Crime

Update: After Another Recalculation, Casey Anthony to Be Released on July 17

Update: After Another Recalculation, Casey Anthony to Be Released on July 17ORLANDO, Fla. (The Blaze/AP) — Casey Anthony will have 10 more days behind bars to think about her future after authorities in Florida announced Thursday that she would not be released until July 17, four days after the date initially given. This is the latest development in a case that has had some bizarre twist and turns.

Anthony looked ready for freedom at her sentencing Thursday morning. After she was acquitted Tuesday of killing her 2-year-old daughter Caylee in 2008, there was speculation she could be sentenced to time served for lying to authorities about the toddler’s death and freed.

The 25-year-old let her long, dark hair down for the first time since her trial began, smiling and playing with it as she awaited the judge’s decision. But she turned stone-faced as the sentence was handed down and she learned she would not be released right away. Then late Thursday, authorities in Orange County said they had recalculated Anthony’s projected release date and it would actually be July 17.

Thursday’s actions mean Anthony will go free nearly two weeks after she was acquitted of first-degree murder and other charges in Caylee’s death.

The extra time in jail did little to satisfy throngs of angry people convinced of her guilt who gathered outside the courthouse. But it could provide time for the public furor over her acquittal to ease somewhat and give Anthony’s attorneys a chance to plan for her safety.

Two days after the verdicts, most of the jury remained silent, with their names still kept secret by the court. One juror explained that the panel agreed to acquit Anthony because prosecutors did not show what happened to the toddler.

When she is released, Anthony must decide whether to return to a community in which many onlookers long ago concluded that she’s a killer, or to a home strained by her defense attorneys’ accusations of sexual abuse.

Judge Belvin Perry gave her the maximum sentence of four years for four convictions of lying to authorities. He denied a defense request to combine the misdemeanor counts, which could have made her eligible for immediate release.

“As a result of those four specific, distinct lies, law enforcement expended great time and resources looking for Caylee Marie Anthony,” the judge said.

With time served and credit for good behavior, she is now due out on July 17, her 1,007th day in jail.

Outside the courthouse, a cluster of protesters chanted “Justice for Caylee” as they waved signs that said “Arrest the Jury!!“ and ”Jurors 1-12 Guilty of Murder.” One man had duct tape with a heart-shaped sticker over his mouth, similar to the way prosecutors contend duct tape was used to smother Caylee. Increased police presence included officers on horseback.

“At least she won’t get to pop the champagne cork tonight,” said Flora Reece, an Orlando real estate broker who stood outside the courthouse holding a sign that read “Arrest the Jury.”

Anthony’s parents were present for the hearing but left without speaking to reporters. Prosecutors and defense attorneys did not comment either.

Anger continued to spread online, with commenters vilifying Anthony on social media networks. More than 30,000 people “liked” the “I hate Casey Anthony” page on Facebook as of early Friday. The page included comments wishing her the same fate that befell Caylee.

The potential for Anthony to profit from the case was infuriating to many who said they feared she could become rich by selling her story to publishers or filmmakers or signing a lucrative television contract.

“I would not read the book,” Jeff Ashton, the prosecutor in the case, told CNN’s John King on Thursday. Ashton said he would not believe any version Anthony provided “unless it’s one that accounts for all the evidence.”

“If anybody could find a rational, reasonable explanation for why you put duct tape on a child that died by accident, then I’d love to hear it,” Ashton said, referring to the defense claim that the child accidentally drowned.

Whatever future she chooses, Anthony’s coming release promises to mark the start of a new, probably difficult chapter for her.

Mary Tate, a former public defender who heads the University of Richmond’s Institute for Actual Innocence, said Anthony’s defense team is probably seeking help from a variety of advisers as they seek to rebuild her fractured life.

“She’s going to be bombarded with a lot of financial offers. She’s going to be bombarded with random hostility. She’s just entering an extraordinarily exhausting two or three years,” Tate said.

Dr. Phyllis Chesler, a psychologist who authored “Mothers on Trial,“ said Anthony will have to deal with an ”absolutely primitive blood lust” that’s been unleashed, even though she’s been acquitted.

“How is she going to cope with the hatred?” Chester asked.

At a separate hearing Thursday, Judge Perry also expressed concern for the safety of jurors and postponed his decision on whether to release their names. The judge said he wanted to allow for a “cooling-off period” of at least a couple of days. The Associated Press and other news organizations have argued that the jurors’ identities should be released.

