Nancy Grace Made Us (Almost) Root for Casey Anthony to Walk

Keep New Times Free

I Support

Local
Community
Journalism

Support the independent voice of Phoenix and help keep the future of New Times free.

Seems that everywhere we went yesterday, everyone wanted to discuss the surprise acquittal of Florida's Casey Anthony, who went from facing the death penalty to the cusp of being set free into a world that hates everything about her.

Many folks also ask our opinions of one Nancy Grace, the onetime prosecutor-turned-angry-TV talking head, whose spur-of-the-moment comments after the verdict was read were disgustingly memorable.

"She may be celebrating tonight," Grace said in part of the 26-year-old defendant whom she had dubbed "The Tot Mom," but "she will ultimately pay.

"As the defense sits by and has their champagne toast after that not-guilty verdict, somewhere out there the Devil is dancing tonight."

We have been on the air with Ms. Grace a few times over the years, and have felt the brunt of her bullying and righteous personality.

She is a force of nature, and we don't mean that as a compliment.

We remember telling her one time on live TV, "Hey, are you going to let me get a word in here, or what?"

Her answer: "No."

Grace never has come upon a criminal defendant who by her way of thinking doesn't deserve to be taken to the town square to be publicly flogged and stoned (she shares a kinship in that regard with Andrew Peyton Thomas, the former Maricopa County Attorney now in trouble with the State Bar of Arizona).

Grace was largely responsible for taking the infamous Anthony murder case to new heights over the three-year melodrama that pretty much ended with Anthony's acquittal on all but a few misdemeanor charges.

Nancy made it clear from day one that the trampy little white chick's cell on death row was awaiting her, with the actual murder trial a mere formality.

Grace (and just about everyone else) took that position even months before the chewed-up remains of Casey's beautiful daughter, Caylee, were found in a wooded area near the Anthony residence.

For the record, we believe that Casey Anthony killed her baby daughter, either intentionally or not.

Then, in a panic, she dumped the corpse like so much garbage in the familiar woods down the street from where she had lived for many years with her parents.

For the record, we also believe that the soon-to-be-wealthy Ms. Anthony is an extremely sick pup.

But we also know (that's know, not believe) that a jury of Casey's peers sat through a trial lasting several weeks, heard a ton of testimony, listened to the attorneys' arguments, and then rendered its unanimous decision after a relatively short deliberation.

That's the way shit works in this country, at least on paper.

For as long as we could take it last night (which wasn't long), we heard Nancy Grace trash the jurors for their lack of education (in some instances), for their obvious (in her mind) biases against the prosecution, and for generally being blundering fools who should rot in Hell with "Tot Mom."

Unbelievable.

In a media world increasingly filled with screaming "pundits" looking for a blog hit or for their 15 seconds of quasi-fame, Nancy Grace's little temper tantrum stands out as the worst of the worst.

Keep Phoenix New Times Free... Since we started Phoenix New Times, it has been defined as the free, independent voice of Phoenix, and we would like to keep it that way. Offering our readers free access to incisive coverage of local news, food and culture. Producing stories on everything from political scandals to the hottest new bands, with gutsy reporting, stylish writing, and staffers who've won everything from the Society of Professional Journalists' Sigma Delta Chi feature-writing award to the Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism. But with local journalism's existence under siege and advertising revenue setbacks having a larger impact, it is important now more than ever for us to rally support behind funding our local journalism. You can help by participating in our "I Support" membership program, allowing us to keep covering Phoenix with no paywalls.

News

Recommended For You

Nancy Grace Made Us (Almost) Root for Casey Anthony to Walk

Trending News

Powered by SailThru