McConnell: Casey Anthony verdict why civilian trials for terrorists a bad idea

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Last Updated: 9:56 PM, July 10, 2011

Posted: 9:41 PM, July 10, 2011

WASHINGTON -- Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) pointed Sunday to the acquittal of Casey Anthony as an example of why the US civilian court system should not be trusted to try terror suspects.

Anthony, the Florida mother charged with killing her two-year-old daughter Caylee in 2008, was found not guilty Tuesday on all charges except lying to investigators.

Becoming perhaps the first lawmaker to do so, McConnell drew a lesson Sunday from that case in connection with the debate in Washington over whether to try suspected terrorists in federal courts.

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Sen. Republican leader Mitch McConnell said the Casey Anthony verdict is exhibit A why civilian trials for terrorists are a bad idea.

"These are not American citizens. We just found with the Caylee Anthony case how difficult it is to get a conviction in a US court," McConnell told "Fox News Sunday."

"I don't think a foreigner is entitled to all the protection in the Bill of Rights. They should not be in US courts and before military commissions."

McConnell and other Republicans were outraged this past week after the Obama administration moved to charge a Somali terror suspect in civilian court in New York.

McConnell wants him and other terror suspects brought to Guantanamo Bay and tried in US military commissions.

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