Casey Anthony Trial: How Casey Lives Outside of Courtroom
Strangers send in money for snacks
There are some behind the scenes stories that TV watchers have not seen during the high-profile murder trial of Casey Anthony.
Currently, the nation waits for the jury to deliberate Anthony's fate.
Among the offbeat news items are stories about where Casey Anthony spends her time while she is not in Courtroom 23. Public records recently released show Anthony has done a little shopping at the high-security Orange County Jail commissary.
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Although Anthony will spend some time in a room in the Orange County Courthouse while the jury deliberates the case, she has spent the last 33 days under close surveillance in the Orange County Jail, along with 74 other inmates facing murder charges in the county.
The jail is no place for privacy, but she has a few creature comforts according to public records.
The records show she has a few fans out there and the cash is piling up because strangers from across the country are sending in money so Anthony can spend it shopping for personal purchases.
Family members are also sending in money including a $140 deposit into her jail account Wednesday. A copy of the money order was purchased by Anthony’s mother, Cindy Anthony.
Orange County Jail spokesman Allen Moore told the Orlando Sentinel in an email that Casey Anthony's account balance Wednesday was $94.49.
Records show that until Wednesday's deposit, Anthony's family had not contributed to her account since June 5, when her father, George Anthony, deposited $100.
However, her jail account is now topping out at some $300 as of today and the money is still coming in, according to jailhouse records.
Public records reveal she is ordering a lot of writing pens. She recently placed two orders for 20 pens, which are actually security pens made especially for jailed inmates.
Among other items purchased by Anthony include shampoo, conditioner, letter pads, premium chicken breast, BBQ chips, black mascara, beef stew, scented ladies stick, nachos with jalapenos dip, peanut butter, and candy.
“I guess she gets to buy what she wants to,” said Claire Bullock, a resident of Mobile, Ala. following the trial.
“The taxpayers foot the bill for all of this housing. I cannot imagine who is sending her money other than those who believe in her innocence.”
The Orlando Sentinel reports that strangers from Texas and other parts of the country are sending Anthony money orders in the amounts of $99, $20, $150, $50, and $100.
From the start of the trial, the defense declares that Caylee's death was an accident. The 2-year-old "died on June 16, 2008, when she drowned in her family's swimming pool," Anthony's attorney, Jose Baez said in his opening statement.
Theories abound concerning the cause of Caylee’s death and media reports conclude the jury has a pile of information to sift through before rendering a decision.
Since the trial began, Anthony spends her time out of the courtroom in the maximum security jail, which is about 20-minutes away from the county court.
It is a temporary holding facility for those on trial for murder.
She resides in a very small cell and leaves every morning from a secret exit.
The cell doors are clear, which contains a bed, toilet and sink.
Anthony is allowed one hour a day for a shower, the library, or time in the recreation area.
Inmates are allowed a 45-minute videophone conference call per day but their lawyers are allowed inside the jail day or night.
According to a special report by Greta Van Susteren on Fox News, most inmates cannot wait to leave the temporary facility because there is no interaction with other inmates and everything they do in their cells is closely monitored.
Lights are not ever turned off in the jail. Lights are "dim" at 10 p.m. or 11 p.m. and back on at 4 a.m.
“Most cannot wait for the trial period of their cases to be over so they can either leave the jail or get sent to prison if that is their fate,” Van Susteren said in her report.
“Casey Anthony cannot wait to leave the jail every day for court because at least she is assay from the place during the day."
Possible guilty verdicts and sentences:
If she is found guilty of capital murder, the first degree murder with special circumstances, she could be sentenced to death by lethal injection or life in prison without possibility of probation.
If she is found guilty of first degree murder, a murder committed with intent and malice aforethought, she could be sentenced to life in prison with possibility of probation.
If she is found guilty of second-degree murder, a murder that is intentional but not premeditated, she could be sentenced to 16-3/4 years to life in prison with possibility of probation.
If she is found guilty of Manslaughter (jury believes that Casey did not intend for death to occur, but acted in negligence), she could be sentenced up to 15 years in prison.
The Jury:
They're never shown on TV, so it's jarring to see the 12 nameless jurors in plain view: seven women and five men who sit some 15 feet directly across the room from the cluttered defense table where Casey is seated. Jury on the left; Casey on the right. Taken together they are an inscrutable split screen, 13 minds that the rest of the room is desperately trying to read.
Source: People Magazine
