Judge to Casey Anthony: Pay up
ORLANDO, Fla. -- Casey Anthony must pay almost $100,000 of what it cost law enforcement to investigate the death of her 2-year-old daughter, a Florida judge ruled Thursday.
Circuit Judge Belvin Perry's decision fell well short of the more than $500,000 prosecutors and law enforcement agencies in Orlando asked for during a hearing earlier this month.
Prosecutors had asked that Anthony be forced to pay those costs since she lied repeatedly to investigators who were searching for her missing toddler, Caylee, in the summer of 2008. The judge said the costs should cover only the period when detectives were investigating a missing person, and not the homicide investigation -- a sum of $97,676.
The judge said Anthony's payment obligations will be a civil judgment.
"If she ever wins the lottery, they can sue her for it," said Orlando defense attorney David Hill. "If she hits a big book deal, several hundred thousand dollars, they could try to collect it then. If she ever tries to buy a house, that will be a lien on her. If she ever wants to buy anything and use her credit, she will have to take care of that."
Anthony, unemployed since Caylee's initial disappearance, could face serious prison time if she fails to pay this latest amount, notes "Early Show" co-anchor Chris Wragge.
Anthony was acquitted in July on charges of murdering Caylee. But the 25-year-old was convicted of four misdemeanor counts of lying to authorities. She told officers a baby sitter had kidnapped the child. Authorities later learned the baby sitter never existed.
Anthony, who was declared indigent by the court, meaning taxpayers paid for her defense, has appealed her misdemeanor convictions. Her attorneys didn't respond immediately to emails seeking comment Thursday.
Perry denied requests to pay for prosecutors' cost of pressing the murder charges and said they were only entitled to $50.
He ordered that $61,500 be paid to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, that $25,837 be paid to the Orange County Sheriff's Office and that $10,283 be paid to the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation in central Florida. He left open the possibility that the Orange County Sheriff's Office could recover more money if the agency re-files expenses with greater details.
Anthony currently is serving probation at an undisclosed location in Florida for unrelated check fraud charges.
On "The Early Show" Friday, co-anchors Chris Wragge and Erica Hill discussed the ruling with CBS News legal analyst Jack Ford about the ruling, and asked HollywoodLife.com President and Editor in Chief Bonnie Fuller whether Anthony can generate money for herself from her story: