Casey Anthony Release: Parents Refused to be Decoys
Anthony's attorney wanted to use her parents as media decoys, but was refused.
July 18, 2011— -- Casey Anthony's attorney wanted to use her parents as media decoys at the Orlando jailhouse where she was released on Sunday, according to the couple's lawyer.
Mark Lippman, who represented Casey Anthony's parents George and Cindy Anthony, told HLN's Jane Velez-Mitchell on Sunday that he refused the request from attorney Jose Baez.
"Last night we got a call from Mr. Baez ... he had wanted to use my clients as decoys for the media and I, of course, did not agree with that and neither did my clients," said Lippman. "One, it was risky at best, and two, just in my opinion, something that would not be beneficial to anybody."
Lippman added that he did find out that from Baez that Casey Anthony is safe at an undisclosed location. Anthony reportedly boarded a private plane from the Orlando Executive Airport around 3 a.m. Sunday upon her release after approximately three years in prison.
See pictures of Casey Anthony's release from prison by clicking here.
In the interview, as reported by The Examiner, Lippmann indicated that there has still been no further contact between Casey Anthony and her mother -- though Cindy Anthony did want to have contact with Casey, and Baez blocked it, according to Lippman.
"After the trial Cindy tried to see Casey and again was rebuked. Now again, even a simple telephone call apparently seems to be too much for either Casey or Mr. Baez, so we're asking publicly that Mr. Baez at least reach out to me and let me know what's going on," Lippman said.
Casey Anthony Released After Three Years
Casey Anthony's release comes 12 days after she was convicted of four counts of lying to police and a day after she filed an appeal of those convictions.
"This release had an unusual amount of security so, therefore, in that sense, it would not be a normal release," Orange County Jail spokesman Allen Moore said. "We have made every effort to not provide any special treatment for her. She's been treated like every other inmate."
Anthony, 25, was sentenced to four years for lying to investigators about her 2-year-old daughter Caylee's 2008 disappearance and death, but she had already served three years and was credited for good behavior. Aside the jail time Anthony was fined $4,000.
With only a few hundred dollars in donations from strangers to her inmate account and no family support after her defense -- which made her mother look like a liar and painted her father and brother as abusers -- Casey Anthony's whereabouts are a mystery.
Hundreds of protestors, carrying signs reading "Travesty of Justice," "Justice for Caylee ... Bella Vita" -- a reference to the tattoo Anthony got after Caylee went missing -- and "Don't Be a Part of Blood Money," had gathered outside the jail for much of the day.
People in the crowd lined up on both sides of the highway outside the jail chanted "Caylee, Caylee," and cars driving by honked their horns in response a sign saying "Honk for Caylee."
Her attorneys say she has received seven serious death threats, including one email photo with a bullet photoshopped through her head, but the sheriff's department said the threats aren't credible and after her release she is on her own.
Now that she has been released, Casey Anthony must now deal with several lawsuits, including one filed by Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez, who claims Anthony cost her a house and a job, and subjected her to death threats when Anthony claimed that a babysitter of the same name stole Caylee.
Casey Anthony claimed for three years that Caylee was kidnapped by a nanny named Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez. Caylee's decomposed body was found six months later in a swampy area near the Anthony home.
At the beginning of her murder trial, Anthony's lawyer said that Caylee actually drowned in the family pool.
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