Dead children get no relief

Two verdicts came out in 2 trials involving children yesterday.

Closer to home there was the trial of Guy Turcotte, who killed his 2 children by stabbing them, probably in a fit of rage. He was held not criminally responsible. Which pissed off a lot of people. How can he not be criminally responsible?? He admitted to drinking windshield washer fluid and killing his children by stabbing them more then 40 times?

From across the border there was the trial of Casey Anthony over the death of her daughter Caylee Anthony. Another gut wrenching story that has been riveting audiences for several years. The final verdict, she was held not guilty of killing her daughter.

In both cases the verdict certainly didn't reflect popular opinions or the media. Most people wanted to throw those 2 people in jail and toss away the key. However one has to consider that in each case a jury of 12 people, supposedly of their peers, spent weeks, probably sequestered, trying to go through all the evidence and coming to a verdict.  I always read that a verdict has to be "beyond a reasonable doubt". Both may be guilty, but if the evidence left the jurors wondering, isn't it better that they 'acquit' a guilty person then put in jail an innocent?

Many of us are so disturbed by these 2 verdicts that we want to impose our own sense of justice, but then at that point we become judge, jury and executioner as well as a lynch mob. How many cases seemed a slam dunk 20 years ago, and now we're slowly checking DNA and realizing that we have jailed, or even executed innocent people.

I'd like to think that the juries in both cases gave it lots of consideration and we should respect their findings even if we think that they made a mistake.