Bill O'Reilly: Good News and Bad News in Casey Anthony Trial
July 8, 2011

By Bill O'Reilly

First the good news, and it is scant. Judge Belvin Perry gave Ms. Anthony the maximum sentence for lying, four years. But she will be released next week because of time served and good behavior in jail. So Ms. Anthony walks while her 2-year-old daughter Caylee's murder remains unsolved.

In addition, Florida Representative Bill Hager from Boca Raton has introduced legislation called Caylee's Law that would make it a felony for a parent or legal guardian to fail to report a missing child to authorities. That law should be passed immediately in every state.

Now for the bad news. Obviously Casey Anthony does not deserve to walk free. Most Americans understand that. If you don't think she's a killer, just the fact that she did not report her 2-year-old missing for 30 days means the woman should spend a long time in prison.

Ms. Anthony's good fortune that she will soon be free is directly because of the jury's verdict. So far, just one juror has spoken out:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TERRY MORAN, ABC NEWS: A lot of people might say how are you going to sleep at night?

JENNIFER FORD, CASEY ANTHONY JUROR: I'm going to sleep just fine because I had -- in this country, that's our Constitution. I applied the law. I did the best I could. I tried to make it work. I was reaching. I was trying to, you know, like I said, if they are all three there and no medical attention is given then that's -- that's -- what's it? Culpable negligence, failure to provide safety and medical care and things like that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

What on earth is Jennifer Ford talking about? Failure to provide safety and medical care for what? Are you kidding me? There is no evidence that Caylee Anthony died from an accident. None. It was a theory from the defense team, and when crunch time came they couldn't present a shred of evidence to back up the theory. Yet Jennifer Ford -- and I believe other jurors -- apparently believes there could have been an accident involved. Based on what? Maybe a Martian came down and put duct tape over Caylee's mouth? Juries have to operate on facts, not irresponsible, unproved theories.

The fact that Ms. Ford would say that on national television, that she believes an accident might have occurred, is chilling. Again, how the heck would she know? No evidence establishes any accident. So here we have a jury member failing to convict Casey Anthony on murder charges and pointing to a theory to justify the decision. That's insane.

If alleged murderers can get acquitted based on theoretical fantasies, then our entire justice system has collapsed. It's that simple.

And that's "The Memo."

Pinheads & Patriots

As you may know, Judge Belvin Perry sentenced Casey Anthony to four years in prison on Thursday for lying to investigators, which she was convicted of. Because of time served and so-called good behavior, Ms. Anthony will be released next week. Judge Perry gave Ms. Anthony the maximum sentence because I believe he believes she's guilty as hell. I also think the judge did an excellent job in a very frustrating case, as the defense team tried every trick in the book to confuse the jury. Of course, no proceeding is perfect and the judge made some mistakes, but overall Judge Belvin Perry is a patriot.

— You can catch Bill O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo" and "Pinheads & Patriots" weeknights at 8 and 11 p.m. ET on the Fox News Channel and any time on foxnews.com/oreilly. Send your comments to: oreilly@foxnews.com.

Transcript Date: 
Thu, 07/07/2011
Transcript Show Name: 
O'Reilly Factor
Posted by BillOReilly.com Staff at 7:55 AM
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