Friday, January 25, 2013

Casey Anthony Gets 2 Lying Charges Set Aside

tTyORLANDO --
A Florida appellate court on Friday set aside two of the four convictions Casey Anthony faced for lying to detectives during the investigation into her missing 2-year-old daughter.
Judges on the 5th District Court of Appeals agreed with Anthony's attorneys that two of the charges constituted double jeopardy, or being convicted or punished more than once for the same crime.
“We cannot conclude that the Legislature intended to authorize separate punishment for each false statement made during a single interview,” the judges said in their ruling.
Anthony was acquitted of killing Caylee in 2011. Jurors convicted her of four counts of lying to detectives, and her attorneys appealed those convictions. Anthony was sentenced to time served for the misdemeanors.
She was sentenced to a year of probation after her release from jail for an unrelated case. Her whereabouts have been kept secret since she was released from state supervision last year.
Jeff Ashton, one of the prosecutors who tried Anthony and who was recently elected State Attorney in the Orlando area, said in a statement that he expected the case would be considered closed once the trial court drops the two counts.
Jurors determined that Anthony lied when she told detectives that she worked at Universal Studios, that she had left Caylee with a babysitter who kidnapped the girl, that she had told two friends about her daughter's disappearance and that she had received a phone call from Caylee.
The appeals judges ruled that the trial court was correct to allow Anthony's statements to detectives to be used during her murder trial. Anthony's attorneys had argued that she was in police custody at the time and hadn't been read her Miranda rights. They also had argued that Anthony should have been convicted of only a single count of lying because of the double jeopardy concern.
But the judges said there was a break in time between two interviews Anthony had with detectives.
“Where there is a sufficient temporal break between two alleged criminal acts so as to have allowed a defendant time to pause, reflect and form a new criminal intent, a separate criminal episode will have occurred,” the judges said.


10 comments:

Tania Cadogan said...

I wonder how this will affect the Zanny the nanny court case since she is proven to have lied :)

Trigger said...

Is Casey Anthony proving to us that lying to the police is allowed, and not a crime, after you are convicted and jailed for the first lie?











Justme said...

I HATE that I have to agree with the ruling. Erring on the side of cautions. The sad thing is, Casey benefits from this system.

Justme said...

Caution.

Justme said...

I hope she doesn't sue and win for false imprisonment after this ruling. That would be the final slap in the face. Florida having to give her thousands or more for serving time (timed served as she waited for trial)on double jeopardy charges. Please no!

Mainah said...


OT: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/01/25/16696160-disabled-students-must-be-given-sports-says-education-dept?lite

Mainah said...


OT: from above

"We think it’s huge and historic. In my opinion it could have the same effect, if properly implemented, as Title IX did for women," said Kirk Bauer, executive director of Disabled Sports USA.

Kirk Bauer threw in a lot of qualifying words/phrases.

Mainah said...


OT: from above

I predict more money will go to lawyers and lawsuits than kids sports programs in many states and school districts.

“I’m sympathetic to the idea that kids with disabilities should be able to play sports, but this is an incredible example of executive overreach and a huge unfunded mandate,” Petrilli said.

Katprint said...

Casey Anthony files for bankruptcy in Florida: http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/casey-anthony-files-bankruptcy-fla-18326070

What the article does not discuss is the "Automatic Stay" of most types of lawsuits against the debtor. Thus far, Casey Anthony was allowed to assert her 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination and avoid answering questions from Zenaida Gonzalez' lawyers in the defamation lawsuit because Casey's criminal appeal was pending. Now that the appeal is over so Casey can't do that anymore. Zenaida's lawyers were getting ready to grill Casey like a cheese sandwich but *BOOM* the bankruptcy stays the civil lawsuit including discovery (depositions, interrogatories, etc.)

Of course, Casey is simply delaying the inevitable. Very much like leading police officers to a Universal Studios office building where she didn't work and down a hallway to an office she didn't have. Zenaida's attorneys are certain to file an adversary proceeding in bankruptcy court based on the willful and malicious nature of the defamation injury not being dischargeable in bankruptcy, as well as Casey's underreporting of her assets which do not include the inchoate abstract value of her intellectual property concerning movie/TV/book/other media rights. She made over $250,000 selling photos of Caylee, her attorney did his own book deal, and most likely there is more money to be made. It may end up happening like OJ Simpson's "(if) I DID IT" book where his fraudulent transfer of royalty rights to his kids was undone, after OJ had declared bankruptcy just like Casey did to avoid paying the wrongful death judgment owed to the Goldman family.

Anonymous said...

double jeopardy, that is why there are so many people with 7-8 drinking and driving and they only get two days in jail for it. until they are convicted for the first one, none of the others will count so they can get as many as they can in the two years it takes for the case to go to trial. same with drug dealers and meth cooks. think about that.