“It’s no big secret that some people disagree with their verdict, and some people would like to take something out on them,” Perry said.

Anthony’s release will come nearly three years after Caylee was reported missing. After the report was made on July 15, 2008, Anthony was interviewed by police and made the statements that led to her conviction for lying.

She lied about working at the Universal Studios theme park, about leaving her daughter with a non-existent nanny named Zanny, about telling two friends Caylee had been kidnapped and about receiving a phone call from her.

The defense claimed Caylee actually drowned a month earlier in a pool at the home of Anthony’s parents, George and Cindy Anthony, with whom the child and her single mother lived.

The defense said Anthony acted without remorse in the weeks after her daughter’s death because she was a victim of sexual abuse by her father, resulting in emotional problems, though her attorneys produced no witnesses bolstering the claim. The defense also claimed George Anthony, a former police officer, helped cover up the death by making it look like a homicide and dumping the body near their home, where it was found by a meter reader six months later. George Anthony has vehemently denied any involvement in Caylee’s death, the disposal of her body or molesting his daughter, Casey.

“I do not believe for a moment that George Anthony had anything to do with disposing of his granddaughter’s body,” Ashton told CNN.

Prosecutors claimed Casey Anthony suffocated her daughter with duct tape because motherhood interfered with her desire for a carefree life of partying with friends and spending time with her boyfriend.

Jurors have mostly declined to discuss their verdict, though one told ABC News it was an emotional decision reached because the prosecution failed to show what really happened to Caylee.

“I did not say she was innocent,” said Jennifer Ford, a 32-year-old nursing student. “I just said there was not enough evidence. If you cannot prove what the crime was, you cannot determine what the punishment should be.”

Ford said jurors were divided initially, and that she looked for ways to hold Anthony responsible for her daughter’s death under the law – perhaps for “failure to provide safety and medical care and things like that.”

“I was trying to go for that,” Ford said. “But there’s just not enough. It‘s just stretching and reaching and there’s just not quite enough to get there.”

Near the Anthony home, at the swampy, mosquito-filled site where Caylee’s remains were found, several people visited a makeshift memorial to the child Thursday. Two-dozen flower bouquets wilted in the Florida heat, helium balloons swayed in the breeze and hundreds of stuffed animals lay in a pile on the ground. Some mourners attached hand-written notes, many of which disparaged Anthony.

The Orange County Sheriff’s Office has erected no-parking signs throughout the area so curious crowds cannot block the roadway. The neighborhood is being patrolled by deputies on four all-terrain vehicles and six patrol cars. Horses were being brought in for mounted officers.

Sheriff’s spokesman Jeff Williamson said he could not comment on the number of officers in the area, and there is no estimate yet of the cost to taxpayers.

Authorities “don’t know who will come here or what people will do,” he said. “We’re here to handle any problems and protect the community.”

Ray DeBattista came with his family of five and said he thought the verdict was “mind boggling.” The St. Cloud retiree said he watched his 2-year-old grandson recently and the child slipped away while he answered the door. He said he called 911 less than 30 seconds later.

“My heart was racing, and I ran around frantically looking for him,” DeBattista said. “He was playing hide-and-seek under the pool table in a laundry basket. I just cannot understand how Casey went 31 days without reporting her daughter missing.”

Comments (45)

1 2
  • Gypsy123
    Posted on July 8, 2011 at 1:56pm

    She is a murderer and a racist.

    Report Post » Gypsy123  
  • NHwinter
    Posted on July 8, 2011 at 1:05pm

    A child is dead, with duc tape over her mouth, dumped in a swamp, and people say there is no evidence. Really? And the mother was partying all the while. What do people want now days to find someone guilty, maybe not the death sentence, but guilty of something other than lying please.

    Report Post » NHwinter  
  • MMR
    Posted on July 8, 2011 at 12:37pm

    If this is not a sign, I don’t know what is.

    http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/07/07/lightning-strikes-tree-near-caylee-anthony-memorial-site/?hpt=hp_t2'%20rel='nofollow

    Report Post » MMR  
  • RSHLUVER
    Posted on July 8, 2011 at 12:16pm

    I don‘t know if what I’m going to post will violate The Blaze TOS or not since I could not post it on FACEBOOK. What I wanted to say is since we as citizens need to respect the Casey Anthony verdict because of the way our judicial systems works then I only ask that if any of the jurors in the Casey Anthony case or Casey Anthony herself are found in the same manner that little Caylee Anthony was, that the people selected to pass judgment on their alleged killers give the same sentence and are also able to sleep at night .

