Well, by now you have all probably heard that Casey Anthony was sentenced to 1 year incarceration for each count of lying to a police officer, consecutive, which means she was sentenced to a total of 4 years. (The Court also imposed a $1,000 fine and court costs for each count, and the prosecutor stated that the State would be seeking to recover the costs of investigation and prosecution of the case). According to a CNN report, after adding up all the jail credits, it appears that Anthony will be released on July 13, 2011. Even though Anthony’s defense attorneys mentioned the possibility of an appeal of the sentence based on the double jeopardy issue which was raised at the televised hearing, I would be surprised if any appeal will be filed now. If Anthony is going to be released in a week, why waste time with an appeal?
The Court will consider the State’s motion to recover the costs of investigation and prosecution at a later date. Meanwhile, a company named Texas Equusearch is seeking to recover the $112,000 it spent trying to locate Caylee, and Zenaida Gonzalez, otherwise known as “Zanny the Nanny,” has apparently filed an action for defamation against Anthony based on Anthony’s false statements that she left Caylee in her care. Ms. Gonzalez denies ever meeting Anthony. No reports yet on whether the State of Florida will try to pursue perjury charges against Casey Anthony’s mother. Under Florida Statute section 837.02, making a false statement under oath in an official proceeding constitutes either a second or third degree felony. In my personal experience, perjury charges are not often pursued because they are difficult to prove.
Note: In my previous Casey Anthony post, I referred to the felony offenses of providing false information to a police officer under Florida statute section 837.05(2). However, it turns out that in Counts IV through VII, Anthony was only convicted of the misdemeanor offenses under Florida Statute section 837.05(1) which carry the lighter maximum penalty of up to 1 year incarceration.
