Casey Anthony freed from jail, slips from view (AP)

By MIKE SCHNEIDER and MATT SEDENSKY, Associated Press Mike Schneider And Matt Sedensky, Associated Press – 37?mins?ago

ORLANDO, Fla. – Casey Anthony walked out of jail a free woman under heavy guard early Sunday, facing shouts of "baby killer" from a heckling crowd less than two weeks after she was found not guilty of murder in the death of her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee.

The 25-year-old woman, whose acquittal shocked and enraged many around the country who had been following the case for months, left an Orlando area jail at 12:14 a.m., swiftly boarded an SUV and rode out of public view.

A crowd of more than 100 people surged against the orange plastic police barricades as the vehicle left. Some yelled "You suck!" Mounted patrolmen and police cruisers blocked the street outside the jail so Anthony's vehicle could drive onto a nearby highway ramp unobstructed.

"A baby killer was just set free!" shouted Bree Thornton, 39.

News helicopters followed Anthony to a covered parking garage at an Orlando office building where one of her attorneys has offices, but reporters then lost track of her.

A short time later, amid the crush of media attention, there was police activity as two vehicles pulled up to a twin-engine private jet at Orlando Executive Airport, but no one saw Anthony get out and onto the plane. That plane took off shortly after 1 a.m. Sunday for Ohio, the home state of Anthony's parents. But an official there said that aircraft was only carrying golfers back from a Florida vacation.

Anthony, it seemed, had vanished into the night.

Anger over Anthony's July 5 acquittal has spilled onto social media sites and elsewhere. Her legal team said on Friday it had received an emailed death threat with a manipulated photo showing their 25-year-old client with a bullet hole in her forehead.

Caylee Anthony's remains were found in December 2008 near the home Casey Anthony shared with her parents. Prosecutors alleged that Anthony suffocated her daughter with duct tape because motherhood interfered with her desire for a carefree life, but her lawyers said the girl drowned in an accident that snowballed out of control.

Some of the jurors who acquitted Anthony said they believe she bears some responsibility for her daughter's death but that prosecutors failed to prove that she murdered the child.

Anthony had remained in jail to finish a four-year sentence for telling investigators several lies, including an early claim that Caylee was kidnapped by a nonexistent nanny. With credit for the nearly three years she'd spent in jail since August 2008 and good behavior, she had only days remaining when she was sentenced July 7.

Anthony left jail wearing a hot pink Polo T-shirt, blue jeans and sneakers, with her attorney Jose Baez at her side. She was given $537.68 in cash from her jail account to begin her new life.

Her hair in a bun, a somber-looking Anthony quietly said "thank you" to a deputy sheriff waiting to escort her outside, and then strode with Baez to the vehicle as two deputies armed with semi-automatic rifles walked behind. Baez held the back door, she climbed in and the SUV drove off amid camera flashes.

Anthony had a handful of supporters in the crowd.

"I'm for Casey," said Kizzy Smith, of Orlando. "She was proven innocent. At the end of the day, Caylee is at peace. We're the ones who are in an uproar."

One man carried a "Casey, will you marry me" sign. But her backers — at the jail and across the country — appeared to be vastly outnumbered by her critics.

"She is safer in jail than she is out here," said Mike Quiroz, who drove from Miami to spend his 22nd birthday outside the jail. "She better watch her butt. She is known all over the world."

Lamar Jordan said he felt pain in the pit of his stomach when he saw Anthony walking free.

"The fact that she is being let out, the fact that it is her child and she didn't say what happened, made me sick," Jordan said.

Baez, in a brief statement to reporters, signaled a new chapter was opening in the Casey Anthony case.

"It is my hope that Casey Anthony can receive the counseling and treatment she needs to move forward with the rest of her life," Baez said.

Certainly, she still faces anger and ire around the nation that brought tight security for Sunday's release.

"This release had an unusual amount of security so, therefore, in that sense, it would not be a normal release," Orange County Jail spokesman Allen Moore said. "We have made every effort to not provide any special treatment for her. She's been treated like every other inmate."

Moore said there were no known threats received at the jail. Yet officials had a number of contingency plans in place, including plans in case shots were fired as she was being released.

Now that she is free, it's not clear where Anthony will stay or what she will do next.

Her relationship with her parents, George and Cindy, has been strained since defense attorneys accused George Anthony of molesting Casey when she was young. Baez argued during trial that the alleged abuse resulted in psychological issues that caused her to lie and act without apparent remorse after Caylee's death.

Defense attorneys also said George Anthony made Caylee's death look like a homicide after the girl accidentally drowned in the family pool. But defense attorneys never called witnesses to support their claims.

George Anthony has adamantly denied covering up his granddaughter's death or molesting Casey Anthony when she was a child.

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Anger over Casey Anthony verdict pours out online (AP)

By KYLE HIGHTOWER and MATT SEDENSKY, Associated Press Kyle Hightower And Matt Sedensky, Associated Press – Sat?Jul?9, 10:30?am?ET

ORLANDO, Fla. – For nearly two months, the murder trial of Casey Anthony was a living entity. It breathed daily across national television airwaves, then was reinforced nightly on cable TV programs that dissected every word uttered in the courtroom and fueled speculation on her fate.