    Report Post » RSHLUVER  
  • beaubird
    Posted on July 8, 2011 at 12:03pm

    This world is so screwed up!!!!!!!!!It lets one girl run their lives everyday, There is so much going on in this world, I hate what happend but look in the paper everyday somebody is killed which is horrible but one person is no more important than another. It should be against the law for the media to give all this attention to any one person, Maybe there whole world would not be messed up if the media did not give it so much attention. If it was my granddaughter i would not want to see it every min. Give these people a break!!!!!!!!! Media needs to stay the hell out of peoples personal lives. Nobody knows what happens in peoples homes except them. There is not a family in this world that is not DIS functional in someway, no family is perfect. If they say it is they are lying every family has its problems ..Get a life and get over it and leave George and Cindy alone for God sakes. Nobody will ever know. Casey is the only one that knows and she will never tell but , she will mess up one day and she will pay whether she does or not, She will get older and she will get a heart one day maybe and tell the truth, We can only pray!!!!!!!!

    Report Post »  
    • DelzLdy
      Posted on July 8, 2011 at 6:27pm

      Thank you! I am so tired of the Trials-By-Media I can’t see straight. This young woman was found not-guilty. As I have said numerous times: Until you have walked in her shoes…..

      As far as the duct tape; it was proven to have been applied to the skeletal remains, not on the actual face/skin of the child, as if to keep the jaw bone from separating from the upper cranium.

      Even if she is guilty, it isn’t the first time a murderer has been set free. She was tried by a jury of her peers and found not-guilty. Get over it people! All the animosity will not bring that beautiful baby back to life.

      Report Post »  
  • elphi43
    Posted on July 8, 2011 at 10:58am

    At least OJ had the black community, Casey Anthony has no body.

    Report Post » elphi43  
  • ofallon
    Posted on July 8, 2011 at 10:44am

    Juror Jennifer Ford was on O’Reilly last night. She believed it was an “accident.“ She sided with the theory of ”accident” although O’Reilly asked her where the evidence was for an accident. There was no evidence. It‘s amazing to me that she and probably many other jurors couldn’t separate fantasy from real evidence. The defense threw everything at the wall and the accidental drowning story stuck like glue. The jurors all went off the cliff like following the pied piper. Thanks to Bill O’Reilly for making this clear to the public.

    Report Post »  
  • omgfolks
    Posted on July 8, 2011 at 10:26am

    Just grow up here folks, She was found not guilty, the prosecutor FAILED to provide a case that could be won, maybe she did or maybe she didn’t, who are you to judge? All this hate from arm chair jurist who spent not one day in any of the players shoes, all acting as if they are some authority in these matters. What a joke you are, have you nothing better to do than to cast stones, call names and issue threats? Is your life so boring that in order to make yourself feel good you cast stones on someone else. The prosecutor advanced a case without evidence to support it, and the jurrors were given no other choice but to find her innocent why do you not see that? The waste of dollars came from the state pressing the matter prematurely, The state prosecutor is the one to balme for the verdict in this case. Now the law say she must go free. I am sure glad of one thing. The jurrors took their job serious and did the only right thing the could do, and all of the media enduced jurrist should take a lesson in integrity that those twelve showed.

    Report Post »  
  • mlebates
    Posted on July 8, 2011 at 10:19am

    A person involved w/ this case says that Casey Anthony was actually released to go home yesterday, and they are giving bogus days of her release for her safety. So everyone w/ pitchforks and tiki torches go protest her house!

    Report Post »  
  • nomercy63
    Posted on July 8, 2011 at 9:43am

    You better go run and hide, hide, hide!!!!!! You got away from the court justice, you won’t get away from God and the avenging he will send upon you!!!!

    Report Post »  
  • Diablo4965
    Posted on July 8, 2011 at 9:33am

    I hear she’s going to be in protective custody for a while till the people cool off from the verdict, thats bullsh*t, why do the taxpayers have to pay to protect this piece of crap murderer. If she wanted out of prison let her walk out the front door with her laundry bag full of belongings. Don’t let the door knob hit ya where the good lord split ya!

    Report Post » Diablo4965  
  • dantom
    Posted on July 8, 2011 at 8:57am

    That snake could survive anywhere after killing her daughter and she will be well received in hollywood.

