Casey Anthony’s lawyers plan to fight a judge’s order that she return to Florida to serve her probation, according to a new report.
They plan to argue that she already has served her probation while she was in jail. And if they lose, they will ask the judge to allow her to serve her probation in a state other than Florida, TMZ.com reported.
On Friday, a judge ordered Anthony to report to the Florida Department of Corrections by Aug. 26 as part of her one-year probation for a check-fraud sentence.
Judge Belvin Perry denied a motion from Anthony’s attorneys to quash a previous order that requires her to serve a probation sentence, FOX News Channel reported
Anthony, 25, was convicted of check fraud last year while she was in jail after being charged with the murder of her 2-year-old daughter Caylee. Anthony was ultimately found not guilty of murder in a controversial trial that ended July 5.
Confusion mounted over whether Anthony served her probationary period while in jail for murder charges.
On Aug. 1, Florida Circuit Judge Stan Strickland amended a probation order and required Anthony to report to an Orlando probation office within 72 hours. Strickland’s amended order stated that he had intended for Anthony to carry out her probation obligations after her trial, an intention that was corroborated by video and transcripts from the 2010 sentencing.
Anthony’s attorneys filed a motion “quash, vacate and set aside” the amended order Aug. 2, arguing that the court no longer had jurisdiction over the case and that the order would violate Anthony’s due process and civil rights.
Strickland subsequently recused himself from Anthony’s probation matter for unknown reasons, and the case was reassigned to Perry, who also presided over Anthony’s murder trial.
Perry ruled on Aug. 3 that Anthony was not required to comply with Strickland’s order until he could hear arguments from Anthony’s attorneys at a hearing.
Perry held the hearing last week and called the situation “a mess.”
“If anything could go wrong, it went wrong here,” Perry said during last week’s hearing, according to The Orlando Sentinel. “The best I can say at this point is: It is a legal maze.”
Perry decided Friday that Anthony must comply with Strickland’s amended order, ordering Anthony to report to the Florida Department of Corrections Aug. 26 to begin serving her probation.
Anthony has been in hiding since being released from jail on July 17 after her acquittal on murder charges. TMZ reported Aug. 3 that Anthony has been living in Ohio and published photographs of her shopping in an Old Navy store while wearing a red Ohio State hat.
With Newscore