In Episode 3, we zoom in on the building blocks of the Casey Anthony case—what investigators believed they had, what they still needed, and how prosecutors decide when a case is ready to move from suspicion to formal charges. We walk through key pieces of evidence in the timeline, explain what evidence can (and can’t) prove on its own, and how context can change the meaning of a single detail.
Then we pull back the curtain on grand juries: what they are, why prosecutors use them, what “probable cause” actually means, and how grand jury proceedings differ from a trial. We break down the roles of jurors, prosecutors, and witnesses, the lower legal threshold required to return charges, and why the public often misunderstands what a grand jury decision does—and doesn’t—say about guilt.
Finally, we map the step-by-step path to indictment, from investigation and charging recommendations to grand jury presentation, the true bill, and what happens immediately after. By the end of the episode, you’ll have a clearer picture of how evidence becomes a case—and how a case becomes an indictment—before it ever reaches a courtroom trial.