When Anthony was acquitted of murder in the death of her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee, hundreds of thousands of people captivated by the case — and certain of her guilt — poured their rage into postings on Facebook and the micro-blogging site Twitter. Those and other social media sites provided a platform and a large audience for a decibel level of vitriol seldom seen before.

The threats, both veiled and blatant, were disturbing enough to make the judge hold off on releasing jurors' names, and to make it all the more likely that Anthony will be secretly whisked away upon her release next week.

Postings continued to fill one "I hate Casey Anthony" Facebook page on Saturday morning, with nearly 39,000 people having "liked" the page. In reaction to Anthony's July 17 announced release date, one person wrote, "... maybe she won't even make it out of jail alive." Someone else added a picture of Anthony manipulated to give her horns and included a backdrop of flames.

Dr. Phyllis Chesler, a psychologist who authored "Mothers on Trial," said the case connected with people by the millions because it taps primitive instincts rejecting the thought of a mother ever doing anything to harm her child.

"Once a mother is merely accused, she stands convicted, because the instinct is to blame the mother," she said. "She's an outlaw even though she was found innocent. ... People in down times spend their waking hours looking for bright, bushy-tailed distractions. Casey and her poor daughter's sick and sad saga will fit the bill for now."

Even those who weren't as enraged said they found a sort of electronic catharsis in boiling down their emotions to 140 characters and posting them in anonymity on Twitter.

Wendy Thompson squealed when she got a text message that the verdict was in, but later was in disbelief as she heard the words "not guilty."

Thompson, who lives just outside Detroit, read one tweet asking, "Soo is it like too early to ask (hash)CaseyAnthony out on a date? Maybe?" and replied that the young man should bring condoms.

"I would never say that to someone's face, but I can say that behind my screen," she said.

Anthony was sentenced to four years for lying to police but is close to completing that term because of time served and good behavior.

"Sucks for her," Jillian Barrieu wrote on Facebook in response. "If I was her id (sic) rather stay safely in jail..."

Barrieu, of East Hartford, Conn., said she felt comfortable sharing her outrage with others online.

"It was a convenient place to vent where I knew people would mostly feel the same way as I do," she told The Associated Press Friday in an interview conducted through Facebook messaging.

There are occasional voices of those that offer the view that prosecutors didn't prove their case. "She's not guilty it's already been proven get over it...stop wishing someone to be dead" one man wrote on one of the anti-Anthony pages. But those items are few and almost immediately met with ridicule.

On Yahoo!, Casey Anthony was a top search the week of her acquittal. The case was also fueling the popularity of those closely associated with it. Searches were up 1,000 percent for cable host Nancy Grace, who made almost nightly pronouncements insisting that "Tot Mom," her nickname for Anthony, was guilty.

By Friday morning, nearly 2.6 million people indicated on Facebook that they would keep their porch lights on in honor of Caylee. "Caylee, I know you see this, I know you are hearing the prayers. This is for remembering you," the organizers wrote on the page.

Also by Friday, more than 700,000 people had signed an online petition at Change.org calling for a federal "Caylee's Law" making it a felony to not report a missing child in a timely manner.

The strong reaction has left its mark on the courtroom.

During a hearing Thursday, several media groups including The Associated Press asked the judge to release the names of jurors in the Anthony trial. Judge Belvin Perry said he normally doesn't have an issue with releasing names, but he was mulling a delay to allow the anger — some of it pointed at the jury — to dissipate.

"You realize there are folks out there who want to do crazy things, like fillet people open, pour salt on them, and feed their legs to the piranhas," Perry said.

He said he doesn't want public reaction to translate into harm for people who "don't have a choice about serving on a jury."

Sandy Lisella of Hartland, Conn., said in a Facebook messaging conversation that while many posts she's seen have simply been rants, others "are more substantial and thought-provoking, trying to make sense of how our legal system could conclude these results."

"The way the story unfolded was unfathomable to the masses. It was like watching a sick movie!" Lisella said. "Social media, in a roundabout way, allows everyone to get involved in the causes that strike a chord in us."

___

Associated Press writers Jeannie Nuss in Little Rock, Ark., and Pat Eaton-Robb in Hartford, Conn., contributed to this report.

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Casey Anthony will be released from jail July 13 (Reuters)

ORLANDO, Fla (Reuters) – A Florida judge on Thursday sentenced Casey Anthony to four years in jail for lying to police after her daughter disappeared, but she will be released from custody next week after getting credit for time served and good behavior.

Court officials said Anthony, 25, will be let out of jail on July 13, having received credit for the 1,043 days she spent behind bars since her arrest.

Anthony was acquitted on Tuesday of killing her 2-year-old daughter Caylee in 2008 but on Thursday received the toughest possible punishment for providing false information to law enforcement during the investigation.

Each of the four misdemeanor counts Anthony was convicted of carried a maximum of one year in jail. Judge Belvin Perry ordered the one-year terms to run consecutively, and also imposed a $1,000 fine for each count.

Perry said as a result of Casey Anthony's lies, law enforcement spent "a great deal of time, energy and manpower looking for young Caylee Marie Anthony."

Anthony did not speak during the sentencing hearing. She wore her long hair loose rather than pulled tightly back as she had during the trial and smiled while she chatted with defense attorneys before the proceedings.

But her face tightened as the judge discussed her lies and handed down the punishment.

