Casey Anthony Freed From Florida Jail

Orlando – Casey Anthony was freed from a Florida jail early Sunday, 12
days after she was acquitted of murder in the death of her 2-year-old
daughter Caylee in a verdict that drew furious responses and even
threats from people across the U.S. who had followed the case with rapt
attention.
Anthony, wearing a pink T-shirt with blue jeans, left the jail at
12:14 a.m. with her attorney, Jose Baez. She was given $537.68 in cash
from her jail account and escorted outside by two sheriff's deputies
armed with semi-automatic rifles. Neither Anthony nor Baez said
anything to reporters and others gathered outside.


"This release had an unusual amount of security so, therefore, in
that sense, it would not be a normal release," said Orange County Jail
spokesman Allen Moore. "We have made every effort to not provide any
special treatment for her. She's been treated like every other inmate.
Moore said there were no known threats received at the jail.
Officials had a number of contingency plans in place, including plans
in case shots were fired as she was released.
Anthony, 25, had been finishing her four-year sentence for telling
investigators several lies, including that Caylee was kidnapped by a
nonexistent nanny. With credit for the nearly three years she's spent
in jail since August 2008 and good behavior, she had only days
remaining when she was sentenced July 7.
The case drew national attention ever since Caylee was reported
missing. Cable network HLN aired the entire trial, with pundit Nancy
Grace dissecting the case nightly. Vitriol poured into social
networking sites when Casey Anthony was acquitted of murder, with
observers posting angry messages on Twitter and Facebook's "I Hate
Casey Anthony" page.
Outraged lawmakers responded by proposing so-called Caylee's laws
that would allow authorities to prosecute parents who don't quickly
report missing children. And many still speculate about what really
happened to Caylee: Was she suffocated with duct tape by her mother, as
prosecutors argued? Or did she drown in an accident that snowballed
out of control, as defense attorneys contended?
As for her plans, it's not clear where Anthony will stay or what she
will do next. Her relationship with her parents, George and Cindy, has
been strained since defense attorneys accused George Anthony of
molesting Casey when she was young. They also said George Anthony made
Caylee's death look like a homicide after the girl accidentally drowned
in the family pool.
Caylee's remains were found in December 2008 in woods near the home
Casey Anthony shared with her parents. George Anthony has denied
covering up her death and denied molesting Casey Anthony when she was a
child. Baez had argued during trial that the alleged abuse resulted in
psychological issues that caused her to lie and act without apparent
remorse after Caylee's death.
Prosecutors alleged that Anthony suffocated her daughter with duct
tape because motherhood interfered with her lust for a carefree life of
partying with friends and spending time with her boyfriend. However,
some jurors have told various media outlets that the state didn't prove
its case beyond a reasonable doubt as required for a conviction --
although most have added that they don't think Casey Anthony is
innocent.
Defense attorneys and sheriff's officials have not said where Anthony is heading.
"She is safer in jail than she is out here," said Mike Quiroz, who
drove from Miami to spend his 22nd birthday outside the jail. "She
better watch her butt. She is known all over the world."
Lamar Jordan said he felt a pit in his stomach when he saw Anthony walking out of jail.
"The fact that she is being let out, the fact that it is her child and
she didn't say what happened, made me sick," Jordan said.
What Anthony will do to make a living also remains unknown. Anthony, a
high school dropout, hasn't had a job since 2006, when she was a
vendor at Universal Studios theme park.
A large segment of the public has seethed since Anthony's acquittal,
believing she had something to do with her daughter's death. Her
attorneys have said she has received numerous threats, including an
email with a manipulated photo showing their client with a bullet hole
in her forehead.
Security experts have said Anthony will need to hole up inside a safe
house protected by bodyguards, perhaps for weeks, in case someone
tries to make good on one of those threats. One attorney, Charles
Greene, said Friday that Anthony was emotionally unstable and needed "a
little breathing room" after her draining two-month trial.
The lies that were the basis of her conviction on the misdemeanor
charges began in mid-July 2008, about a month after Caylee was last
seen alive. Around the time the girl disappeared, Casey Anthony had
begun staying with friends and not with her parents. When Anthony's
mother Cindy began asking about Caylee, Anthony told her she was
staying with a nanny named Zanny.
In mid-July, George and Cindy Anthony were notified that their car
had been impounded after it was abandoned in a check-cashing store's
parking lot. When the picked up the car, George Anthony -- a former
police officer -- and the impound lot manager both said it smelled like
a dead body had been inside.
Cindy Anthony then tracked down her daughter at a friend's apartment
and when she couldn't produce Caylee, called the sheriff's office on
July 15, 2008. The court found she lied to investigators about working
at the Universal Studios theme park, about leaving her daughter with
Zanny, about telling two friends that Caylee had been kidnapped and
about receiving a phone call from her.