Casey Anthony reports to Florida probation

[August 25, 2011]  TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- Casey Anthony, who has stayed out of sight since a jury acquitted her of killing her daughter, reported Wednesday to Florida authorities to begin serving a one-year probation on an unrelated check fraud conviction, officials said.

The 25-year-old Orlando woman did come in, but the Florida Department of Corrections offered no more details, including where she is. A news conference was scheduled for Thursday morning.

Anthony has been in hiding since being set free last month after a jury found her not guilty of murder in the 2008 death of 2-year-old Caylee. Afterward, she had received death threats from some who followed her highly visible and heavily scrutinized case.

Corrections spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger had earlier said the agency will not disclose where Anthony will report to probation, as a safety precaution.

A Florida appeals court on Tuesday denied a request that would have stopped her from being forced to start the probation by the end of the week.

Anthony's attorneys had argued she already had completed it while in jail awaiting her murder trial. The Fifth District Court of Appeals disagreed with the argument that enforcing the probation order would violate the constitutional prohibition on double jeopardy.

Her attorney confirmed earlier this week that Anthony was in Florida.

Circuit Judge Stan Strickland in January 2010 said Anthony should serve probation after her release from jail. She had pleaded guilty to stealing checks from a friend. His instructions never made it into a written order and corrections officials interpreted the sentence to mean Anthony could serve the probation while she was in jail.

In an order this month, Strickland clarified that Anthony must begin her probation now that she is out of jail. He then recused himself from the case and turned it over to Judge Belvin Perry, who presided over Anthony's murder trial. Perry upheld Strickland's order, and Anthony's attorneys appealed last week to the Fifth District Court of Appeals in Daytona Beach.

[Associated Press]

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