Article by Amy Pavuk and Anthony Colarossi,
Orlando Sentinel
Source: www.latimes.com

Chief Judge Belvin Perry sentenced Casey Anthony this morning for lying to police, giving her four years in jail and credit for the time she’s already served since 2008.

Considering how much time she’s already served and other factors, court officials said Anthony will be released from the Orange County Jail on July 13.

She was fined $4,000, or $1,000 for each conviction. She also must pay $618 in other costs.

These fines are separate from the investigation and prosecution costs state prosecutors want Anthony to pay.

The four-year sentence imposed by Perry is the maximum the judge could set under the jury’s decision.

But unhappy Anthony opponents still gathered outside the courthouse to express their displeasure about her acquittal Tuesday on a charge of first-degree murder in connection to her daughter’s death.

“I feel she got away with murder and it really irritates me,” said Donna Marini, an Altamonte Springs woman who attended most of the trial proceedings.

Nearby her, though, Casey Anthony supporters chanted for her release. One man stood with a sign asking “Casey will you marry me?”

“I would date her,” said the sign’s holder, Tim Allen. “Everyone deserves a second chance.”

Inside the courtroom, Anthony showed no reaction while Perry discussed her lies and imposed his sentence.

Earlier, she arrived in Perry’s courtroom appearing relaxed and happy.

All of Anthony’s lies

Anthony, who normally wears her long hair in a bun on top of her head, wore her hair down in court today. She huddled with her attorneys, Cheney Mason and Dorothy Clay Sims, while smiling and stroking her hair before the hearing began.

Her smiles disappeared, though, as Perry handed down his sentence.

Perry disagreed with Lisbeth Fryer, one of Anthony’s attorneys, who argued that Anthony’s four convictions for lying to police should be solidated into one count.

That’s because all the lies were told in one conversation, Fryer said.

Fryer noted that the concept of “double jeopardy” should be applied. She wanted Perry to sentence Anthony on one charge because the false statements she gave law enforcement stem from a single incident on July 16, 2008.

She also noted case law to support her argument.

Assistant State Attorney Linda Drane Burdick disagreed, saying “It is our position that there is a temporal break between the lies.”

Burdick says Anthony’s lies were intende to lead law enforcement “on a wild goose chase.”

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