The hearing drew Anthony's fans, critics and a large police presence to the Orlando courthouse where her closely watched trial played out over more than six weeks this summer.

"Boycott any books, movies by Casey," one protester's sign read.

"Casey will you marry me," read a sign held by 20-year-old pizzeria worker Tim Allen.

Reaction to the sentence was mixed. Some people came hoping to witness Anthony walk out of the courthouse a free woman.

"I would like to put my eyes on her," said Darwin Outsey, a 33-year-old Orlando car detailer who agreed with the murder acquittal but thought Anthony was at least guilty of being an accessory to the killing.

Others criticized the sentence as too lenient.

"She doesn't deserve to walk free among civilians who care for their children," said Dobia Wright, 30, an unemployed tree trimmer from Orlando who brought along his 3-year-old son.

Where Anthony will go after her release is a mystery. Her parents, George and Cindy Anthony, left the courtroom after the verdict without speaking to their daughter but were back in the regular seats to hear the sentence on Thursday.

Afterward, their lawyer shook hands with defense attorney Jose Baez but would not comment to Reuters about the family's plans.

Anthony's punishment is a far cry from the death penalty prosecutors had planned to seek if jurors found her guilty of first-degree murder.

The prosecution said Anthony smothered Caylee with duct tape on June 16, 2008, drove around for several days with Caylee's body in her car trunk and then dumped the remains in woods near the Anthony family home.

The defense argued that Caylee died in an accidental drowning in the family's backyard pool.

Millions of Americans followed the trial and many were stunned, even angered, by the verdict reached by jurors on Tuesday.

The jury also found Anthony not guilty of aggravated child abuse or aggravated manslaughter of a child. Jurors who have spoken out since said they felt there wasn't enough evidence for a murder conviction, but their decision left them in tears and feeling sick.

(Writing by Colleen Jenkins; Editing by Greg McCune)

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Casey Anthony to go free next Wednesday (AP)

By MATT SEDENSKY and KYLE HIGHTOWER, Associated Press Matt Sedensky And Kyle Hightower, Associated Press – 10?mins?ago

ORLANDO, Fla. – Casey Anthony will be freed next week after spending nearly three years in jail on accusations she killed her 2-year-old daughter, punctuating a case that captured the nation's attention and bitterly divided many over whether she got away with murder.

While cleared of charges of killing and abusing her daughter Caylee, Anthony was convicted of lying to investigators and sentenced Thursday to four years, the maximum punishment she faced. But she was given credit for the time she has already served and her good behavior, and she was set to be released Wednesday. Judge Belvin Perry also fined her $1,000 on each of the four counts.

Inside the courtroom, before her sentenced was announced, the 25-year-old Anthony was animated, smiling and occasionally played with her hair, which was let down for the first time since her trial began in late May. Perhaps she thought, like many, that she would be let go Thursday. Her demeanor turned stone-faced when she heard she would be spending more time in jail.

The scene outside the courthouse highlighted the divide that has had social networking sites abuzz since the not guilty verdict was announced Tuesday. Amid increased police presence, a throng of protesters gathered, holding signs that said "Arrest the Jury!!" and "Jurors 1-12 Guilty of Murder." Nearby, a handful of supporters also turned out, including a man who held a sign asking Anthony to marry him.

Anthony's release will come almost exactly three years since Caylee was reported missing July 15, 2008. Anthony was interviewed by police the next day and told them several lies, for which she was convicted.

She lied about working at the Universal Studios theme park, going so far as to take detectives to the park, talk her way past security guards and take the detectives into a building before finally admitting that she wasn't employed there. She also lied about leaving her daughter with a non-existent nanny named Zanny and later about leaving the girl with friends. She also told investigators she received a phone call from Caylee the day she was reported missing, another lie.

Her defense attorneys argued before sentencing that her convictions should be combined into one, but the judge disagreed, saying law enforcement spent a great deal of time, energy and manpower looking for Caylee. The girl's remains were found in a swampy area near the Anthony home in December 2008.

At the time of the girl's disappearance, Anthony, a single mother, and Caylee were living with Anthony's parents, George and Cindy Anthony, in suburban Orlando, but she would often stay with her boyfriend.

Prosecutors contended Anthony, then 22, suffocated Caylee with duct tape because she was interfering with her desire to be with her boyfriend and party with her friends. When Anthony's parents confronted their daughter about Caylee's whereabouts, she told them the girl had been missing for a month and her mother reported the disappearance to police.

Defense attorneys countered that the toddler accidentally drowned in the family swimming pool. They said that when Anthony panicked, her father, a former police officer, decided to make the death look like a murder. They said he put duct tape on the girl's mouth and then dumped the body in woods about a quarter-mile away.

The defense said Anthony's apparent carefree life hid emotional distress caused by sexual abuse from her father. Her father firmly denied both the cover-up and abuse claims. The prosecution called those claims absurd, and said no one makes an accident look like a murder.

In mid-July 2008, Cindy and George Anthony were contacted by a towing yard that their daughter's car had been impounded for being abandoned and would be junked if not claimed. When George Anthony picked it up, he and the tow yard manager said it had the overwhelming stench of human decomposition. The defense said the smell was caused by a bag of trash that was in the trunk.

In one of the biggest and most important fights of the six-week trial, a prosecution scientist said the trunk contained air molecules consistent with a human body having decomposed there — but the defense questioned his methods and said they were unproven.

