http://www.wftv.com/news/22316847/detail.htmlCasey: "I Just Want To Let Everyone Know I’m Sorry"Posted: 4:28 pm EST January 22, 2010Updated: 2:15 pm EST January 25, 2010
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ORLANDO, Fla. -- Casey Anthony arrived in court just before 1:30pm for a hearing where she entered a guilty plea to check fraud charges. Casey, who is charged with killing her young daughter, was wearing a light blue button down shirt and a pair of grey slacks.
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Casey sat at a table with her attorneys, Jose Baez and Andrea Lyon. Judge Stan Strickland is presiding over the hearing. Also in court as the hearing was getting underway were Casey’s parents, George and Cindy, their attorney, Brad Conway, WFTV legal analyst Bill Sheaffer and WFTV reporter Kathi Belich.
The hearing started quickly, with attorney Jose Baez, with Casey at his side, offering a guilty plea to the court on the 13 charges released to check fraud and Casey was immediately sworn in.
"Please state your name," Judge Strickland told Casey.
“Casey Marie Anthony,” she replied.
The judge then asked Casey questions about the submitted plea and confirmed that she was aware of the meaning of the plea she was entering, that she’s giving up the right to go to trial and that she wasn’t coerced into making it.
“Five years [in jail], in our position, is extremely absurd,” Baez argued regarding the sentencing they are requesting with the plea. "We simply ask that she receive equal justice under the law."
Baez went on to explain the circumstances and made arguments about the type of sentence any other person in this situation, with no prior convictions, would get and then stated what he was seeking.
“We ask the court to withhold adjudication on the counts, issue time served and, due to statutory requirements, give a short probationary period of approximately one year,” Baez said.
After Baez stated his case, the prosecution argued their points and made their request for sentencing.
“We are asking for adjudication on all [13 counts] and a straight prison sentence,” state prosecutor Frank George stated.
“She’s charged with 13 separate crimes or offenses as a result of the four stolen checks,” Judge Strickland said after hearing both sides’ arguments. “On counts 3, 6, 9 and 12, those are the forgery counts, there is going to be an adjudication of guilt and time served is 412 days.”
Strickland also adjudicated guilt on counts 1 and 2 with time served.
“As for the four counts of uttering a forged check, 4, 7, 10, 13, and as to counts 5, 8, 11, three of the four fraudulent use of identification counts, the court is going to withhold adjudication with time served and one year of supervised probation,” Judge Strickland said.
“I just want to let everyone know that I’m sorry for what I did and I take full responsibility for my actions,” Casey said referring to the check fraud. “And I'd like to sincerely apologize to Amy. I wish I would have been a better friend.”
There was no deal in place ahead of Monday's hearing, so Casey could have changed her mind and not go through with a plea directly to the judge. Taking responsibility for stealing, forging and cashing her ex-best friend's checks probably gives her the best chance of keeping her record clear of a conviction.
If she didn't plea, a jury would see security video of Casey Anthony smiling at the Bank of America teller after cashing Amy Huizenga’s stolen check. The security video will also show her at Target stores buying beer, food and clothing with her former best friend's checks, and canceled checks and receipts will bolster that evidence.
The video taken was just days after her daughter Caylee disappeared when Casey claimed she was out searching for her.
As for her murder case, the defense will try to convince a judge Monday to allow them to get testimony before the trial from an ex-wife of former meter reader Roy Kronk, who found Caylee's remains on December 11. The defense is trying to discredit his testimony that he first found Caylee's remains in August, just months after Caylee disappeared, but deputies didn't properly search the area.
The defense says Kronk should be a suspect in Caylee's murder because of Jill Kerley’s unsubstantiated claim that Kronk bound her with duct tape years ago.
“He probably was the one who murdered Caylee Anthony or had something to do with it,” Kerley, Kronk's ex-wife, said during a deposition.
“That's a very thin correlation, especially when you examine the remoteness of the time frame,” Sheaffer said.
Monday morning, prosecutors filed a response arguing the defense has to put Kronk's ex-wife on their witness list, prove that she would not be able to make it to the trial, let them depose her first under oath and, after all that, the judge may still find her testimony irrelevant.
There is no evidence of any prior connection between Kronk and Caylee Anthony. Prosecutors say Casey is the one who layered tape over her daughter Caylee's nose and mouth, possibly to suffocate her.