UPDATE 8.12.11
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Casey Anthony's freedom has been officially 'amended'. Judge Strickland signed orders on Monday for Casey Anthony to report to Orlando within three days. Casey will then be assigned a probation officer and begin her one year supervised probation sentence. The sentence was handed down by Strickland after check fraud charges were brought against Anthony by her former best friend, Amy Huizenga in 2008. Anthony plead guilty to the charges, a total of 13, with six charges being felonies.
On Monday, August 1, 2011, the Orlando judge who sentenced Casey last year for fraudulent check writing signed a "corrected" version of Casey's probation order that made clear she was supposed to start the one-year term after her release from jail, not while she was detained waiting for her murder trial.
The probation order requires that Casey avoid any contact with her friend, Amy Huizenga, and prohibits her from switching addresses or jobs without permission from her probation officer. Under the terms of the order, she can't own a firearm without her probation officer's consent, is prohibited from getting drunk or going to places where illegal drugs are being used and has to find a job. Casey also would have to take regular drug tests and is prohibited from associating with criminals under the order's terms.
Her attorneys are likely to challenge the revised order. Cheney Mason did not immediately return a phone call for comment. Jose Baez did not immediately respond to an email.
Circuit Judge Stan Strickland inserted the words "the defendant is to report to Probation upon release" for each of the seven counts of check-writing fraud that Casey pleaded guilty to in January 2010. The judge also added the words, "nunc pro tunc," a legal term that means something is granted retroactively.
Strickland sentenced Casey in January 2010 to probation for using checks that Casey had stolen from a friend. The state Department of Corrections had interpreted Strickland's sentence to mean that Casey could serve the probation while she was in jail for her murder trial, but the judge said last week that he intended the probation to be served after her release.
The court order said Casey must report to a probation officer in three days in Orange County, where Orlando is located, unless otherwise instructed by her probation officer.
A spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Corrections said the arrangements for Casey's first meeting with a probation officer were being worked out with her attorneys and she didn't know if it would occur in the Orlando area.
No probation officer has been assigned to her yet, said spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger. "We're working now on that first reporting visit now," she said.
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