Jurors declined to talk with reporters immediately after Tuesday's verdict and their names were not released by the court. The Associated Press and other news organizations argued during a hearing Thursday that the jurors' identities should be released.

At least one juror, Jennifer Ford, has already come forward. She told ABC News in an interview that the case was troubling.

"I did not say she was innocent," said 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."

The prosecution didn't paint a clear enough picture of what happened to Caylee, Ford said.

"I have no idea what happened to that child," Ford said.

As the sentencing was announced, Flora Reece, an Orlando real estate broker, stood outside the courthouse holding a sign that read "Arrest the Jury."

"At least she won't get to pop the champagne cork tonight," Reece said of the judge's decision to keep Anthony in jail a little longer.

The crowd of a few dozen emotionally charged protesters occasionally chanted "justice for Caylee."

The handful of Anthony supporters included Tim Allen of Orlando. The 24-year-old cook at a pizza shop held a sign asking Anthony to marry him.

"Everyone deserves a second chance." Allen said. "She's beautiful. Put some makeup on her, she's gorgeous."

Authorities in Florida were being mostly quiet about what might take place when Anthony is released. There are obvious complications with her returning to her parents' home, given the stinging accusations her attorneys leveled against them during the trial.

When the verdict was read, Anthony's parents rose from their seats without emotion and left the courtroom. They were in the courtroom for sentencing but left without speaking to reporters.

Their attorney, Mark Lippman, has said they haven't spoken with their daughter since the verdict, and he wouldn't say whether they believed she was guilty.

Threats have also been made against Anthony, and online she is being vilified. Nearly 22,000 people "liked" the "I hate Casey Anthony" page on Facebook, which included comments wishing her the same fate that befell Caylee.

Anthony is a high school dropout who, before her arrest, had limited work experience. Her last job was in 2006 as a vendor at Universal Studios theme park. While she once professed an interest in photography, and even found some work in the field, it's not known whether she has skills that could translate into a career.

The Anthony neighborhood was quiet Thursday with a few people bringing flowers and toys to the memorial for Caylee in the swampy, mosquito-filled spot off where her remains were found.

"If Caylee could see all this, she would see how much people loved her," said 11-year-old Isobel Bulanhagui, who visited the memorial with her grandfather. The child pulled a battery out of her purse and laid it gently beside a sign that read "pass on the angel in your arms to your creator."

"I don't have much in my purse but this will give her energy," Isobel said.

The memorial, the fourth that has been erected since Caylee died, has quadrupled in size since Tuesday's verdict.

Hundreds of teddy bears and stuffed animals were piled on the dirt, with hand-written notes, many that disparaged Anthony. More than two dozen flower bouquets sit wilting and 27 helium balloons are anchored to the ground.

George Anthony has asked the public to donate the items to charity rather than place them in the woods.

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Casey Anthony, acquitted, now must rebuild life (AP)

By MATT SEDENSKY and KYLE HIGHTOWER, Associated Press Matt Sedensky And Kyle Hightower, Associated Press – 23?mins?ago

ORLANDO, Fla. – A big fat book deal? A life in hiding? Motherhood again?

What could the future hold for Casey Anthony when she gets out of jail, perhaps as early as Thursday?

A day after she was acquitted of killing her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee, in a case that was a coast-to-coast TV sensation, many of those who followed the riveting drama are wondering.

"Anthony will always be dogged by the belief that she killed her child," said Lewis Katz, a law professor at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. "She will never lead a normal life."

In a country known for second acts, never is a strong word. But should she be released at her sentencing Thursday, after nearly three years behind bars, Anthony could be hard-pressed to piece together some semblance of a normal life:

‧ She may have to get out of town. Threats have been made against her, and online she is being vilified. Nearly 15,000 people "liked" the "I hate Casey Anthony" page on Facebook, which included comments wishing her the same fate that befell little Caylee. Ti McCleod, who lives a few doors from Anthony's parents, said: "Society is a danger to Casey; she's not a danger to society."

‧ Her family has been fractured by her attorneys' insistence that Anthony's father and brother molested her and that her father participated in a cover-up of Caylee's death. On Tuesday, Anthony's parents rose from their seats without emotion upon hearing the verdict and left the courtroom ahead of everyone else. Their attorney, Mark Lippman, said they haven't spoken with their daughter since the verdict, and he wouldn't say whether they believed she was guilty.

‧ Anthony is a high school dropout who, before her arrest at 22, had limited work experience. Her last job was in 2006 as a vendor at Universal Studios theme park. While she once professed an interest in photography, and even found some work in the field, it's not known whether she has skills that could translate into a career.

In a 2010 jailhouse letter to a friend, Anthony said she would like to adopt a child from Ireland "accent and all."

Judge Belvin Perry will sentence Anthony on four misdemeanor counts of lying to investigators while they were looking into their daughter's disappearance. Each count carries up to a year behind bars. At worst, she will serve only a little additional time.

Prosecutors contended that Anthony suffocated Caylee with duct tape because she wanted to be free to party and be with her boyfriends. Defense attorneys argued that the little girl accidentally drowned in the family swimming pool and that Anthony panicked and hid the body because of the effects of being sexually abused by her father.

