Jailhouse Conversations to be Released

July 29, 2008 — -- Casey Anthony, mother of missing Florida toddler Caylee Anthony, was in court today in an unsuccessful bid to get the court to restrict the public release of jailhouse conversations and visitation videos between her and her family.

Anthony is being held in an Orange County jail on $500,000 bond after police named her a "person of interest" in the mid-June disappearance of her daughter, Caylee Anthony, 2, which was not reported to police until July 15.

Judge Stan Strickland agreed with Eric Dunlap, attorney for the Orange County Sheriff's Department, that denying the release of the conversations, which are of public record, would be a violation of the First Amendment.

Such a restriction, Dunlap said, would also set a "pretty dangerous precedent" of stripping the Sheriff's Department's power over the release of information that could greatly affect their investigation into the missing little girl.

Anthony's attorney, Jose Baez, who filed the motion to stop release of the material Monday afternoon, said that the tapes could hurt his client's presumption of innocence and right to a fair trail and impede the search for the missing toddler.

"If this person is out there and sees this information is released," Baez said referring to a possible kidnapper, "they may abscond, take the child even further, or even worse."

Judge Strickland said the information must be released, saying Baez was attempting to restrict the public's source of information to just the Anthony family and himself and was asking everyone to "trust" them.

Two conversations between Casey Anthony and her brother Lee were released on Monday but revealed few clues other than Casey Anthony's expressing her "gut feeling" that Caylee is OK and "close to home."

Anthony is currently being held on charges including child neglect and obstructing an investigation, but her bond was set unusually high as prosecutors said the case was turning into "what is looking to be a homicide investigation."