Casey Anthony: Is she running for her life?
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Casey Anthony is not only the most hated person in America. She’s also appears to be pushing her luck with her latest gambit: She’s appealing a court order that she serve one year’s probation in a check-writing case.
But upon closer examination, Anthony might be trying to save her own life. Serving that term would require her to come out of hiding and return to, and live in, Orange County, Fla., where Anthony has been the subject of death threats -– not to mention the fact she’s also been crowned the most hated person in America in light of the events there.
Here’s the backstory: Anthony was acquitted last month in the 2008 death of her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee, in a verdict that stunned the nation and led to outrage, protests and death threats -- even prompting one of the jurors in the case to quit her job and move for fear of reprisals. But that wasn’t the end of Anthony’s legal woes: She had been earlier convicted of check fraud for stealing a friend’s checkbook and writing checks for $644.25.
The latest legal wrinkle involves that bad checks case. A judge ordered Anthony to serve one year of probation in that case. It’s believed that the judge ordered Anthony to serve the yearlong term after the conclusion of the more serious charges pending against her, but the courtroom clerk filed paperwork indicating that the term would be served while she was in custody awaiting trail.
The court has since updated the sentencing documentation to make clear that the term should be served ‘upon release’ and has ordered Anthony to report to probation officials no later than Aug. 26.
Anthony and her legal team think that’s just plain unfair.
According to new court filings, Anthony’s attorneys say that the amended sentencing documents were ‘fraudulently filed’ and that they would force Anthony to serve the same penalty twice -- a violation of her constitutional rights.
A new judge in the case blasted this argument, saying that Anthony could not have complied with the probation order while in custody -- her jail cell prevented her from visiting her probation officer, for one. That judge said: ‘To bar the court from correcting a clerical mistake and to permit the defendant to serve probation in jail while awaiting trial on a totally unrelated charge without any possibility of complying with the terms of the probation order would clearly thwart society’s interest in extracting a full, fair and just punishment for a crime.’
There are several critics who would argue that such a travesty has already taken place.
What do you think should happen to Anthony? Should she be forced to return to Florida and the potential for danger? Or do you think that the court has to live with its mistake?
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--Rene Lynch
Twitter / renelynch