The prosecutor in the case, Jeff Ashton, told NBC's "Today" show Wednesday that the verdict left him and other prosecutors in shock. "I think I mouthed the word `wow' about five times," said Ashton, who is retiring Friday. A spokesman said the retirement had been planned for some time.

Ashton said that he believes the jurors applied the law as they understood it. "Beyond a reasonable doubt is a high standard," he said.

Anthony's attorneys did not return calls for comment.

Geneva Shiles of Orlando said she had trouble sleeping Tuesday night after witnessing the verdict from a seat in the courtroom. "I'm angry and anxious to see what Casey will do with her life now that she's free," Shile said. "My question is: If she didn't do it, who did?"

That question is frustrating many who followed the trial, hoping for a neat ending to a made-for-television case.

"None of us know what actually happened," said Roslyn Muraskin, a criminologist at Long Island University who co-authored "Crime and the Media: Headlines vs. Reality." "Maybe none of us will ever know."

Much of that will depend on whether Anthony chooses to tell her story.

"I believe she's already been bombarded as we speak by publishers and agents," said Linda Konner, president of the Linda Konner Literary Agency, based in New York. "I think there's a lot of interest when you're dealing with mother and dead child."

Konner said a Casey Anthony memoir could fetch a half-million dollars or more, and she would be interested herself in securing the rights.

"Because I know I could sell it," Konner said. "I look at it as here is someone who has a story that has been very compelling to people for a long time. My personal opinion of her is irrelevant."

The judge in the case could order that any such proceeds be used to repay the costs of the search for Caylee, said Karin Moore, a law professor at Florida A&M University.

Nancy Grace, the TV commentator and former prosecutor who made no secret of her belief that Anthony was guilty, predicted in an ABC interview that Anthony will prosper financially.

Dismissing defense complaints that Anthony was the victim of a "media assassination," Grace said: "There's no assassination because tot mom is going to walk out of jail, probably, tomorrow, and she's probably going to get a million-dollar book deal and maybe a quarter-million dollars for licensing fees for photos."

She added: "She's going to be living on easy street, living the `sweet life' she's got tattooed on her back."

___

Associated Press writer Tamara Lush in St. Petersburg, Fla., contributed to this report.

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Casey Anthony found not guilty of murder of daughter (Reuters)

ORLANDO, Fla (Reuters) – After a televised trial that gripped America, a jury on Tuesday found Casey Anthony, 25, not guilty of murdering her two-year-old daughter Caylee, whose remains were found in woods near her Florida home.

Anthony initially told police that Caylee had been kidnapped by a nanny, triggering a nationwide search. Six months later the child's skeletal remains were found with duct tape dangling from her skull.

Prosecutors said Anthony smothered her daughter with the tape in June 2008, drove around for several days with the body in her car trunk and then dumped the remains in the woods.

In court the defense argued that the child died in an accidental drowning. "Casey did not murder Caylee. It's that simple," defense attorney Jose Baez told reporters after the verdict was announced

Anthony, who chose not to testify in court, had faced a possible death sentence if found guilty of first degree murder.

The jury also found her not guilty of aggravated child abuse or aggravated manslaughter of a child.

Anthony was found guilty of four counts of providing false information to a law enforcement officer, a misdemeanor charge that carries a maximum of one year in jail per count. She will be sentenced on Thursday.

Anthony sobbed after the jury's finding was read, and finally broke into a broad smile after the proceedings ended, hugging the defense team.

"I'm ecstatic for (Casey) and I want her to be able to grieve and to grow and somehow get her life back together," defense attorney Baez said outside the court.

The jurors deliberated for nearly 11 hours over two days, taking nearly six hours on Monday with no break for the U.S. Independence Day holiday, before reaching the verdict.

The trial lasted for seven weeks and caught the attention of much of the nation, with curiosity fed by live coverage of testimony on cable news.

(Reporting by Barbara Liston; Writing by Colleen Jenkins; Editing by Peter Bohan and David Storey)

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Casey Anthony cleared of murdering young daughter (AP)

ORLANDO, Fla. – Casey Anthony was acquitted Tuesday of murdering her 2-year-old daughter in a case that became a national sensation on cable TV, with its CSI-style testimony about duct-tape marks on the child's face and the smell of death inside a car trunk.

After a trial of a month and a half, the jury took less than 11 hours to find Anthony not guilty of first-degree murder, aggravated manslaughter and aggravated child abuse.

She was convicted only of four misdemeanor counts of lying to investigators who were looking into the June 2008 disappearance of her daughter, Caylee.

Tears welled in Anthony's eyes, her face reddened, her lips trembled, and she began breathing heavily as she listened to the verdict. Anthony, 25, could have gotten the death penalty if convicted of murder.

Many in the crowd of about 500 people outside the courthouse reacted with anger after the verdict was read, chanting, "Justice for Caylee!" One man yelled, "Baby killer!"

Given the relative speed with which the jury came back with a verdict, many court-watchers were expecting Anthony to be convicted in the killing, and they were stunned by the outcome.

Sentencing was set for Thursday. Anthony could get up to a year behind bars on each count of lying to investigators. But since she has been in jail for nearly three years already, she could walk free.

Prosecutors contended that Anthony — a single mother living with her parents — suffocated Caylee with duct tape because she wanted to be free to hit the nightclubs and spend time with her boyfriend.

