The Casey Anthony Verdict: Why we should feel comforted.

Like most of everyone else I know, I was really surprised by this.

I fully expected that she would be found guilty of something more than just the lying to the police counts.

So, what the heck happened?

What happened was that the system of justice in Florida worked, and that we all - as Americans - should take comfort.

In the Anthony case we have a very good judge - one who bent over backwards to ensure that the defendant remained cloaked with a presumption of innocence.

We had a very able prosecution team, well prepared, who made good arguments.

And, we had a defense team whose primary job, as distasteful as anyone else might think it, was to convince the jury that the State of Florida had not proven its case beyond a reasonable doubt.

Those of us watching it at home, or on the net at our offices, were angry from the moment we first saw Casey on TV last decade. As time wore on, we became more and more piqued. Like the Ron Silver character in National Treasure, we believed someone had to go to jail, and we knew who it was - Casey.

That goes to the core of why we, as incredulous as we may be, should take comfort.

In this case, a jury, sequestered, never hearing or seeing the pronouncements from the bench on certain motions, never being swayed one way or the other by talking heads on cable news outlets, carefully applied the law they were given by the trial judge. The jury, unemotional, was not convinced beyond a reasonable doubt.

They found her not guilty.

Not guilty is not the same as innocent, however.

Casey Marie Anthony may be (is?) the person who murdered her daughter. But a jury of her peers, one of the greatest protections we as Americans enjoy, was not convinced that the State had proved its case.

Trial by jury on the facts, and not vigilante justice fueled by emotion.

God bless America, the State of Florida, and the Constitution of the United States.

Amen.