Casey Anthony No Longer Returning For Thursday Probation Sentence

ORLANDO (CBS4) – Casey Anthony will no longer be required to return to Orlando on Thursday to serve the one year probation that Judge Stan Strickland sentenced her to.

Wednesday morning Judge  Strickland, who sentenced Anthony to probation in January 2010 for using checks stolen from a friend, recused himself from the case; his order did not say why.

Originally, corrections officials interpreted the sentence so that she served the probation while in jail awaiting her murder trial.

But later, Strickland said he meant the probation period to start upon her release. So he amended the sentence and ordered her return to meet with a probation officer on Thursday.

Anthony will no longer return on Thursday and an assistant in Judge Belvin Perry's office said a hearing will be held on Friday to determine what will become of the probation sentence.

Anthony has vanished from public view since her acquittal last month on charges of murdering her 2-year-old daughter.  The state's Department of Corrections said she must report to the probation office in Orlando Thursday morning.

Anthony's attorney said she would be in danger if she returned to the city and would require county funded security.

On NBC's "Today" show, Jose Baez said that his team was seeking an immediate hearing for their motions to quash the judge's probation order. Baez said bringing Anthony back to Orlando would only add to what he called the "circus-like atmosphere" around her case.

In a motion filed Tuesday, Baez and his team said Anthony already served her probation while in jail awaiting her murder trial and to have her do so again would be double jeopardy. They also said Florida law stipulates the judge cannot amend his sentence more than 60 days after it was signed, which was in January 2010.

Her attorneys also argued that Strickland, who presided in the check fraud case but not the murder trial, has revealed a prejudice against Anthony in two television interviews he gave after her acquittal last month. They said he is no longer qualified to issue the amended order since he recused himself from Anthony's criminal case and that the amended order was fraudulently filed since there was no court proceeding attended by Anthony or her attorneys.

"This thing is over and done. And for some reason things seem to keep coming up again for no apparent reason, for absolutely no apparent reason, other than let's just keep this thing going, let's just keep this madness going and engage in the circus-like atmosphere that is called the Casey Anthony case," Baez said.

Baez said there were threats against Anthony because of her acquittal and Orange County would have to provide security if she was forced to return. To back up that claim, Anthony's attorneys included a flyer in their motion that showed a doctored photo of Anthony with a bullet mark on her forehead. Text underneath the photo reads, "Keep Smiling Bitch. With a forehead that big, the headshot will be easier."

Baez did not say where she was located, only that she was not in Florida when the judge's order was signed Monday.

An inmate can't serve probation while in jail, said Karin Moore, a law professor at Florida A&M College of Law, so Strickland has the ability to correct what he may consider an illegal sentence.

"He can correct an illegal sentence anytime, which he thinks he is doing now," Moore said.

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