Defense attorneys argued that the little girl accidentally drowned in the family swimming pool, and that Anthony panicked and hid the body because of the traumatic effects of being sexually abused by her father.

The case played out on national television almost from the moment Caylee was reported missing three years ago. CNN's hard-nosed Nancy Grace dissected the case at every turn with the zeal of the prosecutor she once was, arguing that Anthony was responsible for her daughter's death. The TV host turned the term "tot mom" into shorthand for Anthony.

Anthony's attorney Cheney Mason blasted the media after the verdict.

"Well, I hope that this is a lesson to those of you having indulged in media assassination for three years, bias, prejudice and incompetent talking heads saying what would be and how to be," Mason said.

"I'm disgusted by some of the lawyers that have done this, and I can tell you that my colleagues from coast to coast and border to border have condemned this whole process of lawyers getting on television and talking about cases that they don't know a damn thing about."

The jurors — seven women, five men — would not talk to the media, and their identities were kept secret by the court.

State's Attorney Lawson Lamar said: "We're disappointed in the verdict today because we know the facts and we've put in absolutely every piece of evidence that existed." The prosecutor lamented the lack of hard evidence, saying, "This is a dry-bones case. Very, very difficult to prove. The delay in recovering little Caylee's remains worked to our considerable disadvantage."

Caylee's disappearance went unreported by her own mother for a month. The child's decomposed body was eventually found in the woods near her grandparents' home six months after she was last seen. A medical examiner was never able to establish how she died.

The case became a macabre tourist attraction in Orlando. People camped outside for seats in the courtroom, and scuffles broke out among those desperate to watch the drama unfold.

Because the case got so much media attention in Orlando, jurors were brought in from the Tampa Bay area and sequestered for the entire trial, during which they listened to more than 33 days of testimony and looked at 400 pieces of evidence. Anthony did not take the stand.

"While we're happy for Casey, there are no winners in this case," Anthony attorney Jose Baez said after the verdict. "Caylee has passed on far, far too soon and what my driving force has been for the last three years has been always to make sure that there has been justice for Caylee and Casey because Casey did not murder Caylee. It's that simple. And today our system of justice has not dishonored her memory by a false conviction."

In closing arguments, prosecutor Linda Drane Burdick showed the jury two side-by-side images. One showed Anthony smiling and partying in a nightclub during the first month Caylee was missing. The other was the tattoo Anthony she got a day before law enforcement learned of the child's disappearance: the Italian words for "beautiful life."

"At the end of this case, all you have to ask yourself is whose life was better without Caylee?" Burdick asked. "This is your answer."

Prosecutors also focused heavily on an odor in the trunk of Anthony's car, which forensics experts said was consistent with the smell of human decay.

But the defense argued that the air analysis could not be duplicated, that no one could prove a stain found in the trunk was caused by Caylee's remains, and that maggots in the compartment had come from a bag of trash.

Prosecutors hammered away at the lies Anthony told when the child was missing: She told her parents that she couldn't produce Caylee because the girl was with a nanny named Zanny — a woman who doesn't exist; that she and her daughter were spending time with a rich boyfriend who doesn't exist; and that Zanny had been hospitalized after an out-of-town traffic crash and that they were spending time with her.

Baez said during closing arguments that the prosecutors' case was so weak they tried to portray Anthony as "a lying, no-good slut" and that their forensic evidence was based on a "fantasy." He said Caylee's death was "an accident that snowballed out of control."

He contended that the toddler drowned and that when Anthony panicked, her father, a former police officer, decided to make the death look like a murder by putting duct tape on the girl's mouth and dumping the body in the woods a quarter-mile away. Anthony's father denied both the cover-up and abuse claims.

The verdict could divide people for many years to come, just as the O.J. Simpson case in the mid-1990s did, with some believing Anthony got away with murder.

Ti McLeod, who lives near the Anthony family, said, "The justice system has failed Caylee." Jodie Ickes, who lives a mile away and goes to the same hairdresser Anthony uses, said she is against the death penalty and was glad that Casey wasn't facing execution. "I'm comfortable with the outcome," she concluded.

Among the trial spectators was 51-year-old Robin Wilkie, who said she has spent $3,000 on hotels and food since arriving June 10 from Lake Minnetonka, Minn. She tallied more than 100 hours standing in line to wait for tickets and got into the courtroom 15 times to see Anthony.

"True crime has become a unique genre of entertainment," Wilkie said. "Her stories are so extreme and fantastic, it's hard to believe they're true, but that's what engrosses people. This case has sex, lies and videotapes — just like on reality TV."

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Casey Anthony weeps as prosecutor calls her a liar (AP)

ORLANDO, Fla. – Casey Anthony briefly broke down crying Sunday as prosecutors told jurors during closing arguments that she murdered her 2-year-old daughter Caylee because the child prevented her from having a relationship with a club promoter.

Prosecutor Jeff Ashton said Anthony wanted a relationship with her boyfriend, to go out with her friends and to live the carefree life she had lived before Caylee's birth.

"Something needed to be sacrificed, that something was either the life she wanted or the life thrust upon her. She chose to sacrifice her child," Ashton said during his 90-minute argument.

Prosecutors contend Caylee was suffocated with duct tape by a mother who then crafted elaborate lies to mislead everyone from investigators to her own parents. Defense attorneys countered that the toddler accidentally drowned in the family swimming pool, and that her seemingly carefree mother in fact was hiding emotional distress caused by alleged sexual abuse from her father. Her father has denied that claim.

