Week 12 Chapter 11 Case Study

Prepare a 1-2 page MLA formatted paper discussing how Forensics played a part in the following case. You can find so much information online about this case. Use factual information as well as your own POV in relation to the forensics of the case. Are you surprised with the outcome?
Casey Anthony Murder Trial (2011)
On July 15, 2008, a Florida woman’s call to a 9-1-1 operator stated that her two-year-old granddaughter, Caylee, had been missing for 31 days. The woman also reported that Caylee’s mother’s car smelled like a dead body. On December 11, 2008, Caylee’s skeletal remains were found wrapped in a blanket inside a plastic trash bag in a wooded area near her home. Duct tape still adhered to the decomposing skull. Casey Anthony, the mother of two-year-old Caylee, was suspected of suffocating her young daughter, leaving her in the trunk of the car, and later dumping the body in the wooded area. CSIs found other evidence at Casey’s home that seemed to link Casey to the murder.
In court, forensic entomologist Dr. Neal Haskell testified for the prosecution. Dr. Haskell’s expert opinion was that the insect evidence found in the car was consistent with a dead body being in the car for three to five days. Forensic expert Dr. Arpad Vass testified that he found gases consistent with a decomposing body present in the car where flies were also found. A blowfly’s leg and hundreds of dried coffin fly larvae, pupae, and adults were recovered from the car. Coffin flies, which are small enough to get into tight spaces, are so named because they have been known to breed on human corpses sealed in coffins. They are not the first insects to arrive on a dead body, preferring later stages of decomposition. Given the high temperatures in Florida, the arrival of coffin flies in a three- to five-day interval was possible. Dr. Haskell testified that the low number of blowflies was due to the body being wrapped in blankets and plastic and locked in the car. Blowflies were too large to get to the wrapped body.
For the defense, forensic entomologist Dr. Tim Huntington argued that the coffin flies were in the car due to the presence of leftover pizza that was found in the car and that there was no evidence that a dead body was ever in the car. Dr. Haskell counterargued Dr. Huntington’s claim by stating that coffin flies do not feed on pizza; they feed primarily on the products of human and animal decomposition. The highly publicized six-week trial resulted in the jury finding Casey Anthony not guilty of the murder of her daughter. The jury’s verdict surprised many who had closely followed the court proceedings.

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