Alzheimer’s victims and their families in her fourth mystery featuring Virginia homicide detective Lucinda Pierce."

In Kirkus Reviews: "As usual, Fanning poses Lucinda a quirky mystery, this time providing a thoughtful look at the stress of those caring for loved ones with dementia."

In this week of Thanksgiving, I am thankful for the encouragement and inspiration dads give their daughters, and for the special insight that I received from two terrific Dads: Leon Butcher and Bill Fanning.

Happy Thanksgiving.

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Is 'Adequate and Competent' Enough?

by Diane Fanning 

Down in Orlando, the Casey Anthony pre-trial hearings are stirring up serious legal questions concerning an indigent defendant’s right to qualified defense counsel. Unfortunately, up until now, this issue has been obscured by the circus-like atmosphere that has surrounded this case since Cindy Anthony called 9-1-1.

Many people are complaining that someone like Casey Anthony does not deserve for a single penny of taxpayer money to be spent paying her high priced attorneys. Part of the reason for this outcry is the long amount of time that has transpired since Caylee Anthony disappeared. When jury selection begins, it will be nearly 35 months since Caylee was last seen alive.

The other part of the objection is the apparent guilt of Casey Anthony. I’ll admit that I found the forensic data and the interviews with Casey to be compelling evidence of her involvement in the death of her daughter. Nonetheless, our judicial system is based on the presumption of innocence. Everyone is entitled to have the determination of guilt be made in a court of law. To strip people like Casey of that right is to imperil all of our civil liberties.

The third aspect of the response is an emotional one. On one side of the equation, we have a self-centered, selfish, spoiled young woman. On the other side, an adorable, innocent child, not quite three years old. Your heart must side with Caylee. To make matters worse, the accused murderer has been proven to be a liar, even by her own admission. She has been proven to be a thief by stealing from her own grandmother. She has been proven to care little for her own daughter, as shown by the 30 fun-filled days she spent before being forced to admit that Caylee was missing. It's hard not to despise Casey and nearly impossible to give her the benefit of the doubt. Yet, when it comes to the legal presumption of innocence, it is her right. And, it is in our best interests to ensure that right is not violated.

The issue is much larger and more important than Casey Anthony. It goes to the basic premise of equality under the law. Eighty per cent of the experts in the field of capital case law agree than there is bias in the administration of the death penalty based on social class. In other words, the more money you have to spend on your defense team, the less likely you are to receive the death penalty. That very concept thwarts our principle of equality under the law.

Take the case of Robert Durst. He decapitated his neighbor and claimed self-defense. He had millions at his disposal to buy the best defense team available. In the end, he walked away from the courtroom after the jury bought into the arguments of his attorney. Do you really think the outcome would have been the same if the story had involved a poor man who had no choice but to rely on the adequate and competent counsel of a court-appointed attorney? I certainly don't.

How can we uphold our principles that ensure justice is blind and we are all equal in the eyes of the law?

Ideally, every guilty person would honestly acknowledge their responsibility when charged with a crime, leaving only the decision of how much weight to give to mitigating circumstances when assessing a sentence. But it is not, and never will be, an ideal world. Someone who is willing to take another's life is not going to balk at lying to attempt to save his skin.

Casey Anthony is certainly a case in point. To date, her defense has cost approximately $300,000. Since she was ruled to be indigent in March of this year, the defense has received nearly $40,000 in taxpayer funding, although her legal team has requested far more than that.

Last week, Jose Baez and his team asked for more money for their private investigator (300 additional hours at $40 per hour). Judge Blevin Perry granted only one-fifth of that amount. Perry would not allow any travel expense reimbursement for the new death penalty expert. When the defense asked for $7,500 for a psychological expert, he only granted $2,500. The judge made his position clear: The law requires an adequate defense, not the best defense possible. "I'm not going to write an open check."

WKMG's Tony Pipitone summed up the day in the courtroom: "The law says indigent defendants are entitled to a defense that's competent. But they are not entitled to an O.J. defense unless they can pay for it themselves."

But is that right? Should people like O.J. Simpson be entitled to a better defense than you or I merely because they can afford it? Is that what justice is all about--the size of your wallet

Maybe it's time to think about trial financial reform. The scales should be balanced. Nonetheless, it is unreasonable to expect the taxpayers to shoulder the additional burden of the best defense for the indigent. Maybe we should consider restricting the expenditures of wealthy defendants.

I don't know if that's the answer or if it is even a possibility, but equality under the law requires consideration for all solutions that might lead to the elimination of bias in the courtroom.