Judge Belvin Perry ruled Sunday morning that there was no evidence of such a claim and that the defense could not allude to it in its closing argument. But Perry did say the defense could again present the drowning theory because there "is a reasonable inference that can be drawn" to suggest it.

Defense attorney Jose Baez began his closing argument by telling the jurors that they have more questions than answers, including the biggest: How did Caylee die? Neither prosecutors nor the defense have offered firm proof of how Caylee died.

"It can never be proven," he said. That by itself should give them reasonable doubt that Anthony killed her daughter, he said.

He said the prosecutors' case is so weak they tried to portray Anthony as "a lying, no-good slut."

"Then you'll start to look at this evidence in a different light, you'll start to, wait a minute, maybe I'm seeing something that's not there and start to actually discriminate against her rather than give her the standard that is afforded to each and every citizen in our country," Baez said, noting that the state must prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt.

Earlier during Ashton's argument, Anthony appeared mostly stone-faced for about the first 45 minutes, but then she closed her eyes and rested her chin on her hand. She began to cry when Ashton said that the story that Caylee drowned was also false.

Ashton said Caylee's death wasn't an accident because three pieces of duct tape were placed on her face — one on the mouth, one on the nose and one over those to be "thorough."

The jury is expected to begin deliberating after the defense finishes its closing argument. Perry said those deliberations will continue Monday on the July Fourth holiday if necessary.

The case has played out on national TV since Caylee's disappearance in the summer of 2008 and continued through her mother's trial, with spectators traveling from all over the U.S. to jockey for coveted seats in the courtroom gallery.

Ashton began his closing argument by showing a video of Anthony playing with Caylee, causing Anthony to apparently choke back tears. But she quickly regained her composure.

He then told the jury that Anthony worried Caylee was getting to the age where she would have told Anthony's parents that the woman was spending her days and nights with her boyfriend — not going to work and leaving Caylee with a nanny.

"Casey is very bright," Ashton said. "Her lies are very detailed. ... But when Casey wants to do what Casey wants to do, she finds a way."

He then described the lies Anthony told her parents, George and Cindy Anthony, about why she couldn't come home and why she couldn't produce Caylee after the toddler was last seen June 16, 2008. That she was with a nanny named Zanny, a woman who doesn't exist. That Anthony and her daughter were spending time in Jacksonville with a rich boyfriend who doesn't exist. That Zanny had been hospitalized after an out-of-town traffic accident and that they were spending time with her.

It only fell apart, Ashton said, a month later when a junk yard told George and Cindy Anthony their daughter's car had been towed. When they picked it up, they discovered a foul odor — George Anthony, a former police officer, and the tow yard operator said it smelled like human decomposition.

Cindy Anthony then tracked down her daughter. When she couldn't produce Caylee, her parents called police. Casey Anthony then told investigators she worked at Universal Studios theme park as an event planner. She went so far as to take them there, talk her way past security, take them to an office building and only give up the lie as she was walking down the hall.

Ashton then attacked the defense contention that Caylee drowned and that George Anthony helped Casey Anthony cover it up. No one faced with an accidental drowning would do that instead of calling 911, Ashton said.

"It is a trip down a rabbit hole into a bizarre world where men who love their granddaughters find them drowned and do nothing," Ashton said. "Where men who love their granddaughters take an accident, a completely innocent act, and make it look like a murder for no reason. A world where a man who buries his pets will take the granddaughter who was the love of his life and throw her in a swamp."

Casey Anthony has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder. She could face a possible death sentence or life in prison if convicted of that charge.

Anthony also is charged with aggravated child abuse, aggravated manslaughter of a child and four counts of providing false information to law enforcement. The child abuse and manslaughter charges each carry a 30-year prison term if convicted.

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Indefinite recess called in Casey Anthony trial (AP)

ORLANDO, Fla. – The judge in the Florida murder trial of Casey Anthony unexpectedly called an indefinite recess Friday morning so the defense could take depositions of witnesses the prosecution plans to call during its rebuttal case.

Judge Belvin Perry allowed the recess just before the jury was about to be called into the courtroom. Lead defense attorney Jose Baez said the state had failed to disclose all the information a computer expert and forensic anthropologist planned to testify to.

Baez wanted the evidence and witnesses to be excluded, but Perry only gave him the option of taking their depositions.

"Your honor, I will stay here and do the work, and stay here as long as it takes," Baez said.

Anthony is charged with first-degree murder in the 2008 death of her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee. If convicted of that charge, she could face the death penalty.

The witnesses are on the prosecution's rebuttal list to challenge testimony offered by witnesses during the case presented by the defense, which rested Thursday. The state planned to call a handful of witnesses and rest again Friday evening.

Judge Perry said Friday morning that he'd planned to give attorneys Saturday to work on their closing arguments, but in lieu of the impromptu break for emergency depositions, would now hold court throughout the weekend, including Sunday. He warned the attorneys to not be wasting time with the late arguments.

"You can take as much time as you want, but we have jurors back there." Perry said. The judge also said he hoped "this is a real problem and not an imaginary problem."

While the defense rested Thursday, experts said defense attorneys may have left lingering questions and failed to deliver on promises they made at the outset to explain how the toddler died.

