Witness tampering alleged in Anthony trial

Associated Press

ORLANDO, Fla.

A Florida sheriff announced Tuesday that authorities were looking into witness-tampering allegations during Casey Anthony’s murder trial, even as he had a wide-ranging news conference with his top investigators in what he said was an effort to bring closure to a case that polarized the country.

Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings also revealed that prosecutors were considering perjury charges against Anthony’s mother, but a spokeswoman for the state attorney’s office later said they would not be pursued.

Casey Anthony was acquitted a week ago on charges of killing her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee, in 2008. Anthony was found guilty on four charges of lying to law- enforcement officers. She is to be released from jail Sunday.

The sheriff called the news conference to defend his investigation and because his office had been besieged with interview requests since the verdict.

“The ultimate goal ... is that our personnel can get back to work doing the business of the taxpayers and residents of Orange County,” Demings said. “This is the only way that we can move forward.”

Demings wouldn’t say who was accused of witness tampering, but it didn’t involve Casey Anthony’s mother, Cindy. She stunned prosecutors during the trial when she testified that she had done searches for chloroform on the family’s computer. Prosecutors believed, along with sheriff’s investigators, that Anthony had performed the search.

Witnesses later were called to challenge Cindy Anthony’s claim, and in the days after the verdict, prosecutors hinted at possibly charging her.

The government presented evidence at trial that chloroform was found in Anthony’s car trunk and insinuated that she could have used it to render Caylee unconscious.

As for the possiible witness tampering, detective John Allen would say only that the sheriff’s office has interviewed some witnesses.

Casey Anthony was born in Warren in 1986 to George and Cindy Anthony, who lived in Howland before moving the family to Florida in 1989.