Much like everyone else in the world, I was intrigued about the verdict in the Conrad Murray trial.
I can’t say I was surprised that he was found guilty. I have stated my opinions about this case many times on various social networking sites, which is that is shameful that this doctor who was supposed to preserve human life chose to overmedicate a very sick man to death.
I know many are satisfied with the verdict and while it will not bring back Michael Jackson and his children will continue to grow up without a father, but at least we can take solace in the fact that no other people will be harmed.
However, what shocked me was the number of people who compared this compared this trial to the Casey Anthony trial and claimed once again that Casey Anthony got away with murder because she was white. These are two completely different trials and cannot be compared at all. One involves a mother who was accused of killing her daughter. This was a doctor who was accused of failing to properly care for his patient resulting in his death.
Just because both of these cases played out in the media doesn’t mean they are equal. Casey Anthony was acquited of the murder charges by a jury of her peers so perhaps we should move on. Not everything is about race and not every court case is the same. We cannot continuously compare these things to validate our beliefs in the court of public opinion.
While I love my job and I love media and the transfer of information, this is where it sometimes gets a little skewed. We spend so much time persecuting in the TV courtrooms of Nancy Grace and the View that we forget that everyone has a right to a fair trial and while we may have strong feelings, we are not lawyers or jurors and we cannot compromise one’s right to be innocent until proven guilty by trying to pigeon hole every case into the same category so we can make our opinions valid.
Dr Conrad Murray and Casey Anthony were tried with all of the evidence the prosecution had available and were judged fairly by a jury of their peers. Aside from that, they have absolutely nothing in common. Now that both of these trials are over, we can retire our armchair legal degrees and go back to our normal lives until the next sensational case comes along.
In the meantime, let’s make sure we take the oppurtunities that the Anthony and Jackson families no longer have, which is tell the people in our lives that we love them. Let’s hug our children (or our parents) and call our siblings and make sure that they know they are loved. For we are blessed with that oppurtunity and those families no longer have that chance.
The Misadventures of MHC 