The new Lifetime movie “Prosecuting Casey Anthony” represents a kind of lingering cultural remorse about the justice system, as it once again asks how the mother of a dead 2-year-old was not found guilty of her murder.

Maybe we forget that a murder trial is not an election, or an “American Idol” contest, or an opportunity for TV fans to get their favorite show renewed. Our votes do not count in this sphere, unless we’re on the jury. Big tabloid trials are legal chess games among lawyers that we can watch closely and obsessively but cannot control. It doesn’t matter how much incendiary “news” anchors Nancy Grace and Jane Velez-Mitchell fire up viewers; we are merely viewers.