The Associated Press
ORLANDO, Fla. — Casey Anthony’s whereabouts for her first week of freedom were a closely guarded secret Monday, known only to a select few as she tries to start a new life after being acquitted of killing her daughter.
One of her lawyers says an elaborate plan was made to protect her from people with “the lynch-mob mentality.”
Her options for starting a new life could be limited by lawsuits pending against her, the scorn of multitudes who think she was guilty of the killing and a criminal record from her convictions for lying to police. She walked out of jail on Sunday, shortly after midnight.
Her attorney Cheney Mason told NBC’s Today Show on Monday that he’s confident in Anthony’s safety, but declined to answer questions about where she was.
“She’s gone, she’s safe and elaborate plans had to be made to keep the people away from her,” Mason said. “Her life is going to be very difficult for a very long time as long as there are so many people of the lynch-mob mentality.”
Asked about how Anthony was paying for her fresh start, Mason replied that many volunteers have offered their help.
Her notoriety could also help her earn money. Experts who have helped other notorious defendants through rough times say she will have opportunities, but it won’t be easy for the 25-year-old, who was found not guilty of killing her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee, but convicted of lying to investigators.
In response to a question about whether Anthony planned to cash in on her fame, her lead attorney, Jose Baez, told Fox News Channel late Sunday that she has “certain rights as an individual in this country.” Attorneys planned to handle Anthony’s affairs in a “dignified manner,” he said.
“If she decides she wants to speak publicly about it, she’ll make that decision,” he said.
Baez and other attorneys didn’t respond Sunday to email and phone messages left by The Associated Press, nor did a lawyer representing her father and mother. And in the Fox News interview, Baez declined to talk about his client’s whereabouts or state of mind.
Another former Anthony lawyer, Terry Lenamon, said he had no clue where she was headed, and that probably only a few people close to her knew.
“I wouldn’t want anyone to know,” he said. “I think she needs to go underground and I think she needs to spend some time to get her life back together.”
Anthony’s July 5 acquittal shocked and enraged many around the country who had been following the case since Caylee’s 2008 disappearance. Anger has spilled onto social media sites and elsewhere. Her legal team said on Friday it had received an emailed death threat.
Anthony did not report her daughter’s disappearance for a month and was arrested after telling a string of lies about the case to police. Caylee’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 lying to investigators. 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.
Her public vilification did not ease with her release from jail. “A baby killer was just set free!” Bree Thornton, 39, shouted as the SUV left the jail.
It won’t be impossible for Anthony to get a fresh start, though it will be difficult, said Los Angeles-based attorney Thomas Mesereau. His clients have included the late singer Michael Jackson when he was charged with child molestation and actor Robert Blake when he was charged with murdering his wife.
Anthony could accept requests for paid interviews, or a benefactor may be able to help her in the short term, Mesereau said.
“When you have that degree of celebrity, there is usually somebody who would like to get involved,” Mesereau said. “The problem is trusting anyone. People are willing to leak things to the media. They’re willing to be paid off for information. It’s very difficult to find people whom you can trust.”
Casey Anthony’s relationship with her parents is strained. During trial, Anthony’s defense attorneys argued that her father, George Anthony, molested Casey as a child and covered up Caylee’s death. He has denied both claims, and neither has been substantiated.
What is known is that Casey Anthony still faces a slew of legal problems even though the criminal charges have been resolved. She has been sued for hundreds of thousands of dollars by a Texas group that searched for Caylee in the weeks after she was reported missing, and prosecutors are seeking to recoup the cost of their investigation into Caylee’s disappearance.
Anthony also is being sued for defamation by a woman named Zenaida Gonzalez who claims she has been harassed and unable to find work after Anthony alleged Caylee was kidnapped by a baby sitter with Gonzalez’ name. The woman’s attorneys had wanted to depose Anthony before she left jail, but the deposition was rescheduled for October.
Any of those civil cases could put a major dent in any money Anthony receives for writing a book, signing a movie deal or doing interviews. Anthony is broke, and her defense team was paid for with taxpayers’ money after $200,000 she received from ABC News was spent.
Several book publishers contacted by The Associated Press said they knew of no memoir that was being shopped around and consider her too tainted to sign a deal.
Anthony could avoid the potential liability of hundreds of thousands of dollars from the lawsuits by filing for bankruptcy, though plaintiffs would probably attempt to keep her on the hook for damages if she signs lucrative deals after filing, said R. Scott Shuker, an Orlando bankruptcy attorney.
An important step in building a new life is getting psychological help to cope with her notoriety, severed family ties and newfound freedom, said attorneys with clients in similar circumstances.
“Everything she has been through, that’s more than most people can deal with in a lifetime,” said Daniel Meachum, an Atlanta attorney who has represented football player Michael Vick when he was convicted of dog fighting and actor Wesley Snipes when he was convicted of tax evasion.
Media relations expert Marti Mackenzie, who specialized in legal cases, said it’s important for Anthony to make some kind of public statement soon. She said a standard news conference is out of the question, but Anthony needs to say she made terrible mistakes, that she is grateful to her defense team and that she has thought about what happened every day of her life in jail.
“In traditional public relations language, it’s called feeding the beast,” Mackenzie said. “Even if you don’t give the beast a full meal, you respond. Because once you’re part of media scrutiny … how it is handled once the case is over will help to set a tone.”
