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Judge orders Casey Anthony to report for probation

Published - Aug 01 2011 04:31PM EST

By MIKE SCHNEIDER - Associated Press

ORLANDO, Fla. — Casey Anthony, whose whereabouts have been a secret since her dramatic murder acquittal last month, may have to report to a probation officer in central Florida this week under a judge's order Monday in another case against her.

The Orlando judge who sentenced Anthony last year for fraudulent check writing signed a "corrected" version of Anthony's probation order that made clear she was supposed to start the one-year term after her release from jail, not while she was detained waiting for her murder trial.

Her attorneys are likely to challenge the revised order. One of them, Cheney Mason, didn't immediately return a phone call for comment, and another attorney, Jose Baez, didn't immediately respond to an email.

Circuit Judge Stan Strickland inserted the words "the defendant is to report to Probation upon release" for each of the seven counts of check-writing fraud that Anthony pleaded guilty to in January 2010. The judge also added the words, "nunc pro tunc," a legal term that means something is granted retroactively.

Strickland sentenced Anthony in January 2010 to probation for using checks that Anthony had stolen from a friend. The state Department of Corrections had interpreted Strickland's sentence to mean that Anthony could serve the probation while she was in jail for her murder trial, but the judge said last week that he intended the probation to be served after her release.

Anthony left prison last month after a jury acquitted her of murdering her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee. She was convicted of lying to detectives but released from jail because of time served. She has since disappeared from public view.

The court order said Anthony must report to a probation officer in three days in Orange County, where Orlando is located, unless otherwise instructed by her probation officer.

A spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Corrections said the arrangements for Anthony's first meeting with a probation officer were being worked out with her attorneys and she didn't know if it would occur in the Orlando area.

No probation officer has been assigned to her yet, said spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger. "We're working now on that first reporting visit now," she said.

The probation order requires that Anthony avoid any contact with her friend, Amy Huizenga, and prohibits her from switching addresses or jobs without permission from her probation officer. Under the terms of the order, she can't own a firearm without her probation officer's consent, is prohibited from getting drunk or going to places where illegal drugs are being used and has to find a job. Anthony also would have to take regular drug tests and is prohibited from associating with criminals under the order's terms.

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Casey Anthony, acquited child murderer and Ohio State Buckeye Fan...

Quote:Looks like the Buckeye Brand has hit an all-time low in terms of approval ratings.

Meet your latest Ohio State Buckeye backer: Casey Anthony.

TMZ.com has released photos of a woman they say is Casey Anthony, shopping at an Old Navy Store in Ohio while wearing an OSU baseball cap. Anthony’s family is from there so it makes sense that she would be an OSU fan.

Besides, as the picture above illustrates, this isn’t the first time that Anthony has shown her true colors when it comes to a particular school.

How low can you go for a university that has already vacated all of its victories in 2010, is on two years of self-imposed probation, and dumped coach Jim Tressel in the wake of all the controversial crossfire?

Apparently not low enough.

How’s the view down there?

Orlando Sentinel Blog

Where is Casey? Judge's ruling may reveal location

Published - Aug 05 2011 04:56PM EST

By MIKE SCHNEIDER - Associated Press


(AP Photo/Joe Burbank, Pool)
Casey Anthony's defense team, Jose Baez and Cheney Mason, confer with chief judge Belvin Perry , center, during the hearing at the Orange county courthouse on Friday, Aug. 5, 2011. Perry is deciding whether Casey Anthony has to return to Florida to serve probation for check fraud. Anthony did not attend the hearing.

ORLANDO, Fla. — Since her release from jail, Casey Anthony has been A) sipping iced coffee and shopping at an Old Navy store near the Ohio State campus, B) camped out in a Florida Panhandle beachfront rental home, C) running from a private jet in Orlando with her head covered by a jacket or D) none of the above.

While the whereabouts of the mom acquitted of killing her toddler last month have become a national parlor game, one thing is certain: She wasn't in a Florida courtroom Friday when a judge heard arguments about whether she must return to Orlando to serve probation. Her lawyers have not disclosed where she is except to say she was out of state earlier this week.

Judge Belvin Perry will decide next week whether Anthony must return. Until then, her location is anyone's guess.

When Anthony was released in the overnight hours of July 17, an SUV whisked her and attorney Jose Baez to a parking garage of another defense attorneys' office as television news helicopters followed. But the trail was lost as car after car left the garage with no sign of Anthony.

Reporters staked out local airports but no one saw Anthony leave.

Speculation surrounded a twin-engine private jet headed for Columbus, Ohio, since Anthony was born in the Buckeye State and has relatives there. But when the plane landed, the only passengers to exit were golfers returning from a Florida vacation.

Anthony next was reported to be staying at a three-story beachfront rental home on St. George Island, Fla., a barrier island with some of the Gulf Coast's most serene beaches. A nearby airport had been one of the stops for a small plane that left the Orlando Executive Airport a few hours after Anthony's release, but reporters who got into the gated neighborhood and knocked on the door were greeted by a vacationing hardware store owner and his wife who live nearby.

