This year there were several legal cases that tugged on the heart strings of America and those outside the nation.

There was public outcry when Casey Anthony was acquitted of the murder of her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee.

There were cases such as the Amanda Knox trial that made America rejoice when she was acquitted of murder. Then there were others that made people cringe when they heard of the gruesome crime committed. One such case was the murder of the Petit family in Connecticut.

The details revealed in the December sentencing of Joshua Komisarjevsky, one of the men sentenced to death for the murder of that family were very gruesome. Komisarkevsky, 31, was found guilty of sexually assaulting and killing 11-year-old Michaela Petit and also for the murder of Hayley Petit, 17, and her mother Jennifer Hawke-Petit.

Then there were the cases that involve political figures, which left the public ashamed of public figures.

There was the case involving a disgraced former head of the International Monetary Fund, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who was accused of sexually assaulting a hotel maid. Former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich also lost his place in office and was sentence on corruption charges.

The world of college football was also rocked by scandals as former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky was accused of molesting at least eight young boys.

Start the slideshow to see these and other controversial legal cases of 2011.

Rebecca Zahau
Rebecca Zahau’s mysterious death at Jonah Shacknai’s Speckles Mansion in July was ruled as a suicide in September. The San Diego County Sheriff’s Department’s Bill Gore told the media that the also concluded that Max Shacknai's death was an accident. Jonah Shacknai's 6-year-old son, Max, was rushed to the hospital on July 11 following a staircase accident at his father’s Coronado mansion. He died a week later from the injuries. On July 13, Zahau’s naked body was found hanging from a rope that was reportedly tied to a bed in a second-story room. Her feet were bound and wrists bound behind her back. The manner in which Zahau was found has left the family wondering if foul play was involved and they haven’t yet accepted the sheriff department’s finding. In September, it was reported that there were four unexplained bruises found on Zahau’s head, indicating trauma. Zahau’s family even took the case to national TV by appearing on “Dr. Phil” show, claiming that some clues in the case weren’t investigated by authorities handling the case. REUTERS/San Diego County Sheri
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