Casey Anthony to Appeal Florida Probation Ruling
It would appear that Casey Anthony may be spending some more time in front of a Florida judge soon.
Anthony was recently tried in an Orlando courtroom for the alleged first degree murder of her daughter, Caylee Anthony. Found not guilty over a month ago, the verdict shocked many across the nation, leaving a number of people demanding some form of personal justice. Casey Anthony was secretly released soon thereafter, and is living a private existence abroad.
Since then, a previous check fraud conviction has reared its ugly head, along with a former judge who some say may have a bit of an axe to grind regarding Ms. Anthony.
In January of 2010, then-presiding Judge Stan Strickland ordered Anthony to supervised probation for the period of one year, based on the check fraud conviction. Anthony was found to have forged checks from her then-friend Amy Huizenga’s account, while Anthony’s daughter Caylee was reportedly missing and presumed dead.
Strickland’s court order clearly stated that Anthony could serve this probationary period concurrently with her time in custody while she awaiting her murder trial. Strickland was cited as saying that Anthony's time already served awaiting trial was already in excess of any sentence he would have handed down.
Now Strickland says he had not meant for the time to be concurrent with her jail time pending the murder trial — it was all an error by the clerk who wrote the order. According to a revised order by Strickland, released on Friday, Anthony must return to Florida and serve the time now that she has been released from custody for her murder trial.
To be expected, Anthony’s legal team has cried foul, stating that for Anthony to return to Florida would not only be unsafe, but a form of “double jeopardy.” Defense attorney Cheney Mason called the amended court order “a fraudulently filed product of a previously disqualified judge.” Casey Anthony’s legal team reports today that they will file an appeal from Strickland’s changed order.
Judge Strickland ultimately recused himself as presiding judge in the Anthony murder trial, over news reports that he had been in close contact with a news blogger who had covered Casey Anthony in a highly negative manner. Defense attorneys accused Strickland of calling the blogger during a hospital stay, and of complimenting the blogger for his biased stories.
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