Casey Anthony did not take the stand and the defense did not present concrete evidence that Caylee wasn't killed, but accidentally drowned.

Her attorneys also never produced any witnesses bolstering the claim made in opening statements that Anthony had acted without apparent remorse in the weeks after her daughter's death because she had been molested by her father as a child, resulting in emotional problems.

"If you do not at least present facts to support that argument, the jury is going to think you have no credibility," said Tim Jansen, a former federal prosecutor and criminal defense attorney in Tallahassee. "When you promise the jury something and don't deliver it you severely handicaps your clients' case and you undermine your credibility with that jury."

Instead, their 13-day case primarily focused on poking holes in the prosecution's contention that Anthony killed Caylee in June 2008 by covering her mouth with duct tape. Prosecutors said the woman dumped Caylee's body in the woods near her parents' home and then resumed her life of partying and shopping.

The prosecutors' case relied on circumstantial and forensic evidence, and it did have holes. They had no witnesses who saw the killing or saw Casey Anthony with her daughter's body. And there was no certain proof that the child suffocated.

What's more, prosecution began its rebuttal case late Thursday by continuing to walk through the door opened Wednesday by the defense when it allowed parts of a note Casey Anthony's father left during a failed suicide attempt to come in. The note included George Anthony asking questions about the death of his granddaughter. Several members of the jury were glued to their monitors as the prosecutor projected the letter for them to read.

"She (Caylee) was found so close to home. Why?" George Anthony wrote at one point in the letter to his family in January 2009.

The defense said in its opening statement that Caylee drowned and 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.

Florida A&M law professor Karin Moore said she was "confused" throughout the case by the defense's approach.

"The defense could have attacked George Anthony weeks ago on cross-examination during the state's case, but waited until late in the trial," she said. "I think they waited too long to ask the big questions and got themselves in trouble."

The defense's final witnesses Thursday included Krystal Holloway, a woman who claims she had an affair with George Anthony that began after Caylee disappeared. She said he told her in November 2008 that Caylee's death was "an accident that snowballed out of control." George Anthony has denied having an affair with her but admitted visiting her home on several occasions.

They also recalled George Anthony to ask if he had supplied duct tape he used to put up posters of his granddaughter when she was missing. He said he couldn't remember.

Baez also asked him if he buried his pets after their deaths in plastic bags wrapped with duct tape. Anthony said he had on some occasions. Prosecutors have said Caylee's body was disposed of in a similar manner. Under prosecution questioning, he said he had never thrown their carcasses in a swamp.

The prosecution began its rebuttal case with photographs of clothing taken at the Anthony home. Court was adjourned for the day later in the afternoon, with prosecutors set to continue Friday.

___

Associated Press reporter Brent Kallestad in Tallahassee, Fla., contributed to this report.

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Casey Anthony trial delayed by unexplained "legal issue" (Reuters)

ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) – The Saturday session of Casey Anthony's first-degree murder trial was scuttled by an unspecified "legal issue" announced by Judge Belvin Perry.

The delay could push back the end of the trial in which Anthony is accused of smothering her 2-year-old daughter Caylee on June 16, 2008 and hiding the body in the woods while claiming the little girl had been kidnapped by a nanny.

Asked to identify the legal issue which delayed the trial, neither defense lawyer Cheney Mason nor prosecutor Jeff Ashton would comment.

"I can't tell ya," Ashton said. Mason said nothing.

At the 9 a.m. trial starting time, the lawyers and Perry disappeared into a side room to talk in private. They emerged 40 minutes later for Perry to make the announcement to spectators and then to the jury in its holding room.

Earlier, the prosecution and defense lawyers argued about whether defense expert Dr. Kenneth Furton would be allowed to testify about opinions that were not disclosed to prosecutors in advance.

Perry said the "legal issue" which required Saturday's recess was unrelated to the Furton issue.

Prosecutors say Anthony smothered Caylee with duct tape to free herself to "live the good life." Prosecution evidence suggests she drove around for several days with Caylee's body in her car trunk, then dumped the remains in the woods near the Anthony home outside of Orlando.

The child's disappearance came to light on July 15, 2008 when Casey's mother, Cindy Anthony, called 911. Cindy Anthony said she was frustrated because her daughter had made excuses for a month as to why she couldn't see or speak to her granddaughter.

She said she became alarmed when she found Casey Anthony's abandoned car at an impound lot, smelling to her and several other witnesses as if it contained a dead body.

Casey Anthony initially told detectives that Caylee had been kidnapped by a nanny and that she was searching for her daughter on her own. After a five-month nationwide search, Caylee's body was discovered by a meter reader.

When the trial opened, defense lawyer Jose Baez told jurors that Caylee accidentally drowned in the family's backyard pool, but that her death went unreported. He also claimed that Casey Anthony's seemingly uncaring attitude while she partied in nightclubs was a result of a history of sexual abuse.

Saturday's delay could push back the end of the trial which began with opening statements on May 24. Perry had expected to keep the court in session until at least mid-afternoon in order to end the testimony portion by the end of next week.

On Friday, Perry said he expected to be handing the case to the jury for deliberations late next Friday or on Saturday.

The trial will resume Monday at 8:30 a.m.

(Writing and reporting by Barbara Liston; Editing by Mary Wisniewski and Ellen Wulfhorst)

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