Anthony to appeal convictions

Associated Press

ORLANDO, Fla.

Casey Anthony says she plans to appeal her misdemeanor convictions of lying to law enforcement.

She filed the notice of appeal Friday in Florida.

Anthony was acquitted last week of murdering her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee. However, she was found guilty of four counts of lying to police and sentenced to the maximum of four years in jail. But with the nearly three years she already has served while awaiting trial and good behavior credits, she is set to be released from jail Sunday.

Separately, a judge ruled Friday that attorneys for a woman suing Anthony for defamation won’t be able to depose her until October. The attorneys had wanted to depose Anthony before her release.

When Anthony is released from jail Sunday, it probably will be in the middle of the night.

If her lawyers are smart, security experts say, they will arrange for several SUVs with tinted windows to pull up to the Orange County Jail. Then they will bundle her into one of them and whisk her away to a safe house, where she will be protected by bodyguards for days, if not weeks.

“I’d tell her to go to a big house in the middle of nowhere,” said Dallas-based security expert Stuart Diamond, who has worked for celebrities and federal agencies. “That would be the safest thing for her. It’s more of an effort for someone to really follow through on a threat.”

Anthony’s legal team said Friday it received an emailed death threat with a doctored photo of the 25-year-old woman with a bullet hole through her forehead. The threat was forwarded to authorities.