ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) – Casey Anthony, the young Florida mother who became a cable news sensation after the 2008 disappearance and death of her 2-year-old daughter Caylee, finishes her year of probation on check fraud charges on Friday, her lawyer told ABC News.
Anthony, 26, began serving the probation on August 24, 2011. Florida Department of Corrections spokeswoman Ann Howard would not confirm the exact time of Anthony’s release from the probation program for security reasons, but said Anthony did not commit any violations that would have prolonged her term.
“She was never out of compliance,” Howard told Reuters on Tuesday.
Anthony’s civil lawyer, Charles Greene, who did not return a call to Reuters for comment, told ABC his client’s probation would end at noon local time on Friday.
Anthony was acquitted of her daughter’s murder during a 2011 trial broadcast live on national television. Evidence showed Anthony, a single mother, lied to her parents and friends about Caylee’s whereabouts for a month before claiming the toddler had been kidnapped.
Caylee’s body was found five months later in woods near the Anthony family’s Orlando-area home. At trial, Anthony’s lawyers claimed Caylee accidentally drowned in the family’s backyard pool.
Public outrage followed the verdict, and a celebrity poll at the time ranked Casey Anthony as the most hated American. As a result, a judge took the unusual step of allowing Anthony to serve her probation in the check fraud case at a secret location within the state.
The one-year probation was ordered after Anthony in 2010 admitted to making purchases using her friend’s checks, a crime uncovered during the investigation into Caylee’s death.
In the past year, Anthony has surfaced publicly twice via a leaked clip of her video diary and in a phone call to talk show host Piers Morgan.
She still faces lawsuits related to her daughter’s death, including a defamation case filed by a woman who alleges Anthony ruined her reputation by claiming that a nanny with a similar name had kidnapped Caylee. At trial, Anthony’s attorney acknowledged Anthony made up the kidnapping story.
(Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Doina Chiacu)
