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Competition Over Caylee’s Law Bills Begins
July 7, 2011
(Updated 3:30 p.m.) Orlando resident Casey Anthony was found not guilty of murdering her two-year-old daughter Caylee on Tuesday, a controversial verdict that set off a national debate.
By Thursday, two Florida lawmakers had quickly filed a bill called “Caylee’s Law” which would upgrade from a misdemeanor to a felony a failure to report a child missing or a child’s death within a certain time frame. Under current law, failing to report a missing person is a misdemeanor.
The bill (HB 37), sponsored by Rep. Jose Felix Diaz, R-Miami, came a day after a different lawmaker, Rep. Bill Hager, R-Boca Raton, had issued a press release saying he plans to file his own bill called Caylee’s Law.
Hager’s bill would also make it a felony not to timely report a missing child, but it has not been officially filed. Hager did not return a call Thursday seeking comment on whether he still planned to file his bill.
Lawmakers are clamoring to file “Caylee’s Law” bills in response to the highly publicized murder trial, and address perceived flaws in the Casey Anthony case, which garnered international attention.
Two-year-old Caylee was reported missing in July 2008 and her body was found in December. Anthony did not report her daughter missing for 31 days, one of the suspicious pieces of evidence used against her.
Rep. Scott Plakon, R-Longwood, co-sponsor of “Caylee’s Law,” said he joined forces with Diaz after receiving numerous emails from constituents pleading with him to change state law.
“For her to be able to go out and party for 31 days and mislead law enforcement, that seems wrong,” Plakon said. “This bill says it should be illegal for a caretaker to do such a thing.”
Plakon said while the bill wouldn’t impact Anthony, it does create stiffer penalties for any similar situation that may arise in the future. “Had a law like this been in place, she would have a felony right now,” Plakon said.
The three-page bill makes it a felony for a parent or other caregiver to not report a child under the age of 12 as missing after a 48-hour period. It also makes it a felony to not report a child’s death or “location of a child’s corpse” to police within two hours of the death.
There is not yet a Senate sponsor to the bill, but Sen. Greg Evers, R-Baker, said he wants to hold a hearing on the issue. Evers, chairman of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee, has asked Senate President Mike Haridopolos if he can spend his first committee meeting in September on considering a response to the Casey Anthony case.
“While I respect the judicial process and the burden of proof that exists in such cases, I join my fellow Floridians in voicing concern about any inconsistencies or inadequacies in the law that could potentially lead to future issues such as this,” Evers said in a letter sent to Haridopolos on Thursday.
Though Florida is ground zero for “Caylee’s Law” bills, a national movement has also sprung up in response to the not guilty verdict. An online petition calling for a federal law that would make it a felony not to timely report a missing child has drawn over 400,000 signatures and over 9,000 people have joined a “Caylee’s Law” Facebook group.
It is not unusual for well-publicized child deaths to spark legislative reforms. In 2005, Florida also attracted national attention over the kidnapping and disappearance of nine-year-old Jessica Lunsford. In response to her death, the Florida Legislature passed a bill in 2005 that required more stringent tracking of sex offenders.
By Lilly Rockwell
The News Service of Florida
Comments
13 Responses to “Competition Over Caylee’s Law Bills Begins”
The jury system in this country is the best! They did not have any evidence to convict in this case; if a lesser charge had been there it might have been a different outcome. The State FAILED TO GIVE THE JURY ANY REAL EVIDENCE. i listened to most of it and the Defense did their job whether I thought she was guilty or not. the Prosecutor did not. He needs to retire as he plans to do.
@Molested: YOU seem to be way more concerned about financial issues than the intended purpose of this bill. How can anyone put a price on an innocent child? There was no justice for this child. And, yes, comments about this are “emotion based”. How can they not be?.. to thoes who actually LOVE their children.
Wow, the ignorance on this is by far horriable. DAGB, I totally agree with you on every aspect. This law NEEDS to be passed so another young child doesn’t have to die in vain, as Caylee has done. This law NEES to be passed so a cold blooded killer, as that of Casey Anthony doesn’t get away so easy. Had this bill of been passed the United States wouldn’t have to watch shamefully as a mother, who killed her sweet baby girl, walks a free women on Wednesday. This law is not to be passed just so “Crimes won’t be done”. What law is passed so a crime won’t be done? Law’s are passed so the criminal is punished accordingly for their actions, not to stop them. No one can stop a pathetic low life like Casey Anthony from killing her child. Although a law like this will serve justice for future children that something like this happens to. Justice is something Caylee Anthony will never have, although with this law she’ll be the reason many children in the future will get the justice that all of them deserve.
shame on those politicians.
i dont get why some folks are having such a difficult time understanding that this proposed law WONT SAVE LIVES and its not meant to save lives….its a tool meant to keep other no good, psychopathic, parents/guardians from getting away with murdering their children and spending only 2.5+ years in jail….who would have believed this could happen???…. a “shock and awe” moment, to say the least…AND, its a lesson for the prosecution-
dont overcharge (with a murder one, death penalty) on a totally circumstancial case!..(hindsight is 20/20)
I’m sorry but I don’t understand how anybody can wait even 12 hours to report their child missing. If I can’t find my child within an hour at the MOST, you’d better believe I’m calling the police, every person I know, every neighbor, shoot, everybody I can even THINK of to help me find her. Forget waiting 12 hours or 48 hours! I mean, seriously, how can you wait 2 whole DAYS to report your child missing?
48 hours is a life time too long to wait for. Starting a search for a missing child within the first 12 hours is critical to finding the child alive as proven in many missing children cases, so reporting in a “timely manner” should tied to this important fact as documented by the FBI.
DAGB
Your comment on this law making Casey Anthony stay behind bars is by far the most ignorant statement of the day. There is no basis for it. You have all these labels like ignorant for me and egg donor for her. A little longer in prison in your words would be inconsequental and unmeasurable. A total waste of tax dollars. Totally without substance or sound reasoning. Emotionally based I would guess.
Even if the law you like passed then you would still have to prove when the body went missing which they failed to do in this 3 years they spent trying to prosecute her. So again more wasted money another new law and nothing.
My latter rant was about actually spending money on legislation to create jobs with measurable results rather than throw good money after a bad cause or a cause with no benefit and no improvement for law enforcement.
Ok molested I’ll bite on it. Your comment has to be the most ignorant thing I’ve seen all day. You are correct you cant pass laws to make good parents, nor is a person who commits a crime of this nature going to report it. But to have something like this on the books would be a plus to possibly keep people such as this ” egg donor” behind bars, obviously not forever but a little longer. Had this been in place she would have been guilty and had the penalty phase of another felony. As far as your last rant, ??? not sure where or why you find it relevant to the article above.
More insanity. How many laws are on the books? Tens of thousands.
If someone is going to commit murder or some other haneous crime they are not giving one thought about rushing to the authorities to report a missing person. That is plain stupid. The laws of the land was upheld whether we like the outcome or not, and this concept of additional penalties changes nothing other then more time and money spent on another needless law that will prevent nothing.
We cannot legislate good honorable parents or family. We should however be looking at ways to bring more jobs to the state though and how to get people back to work as well as how to fund education for Americans.
i hope this is passed!
I agree with this 100%
Yes, I want to see a law because I was crying when I heard the verdict. This Casey got away with murder. There was enough evidence to convict her. I think the jury was afraid because Casey’s father used to be a cop. I want to see this law come to be as soon as possible! Thank you.