Other reports had Anthony boarding a plane owned by her ex-attorney, Todd Macaluso. The plane returned to Orlando a few days after Anthony was set free and a local television station broadcast images of a woman running from the aircraft. The woman wore clothes similar to what Anthony had on when she was last seen. Baez put out a statement saying it was a hoax. "Macaluso having fun with you," he texted a reporter at the TV station.

The Ohio rumors have persisted.

Last month, chief deputy Scott Hildenbrand of the Geauga County sheriff's office in Ohio squashed rumors that authorities provided Anthony a police escort for moving vans and protected her at a secret location in the northeast part of the state. Another rumor, reported widely on the Internet, had her at an Italian restaurant called Mangia Mangia.

This week, TMZ posted images on its website of a woman who resembles Anthony strolling down a street near Ohio State, sipping an iced coffee and picking through dresses at an Old Navy. The woman wore glasses and a bright red Ohio State ball cap, offending some ardent Buckeye fans already reeling from a cash-for-memorabilia scandal in the school's football program.

A local disk jockey offered to pay Anthony, if it was indeed her, $10,000 if she would trade the cap for one from rival Michigan.

"Don't disgrace Ohio State anymore," pleaded Jimmy Jam in a video posted on the website for WNCI-FM. "We've been through enough this year."

In Florida, Judge Perry described the Anthony case as a mess. He inherited the probation issue after Judge Stan Strickland recused himself earlier this week, most likely because of his comments during television interviews about the jury who acquitted Anthony.

Strickland had sentenced Anthony in January 2010 to one year of probation after she pleaded guilty to stealing checks from a friend. He said Anthony should serve the probation upon her release, but those instructions never made it to a written order. Corrections officials interpreted the sentence to mean Anthony could serve the probation while she was in jail awaiting trial.

Strickland clarified in an order this week that Anthony needs to start serving probation now that she is out of jail.

Perry said he has to consider whether he has jurisdiction to correct "a scrivener's error."

"So far, I have not been able to find anything that has dealt with this particular situation ... anywhere," Perry said. "This is a legal morass. If anything could go wrong, it went wrong here."

Anthony's attorneys argued that Anthony already has served the probation. They said Strickland didn't have jurisdiction over the case anymore and that his original sentencing order could not be corrected more than 60 days after it was issued. A probation supervisor testified by telephone that Anthony completed her probation in jail without any problems.

Prosecutor Frank George told the judge that probation isn't for someone who already is imprisoned.

"Miss Anthony was required to do nothing," George said. "Her only obligation was not to attack anybody or escape and she would have fulfilled the probation."

Returning Anthony to Orlando could raise security concerns since she has received death threats, her attorneys said.

"She has completed and already served the sentence," said defense attorney Lisabeth Fryer. "This is done. This is over."

___

Associated Press writer JoAnne Viviano in Columbus, Ohio, contributed to this report

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Judge: Casey Anthony must come back for probation

Published - Aug 12 2011 02:31PM EST

By MIKE SCHNEIDER - Associated Press

ORLANDO, Fla. — Casey Anthony must return to Orlando within two weeks to serve a year's probation for check fraud, a Florida judge ruled Friday.

Judge Belvin Perry said that Anthony must follow an order issued by another judge and report to a probation officer in Orange County no later than Aug. 26 at noon, although she could report earlier.

The other judge, Stan Strickland, had sentenced Anthony in January 2010 to one year of probation after she pleaded guilty to stealing checks from a friend. He said Anthony should serve the probation upon her release, but those instructions never made it to a written order. Corrections officials interpreted the sentence to mean Anthony could serve the probation while she was in jail awaiting her murder trial.

Strickland clarified in an order last week that Anthony needs to start serving probation now that she is out of jail. Strickland later recused himself and turned the case over to Perry, who presided over the murder trial that ended last month with Anthony's acquittal in her daughter's death.

Perry put the probation order on hold temporarily and heard arguments last week from Anthony's attorneys. They told the judge that she had served her probation while in jail awaiting her murder trial and requiring her to do so again would be double jeopardy. They also argued that she would be in danger if her location were known, given that she has received death threats.

Perry said he would authorize the Department of Corrections to make an exception and keep Anthony's address private during her probation. The judge also discounted the double jeopardy argument, saying Anthony was unable to meet the goals of a probationary sentence since she was in jail.

"It is clear the court stated the defendant's probation was to start once she was released from jail," Perry said in his order.

Allowing Anthony to serve probation while in jail "would take a lawfully imposed sentence and make it a mockery of justice," Perry added. "This would allow a defendant to take advantage of a scrivener's error and be rewarded. This is not the message the courts want to send to the public or defendants."

Anthony has been out of the public eye since she was acquitted in the death of her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee. The jury's decision angered many people online and elsewhere, and threats were made against Anthony's life.

Three of Anthony's attorneys didn't return phone calls and emails Friday afternoon.

Department of Corrections spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger said the agency had just received the order and was reviewing it.

Under the terms of the probation order, Anthony will have to report to a probation officer every month and can't change her residency without permission from the probation officer. She is prohibited from getting drunk or using drugs, is required to find a job and can't associate with known criminals. She must submit to reasonable searches in her home and at her job by her probation officer.

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