    Report Post »  
  • redbrown02
    Posted on July 8, 2011 at 8:50am

    facebook is not allowing certain stories to be posted on my wall. this being one of them.anybody else having this problem?

    Report Post »  
  • Lpanoz
    Posted on July 8, 2011 at 8:40am

    What goes around,comes around!

    Report Post »  
  • Lorist
    Posted on July 8, 2011 at 8:31am

    My goodness if I lost my dog for 10 minutes I would be in a panic. I would be knocking on every door in my neighborhood and beyond, calling the dog shelter, anything I could think of to get someone to help me find my beloved dog.
    How can a mother lose a child for 31 days and not be running around asking anyone for help in finding her and not be in a state of panic or more? My guess is, a monster who has no feelings for anyone. What a sad day for America when a jury of her peers finds her not guilty. I just wonder is it a reflection of us as Americans and humans, a person can lie about a child missing to police and the jury doesn’t think it is strange and suspect.

    Report Post »  
    • LadyPatriot777
      Posted on July 8, 2011 at 11:08am

      You are right. Once a friend of mine invited my son to come play with her son. I expected him to be back at a reasonable hour, but by 10 p.m. when he wasn’t home and I could not reach my friend, I was in a state of panic!! My son was small when that happened and he is now 28 years old. I still can remember that panicked feeling I felt for that next hour until he got home! I can’t imaging if he had never shown up. It’s just too hard to imagine a parent not being in a state of panic, much less to party hardy and get tattoos while the child is missing and make up stories about where the child is!! It’s unbelievable. She is guilty of more than lying to cops!!!

      Report Post »  
    • rose-ellen
      Posted on July 8, 2011 at 12:45pm

      It very well could have been accidental.She didn’t report it because though she loved her child when the child was alive once the child was dead her only concern was for herself;no remose[for the accident] no guilt ,no conscience,just a desire to not have to pay a price for the accidental death and to go on with her life.hence she made it look like a homocide,dumped the body, bllied repeatedly ,sat in jail for 3 years without breaking down in guilt or remorse.The halmark of a pyschopath[no conscience] .The evidence presented[a hair of the child in the trunk of the car, chloroform traces in the trunk of the car,cloroform searches on her computer,lies about the incident, not reporting the incident] though individually each can be refuted as a whole it ponts to a reasonable belief that she had something to do with the death therefor agraveted negligence[was reasonable].This was jury nullification and if you truely believe that the defandant was guilty -whatever your reason for truly beliving that-is valid to convict.It does not have to be based on evidence presented but a piecing together of everything presented at trial.A juror has a responsibility to reason about everything presented and can and should connect dots in a reasonable way.[pieces of evidence, facts, and reasonable conjecture based on pyschology,common sense.[ one piece of hair not enought, traces of cloroform is not enought, the smell of a corpse not enought, not reporting an incident is not enough in toto-it i

      Report Post »  
  • libh8er
    Posted on July 8, 2011 at 8:29am

    Maybe this new ‘recalculation’ is to just throw people off the trail. I have a feeling she will be released on the original date while people are looking the other way.

    She will encounter her own little ‘hell’ when she finds she can’t go back to her party life. The only individuals that seem to be backers of Killer Casey are young men….. Wonder why?

    Report Post » libh8er  
  • olddog
    Posted on July 8, 2011 at 7:59am

    Remember Joran van der Sloot, he acted the exact same way about his killings, no remorse and got away with the first one.. Funny but that bad stuff does catch up with you. We know where Joran is now..

    Report Post » olddog  
  • SpankDaMonkey
    Posted on July 8, 2011 at 7:30am

    .
    @Sreetrodder

    Stoned? Who Me?……….Someboby pass the Cheetoe’s and Salsa…………

    Report Post » SpankDaMonkey  
  • Rweb
    Posted on July 8, 2011 at 6:56am

    How long will this last. It’s over she won move on.

    Report Post »  
  • Ceefour
    Posted on July 8, 2011 at 6:53am

    Jennifer Ford,one of those wise njurors,was kind enough to give the internet her address and telephone number but you must know how to find these yourself

    Report Post »  
  • Chet Hempstead
    Posted on July 8, 2011 at 6:40am

    Aaron, are you serious? There’s no rational person in the world including the judge and jurors who doesn’t know that she is guilty of something much more serious than lying. We just don’t know for sure if it was first-degree murder, second-degree murder, or accessory after the fact. I get that you can’t convict someone of being guilty of something if you’re not sure exactly what, and if I had been on the jury I guess I would have had to vote the same way they did, as painful as it would have been, but it is a travesty that she should serve less than the maximum on the only charges that she can be convicted of.

