Competent

If you've been watching the Casey Anthony trial, you probably have an opinion by now as to whether or not she is guilty. I've tried to watch the summaries in the evening and keep an open mind, only because I wanted to view the evidence presented to the jury to imagine what they were thinking. But, that is pretty hard to do when I've read (like so many have) just about everything that was released into State's evidence since day one, so I feel like I have the inside scoop that he jury lacks. (I still have such a hard time imagining that they found an impartial jury who hadn't heard much about the case...there is SO much out there.)

Some of the big evening debates on HLN cover whether or not Casey sustained sexual abuse by her father and brother, whether or not Caylee could have gotten into the pool herself, whether or not her parents are lying for her, and whether or not Roy Kronk had something more to do with the case than "just" finding Caylee's remains.

I feel like those points are moot. We can debate those all day long and likely, we'll never know the truth.

The truth is what stands out so clearly to me: a mother who loves her baby does not go on a date to rent movies the night that her child dies, whether accidentally drowned or otherwise. She doesn't enter a "hot body" contest four days later. She doesn't live it up and get tattoos and steal money and commit fraud. She doesn't make up elaborate lies about where the child is, or invent mysterious people to frame her stories.

Some people would look at that summary and say that Casey had lost it. I look at it and say that she was going for broke, doing whatever the heck she wanted to do, and certainly wasn't thinking about the future.

I know that people are quick to bust out the "mentally ill" card, but really? I know there are all kinds of menal illness...my mother was a clinician for over 40 years, and I've also known my fair share of imbalanced people. Heck, I've felt a little off balance at times. But to me, if you know the difference between right and wrong...if you know that something is wrong enough to hide it...you aren't crazy. You may be a selfish, sick piece of garbage, but you aren't crazy. And if you say you are, it's an insult to every person who is struggling with mental illness and ISN'T out partying the day after her child "disappears."

Three psychologists evaluated Casey this weekend and all came to the same conclusion: she is competent. I was not surprised that they found Casey competent, but I did think it was interesting that Britney Spears is still considered to be incompetent to testify in court, and she's been under conservatorship for years. But I still think she is better "behaved" than Casey and appears to be far less devious. Hmm.

I dont' feel that the Anthony's are especially disfunctional...from what I've seen, George and Cindy's only failure is raising a daughter who has no accountability. They certainly could not have ever imagined that a lack of discipline (and a ton of love) could have lead to this. They may have had glimpses that something was a little off with Casey...the lying, the instances where elements of her stories just didn't add up... But I think it's actually pretty common to try to overlook those red flags in the family and hope that everything will shake out. It's a phase. Things will get better. That kind of thing. They were not a disfunctional family. They were functioning. They are still trying to function, even after this incredible loss, even after this unbelieveable amount of stress.

They are now doing what humans do: adapting, surviving, trying.

Only a few days left for the Defense. What do you think will happen?