Diane Fanning is the author of Mommy's Little Girl: Casey Anthony and Her Daughter Caylee's Tragic Fate.  When the Casey Anthony trial begins next year, you'll find daily updates of the case on Diane Fanning's blog, Writing is a Crime.

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Shirley Winters: Evil or Insane?

by Diane Fanning

Roughly twenty percent of serial killers are women. Of serial arsonists, less then twelve percent are female. Shirley Winters was both.

Over twenty-seven years, she killed four children, attempted to murder a fifth and was responsible for setting eighteen fires. And yet, until recently when I talked to St. Lawrence County Fire Investigator Joe Lacks (below right with K9 Alex), I had never heard of her.

The trail of crime began on September 12, 1979, when Shirley killed her 3-year-old daughter Colleen with blunt force trauma to her head. She also injured her 18-month-old son Johnny and left him for dead. Then she set fire to her parents' cottage in Theresa, New York. John died of smoke inhalation. Shirley was never charged.

On November 21, 1980, she smothered her 5-month-old son Ronald. His death was labeled a case of sudden-death syndrome.

Shirley was arrested for arson in connection with two seperate fires at her mobile home in Otisco, New York, in 1981. She pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of criminal mischief and was sentenced to three years probation and mandated counseling.

The next year, she set a fire that destroyed her mobile home. Again, there was a plea agreement that allowed her to remain free.

On November 12, 1986, a fire broke out in the apartment complex in Marcellus where Shirley lived. She was not considered a suspect at the time, but investigators were not aware of her history.

On that same date in 1989, she set a fire in the basement storage room of the house where she lived. She grabbed her two youngest children, but told 5-year-old Joy to stay in the house. When Shirley ran for help, she said she could not find her older daughter. Fortunately, Joy did not listen to her mother. She was found whimpering on the front porch of the blazing home. Shirley was found "Not guilty" of arson.

Shirley started another blaze on January 6, 1990, in her new home. Custody of her children was awarded to her ex-husband. On March 18, she set another fire in a house she shared with two adults. On September 21, she torched the garage of her aunt's home. On October 5, she set the same place on fire again, this time destroying both the garage and the house. She topped that off the following January by assaulting the officer who arrived to arrest her after she made harassing calls to a neighbor.

In October, 1991, Shirley was sentenced to state prison for one to three years. She remained behind bars until November 1992 when she was released on parole. Except for harassment and larceny charges, her record remained clear until January 17, 1997 when she set a trailer on fire. Then in April, she ignited another blaze in the home of her mother, who had died in an automobile accident two months earlier. This time, Shirley was incarcerated for eight years.

She was the same person after serving time. On November 28, 2006, just three days before little Ryan Rivers would turn 2 years old, Shirley drowned him in the bathtub in the home. He was found flat on his back, fully clothed, in the bathtub. She set fire to a neighbor's trailer on December 31 before her arrest for the homicide of Ryan.

On June 16, 2008, she received a 20-year sentence for Ryan's death. The next day, she received an eight-and-a-half to 25 year sentence for killing her son, Ronald, in 1980. She will be eligible for parole in 2025 when she is 67 years old.

But that's not the whole story of Shirley Winters. Many believe her problems go back to 1966 when she was only 7 years old. She was at her grandmother's house that night when a natural gas leak caused the family home to fill with carbon monoxide fumes. Her 10-year-old brother Peter and her sisters, 4-year-old Liteta and 11-year-old Joyce, died.

After that, her cousins said she would bite, throw things and claw at people with her fingernails. Her classmates called her Squirelly Shirley. She told a psychiatrist that her sexual molestation began after the fire. And the violence escalated.

She was first admitted into a mental health facility in 1978. In all, she has been in psychiatric wards twenty-eight times over thirty years. She's attempted suicide on multiple occasions. She's been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, schizophrenia, disassociative disorder, bipolar disorder, psychogenic amnesia, pyromania and, even once, with anti-social personality disorder.

And yet, she was diagnosed and released, sometimes in as little as two days. Shirley was clearly a danger to herself and to others and still she was released to wreak havoc in the lives of others again and again.

Maybe there weren't enough indicators to spare the lives of her own children, Colleen, Johnny (left) and Ronald, but, surely, the signs were obvious before the death of Ryan Rivers. I cannot understand why she was not forcibly committed until, if ever, mental health professionals could affect a change in her illness, outlook and behavior.

With someone as dangerous as Shirley Winters, does it really matter whether she's evil or crazy? The important question is this: How can society be protected from the serial malignant acts of Shirley Winters and others just like her?

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