    Report Post »  
    • MattO
      Posted on July 8, 2011 at 7:08am

      Oh really, you know for a fact she is guilty of 1st degree murder? AS A FAC?T Were you there? Gut feelings are not fact, and you don’t hang someone because of gut feeling.

      This lynch mob mentality is disgusting!!!!

      I watched 99% of the trial, I didn’t see any evidence. I agree with the jury.

      Report Post »  
    • Chet Hempstead
      Posted on July 8, 2011 at 4:28pm

      I specifically said that I don’t know exactly what she’s guilty of.

      Report Post »  
  • SpankDaMonkey
    Posted on July 8, 2011 at 6:30am

    @Aaron in Polk County

    Are you a pirate? No just a little stoned…. She has a target….lol……

    Report Post » SpankDaMonkey  
  • Aaron in Polk County
    Posted on July 8, 2011 at 6:25am

    Finally! It’s about time!
    I think 3 years and 4 thousand dollars is Very Excessive penalty for lying to police.

    I don’t know of anyone who was sentenced to 3 years in jail/prison for 4 misdemeanors.
    That is the travesty of justice here. The judge should be publicly reprimanded.

    Report Post » Aaron in Polk County  
    • streetrodder
      Posted on July 8, 2011 at 6:59am

      @Aaron in Polk County, were you on the jury?

      Report Post »  
    • butler180
      Posted on July 8, 2011 at 8:11am

      I don’t know if you have children or a sibling, but NO parent would let 31 days pass before reporting a child missing. 3 years is nothing compared to how Caylee was treated.

      Report Post » butler180  
    • RebelSon
      Posted on July 8, 2011 at 10:12am

      Aaron in Polk County
      Posted on July 8, 2011 at 6:25am

      “Finally! It’s about time!
      I think 3 years and 4 thousand dollars is Very Excessive penalty for lying to police.

      I don’t know of anyone who was sentenced to 3 years in jail/prison for 4 misdemeanors.
      That is the travesty of justice here. The judge should be publicly reprimanded.”

      The police get enough flak from people who criticize how they do their job. They work long hours with limited resources, yet you think it’s ok to lie to them about an issue as the the disappearance of a 2-year old child? Do you have any idea how much time and money was wasted looking for that child when her mother knew all along she was dead? $4000 is a very small fraction of the cost. By going easier on her, you’d be telling the world that wasting the time and effort of the investigators is ok, you’d be saying that they have nothing more important to do than follow false leads and wild goose chases. You sympathize with this murdering pathological liar? What is wrong with you?

      Report Post » RebelSon  
    • DDD
      Posted on July 8, 2011 at 12:30pm

      You don‘t fool Mother Nature and you don’t LIE TO COPS! (and prosecutors, and judges, etc.). A year on a misdemeanor is not harsh punishment.

      Report Post »  
  • SpankDaMonkey
    Posted on July 8, 2011 at 6:21am

    .
    They should let her spend the last 10 days in the General Prison Population….. I’m sure the nice jail ladies would take good care of her hehehehehe………..

    Report Post » SpankDaMonkey  
    • threecats407
      Posted on July 8, 2011 at 8:30am

      And that’s a fact. I have heard it’s common practice to be accidently lax in security with people like this. I won’t deny the legal system worked as intended but neither will I deny the inner feelings of her guilt.

      Report Post »  
    • dantom
      Posted on July 8, 2011 at 8:54am

      I agree so right you are.

      Report Post »  
    • republapig
      Posted on July 8, 2011 at 4:55pm

      It would be a shame if one of the bull dykes in jail “shanked” her. Justice served!

      Report Post » republapig  
  • SpankDaMonkey
    Posted on July 8, 2011 at 6:19am

    ..
    She has a yarget on her back. It’s a shame some fool is gonna ruin their life over this waste of good air….
    Can you sat Gator Bait?………..

    Report Post » SpankDaMonkey  
1 2

Sign In To Post Comments! Sign In

Sign Up For Our Newsletter!

Glenn Beck Radio

Listen to Glenn Beck 24/7 Listen Now
Restoring Love