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 wouldn’t come just yet. She’d have to spend six more days in jail for lying to investigators about the death of her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee.
Late Thursday, Orange County corrections officials said they had "conducted a detailed recalculation of the projected release date" and that Anthony would actually not be freed until July 17. Thursday’s actions mean Anthony will go free nearly two weeks after she was acquitted Tuesday of first-degree murder and other charges in Caylee’s death, ending a trial that transfixed Americans.
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.
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 duct tape was used to kill Caylee. 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."
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 the home of her parents, strained by her defence 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 defence request to combine the misdemeanour counts, which could have made her eligible for immediate release.
With time served and credit for good behaviour, she is now due out on July 17, her 1,007th day in jail.
Anthony’s parents were present for the hearing but left without speaking to reporters. Prosecutors and defence attorneys did not comment either.
Anger continued to spread online, with commenters vilifying Anthony on social media networks. Nearly 22,000 people "liked" the "I hate Casey Anthony" page on Facebook, which included comments wishing her the same fate that befell Caylee.
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 defence claim that the child accidentally drowned.
At a separate hearing Thursday, Perry also expressed concern for the safety of jurors and postponed his decision on whether to release their names. The judge said he wanted to allow for a "cooling-off period" of at least a couple of days. The Associated Press and other news organizations have argued that the jurors’ identities should be released.
Anthony’s release will come nearly three years after Caylee was reported missing. After the report was made on July 15, 2008, Anthony was interviewed by police and made the statements that led to her conviction for lying.
She lied about working at the Universal Studios theme park, about leaving her daughter with a non-existent nanny named Zanny, about telling two friends that Caylee had been kidnapped and about receiving a phone call from her.
The defence claimed Caylee actually drowned a month earlier in a pool at the home of Anthony’s parents, George and Cindy Anthony, with whom the child and her single mother lived.
The defence argued Anthony acted without remorse in the weeks after her daughter’s death because she was a victim of sexual abuse by her father, resulting in emotional problems, though her attorneys produced no witnesses bolstering the claim. The defence also alleged that George Anthony, a former police officer, helped cover up the death by making it look like a homicide and dumping the body near their home, where it was found by a meter reader six months later. George Anthony has vehemently denied any involvement in Caylee’s death, the disposal of her body or molesting his daughter, Casey.
Prosecutors alleged that Anthony suffocated her daughter with duct tape because motherhood interfered with her lust for a carefree life of partying with friends and spending time with her boyfriend.
Jurors have mostly declined to discuss their verdict, though one told ABC News it was an emotional decision reached because the prosecution failed to show what really happened to Caylee.
"I did not say she was innocent," said Jennifer Ford, a 32-year-old nursing student. "I just said there was not enough evidence. If you cannot prove what the crime was, you cannot determine what the punishment should be."
Near the Anthony home, at the swampy, mosquito-filled site where Caylee’s remains were found, several people visited a makeshift memorial to the child Thursday. Two-dozen flower bouquets wilted in the Florida heat, helium balloons swayed in the breeze and hundreds of stuffed animals lay in a pile on the ground. Some mourners attached hand-written notes, many of which disparaged Anthony.
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