Anthony to go free July 17

Associated Press

ORLANDO, Fla.

Casey Anthony looked ready for freedom. For the first time since her trial began, she let her hair down, smiling and playing with it as she awaited the judge’s decision on when she would be released.

Then she turned stone-faced as the sentence was pronounced: Freedom won’t come just yet. She’ll have to spend a few more days in jail for lying to investigators about the death of her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee.

Thursday’s sentence means Anthony will go free only slightly less than two weeks after she was acquitted in the slaying.

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, the 25-year-old 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 due out July 17, not Wednesday as previously announced, as a result of a recalculation of the time she has served.

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 Caylee died. 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.

The potential for Anthony to profit off 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 release next week promises to mark the start of a new, potentially difficult chapter for her.