Casey Anthony smiles before the start of her sentencing hearing in Orlando, Fla. Anthony was deposed Oct. 8, 2011, for a civil lawsuit that accuses her of ruining another woman's reputation.(Photo: Joe Burbank AP)
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- A Florida appellate court is being asked
Tuesday to decide whether Casey Anthony was in police custody when she
made statements that led to her being convicted of four counts of lying
to law enforcement officers.
Anthony's attorneys are appealing the
misdemeanor convictions on the grounds that her statements were
inadmissible at her murder trial since she hadn't been read her Miranda
rights, which warn suspects that they can remain silent and that their
statements can be used against them in court. The three judges on the
Fifth District Court of Appeals aren't expected to rule Tuesday.
Anthony was acquitted in 2011 of murdering her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee.
After
Caylee disappeared in the summer of 2008, Anthony told investigators
that a babysitter named Zenaida Gonzalez had kidnapped her daughter,
that she worked at Universal Studios, that she had told co-workers about
Caylee's disappearance and that she had recently received a phone call
from her daughter. All of the statements were lies and were the basis
for her misdemeanor convictions.
Anthony's attorneys argued that
because Anthony had been handcuffed and placed in a squad car, she was
effectively under arrest and should have had her Miranda rights read to
her. They also argue that her convictions on four similar charges
stemming from a single encounter with police represents double jeopardy -
a person's constitutional protection from being punished multiple times
for one offense.
Attorneys for prosecutors argued that the trial
judge was correct to allow the statements to be used. They said that
Anthony only was handcuffed because her mother thought she would flee
and not help them try to locate Caylee. They also noted that a
supervisor ordered a detective to take the handcuffs off Anthony a few
minutes later.
The appellate court's decision could affect how
Anthony testifies in a civil lawsuit. A woman with the name Zenaida
Gonzalez sued Anthony, claiming her reputation had been ruined. Anthony
has used the pending appeal to delay questioning in the lawsuit. The
trial over the lawsuit has been postponed indefinitely until the
appellate court rules.
Associated Press