Casey Anthony Trial Costs: Defense Team Charges State Over $147,000
George and Cindy Anthony to launch foundation called Caylee's Fund.
July 21, 2011 — -- Casey Anthony's defense team has billed the state of Florida over $147,000 to defend the woman acquitted of murdering her daughter, Caylee.
Anthony's lawyers, led by Jose Baez, have tallied their costs at $147,018.60 so far, according to records from Florida's Justice Administrative Commission. The state has already paid $118,847.75 of that bill. They've refused to pay nearly $12,000 of the defense's cost.
Things that the state refuses to pay for include some of the costs for deposition transcripts, the use of independent contractors and some of the defense team's travel costs.
None of the money paid by the state of Florida will pay any of the defense attorneys' salaries.
Casey Anthony, who lied about having a job at Universal Studios, was ruled indigent in March 2010 and the state took on the cost of her defense.
The largest expense was more than $67,000 on independent contractors to aid their investigation.
Another $21,000 was spent on expert witnesses. The state is paying all of those costs. The defense called several witnesses to cast doubt on the state's forensic evidence concerning the car abandoned by Anthony when Caylee disappeared, Caylee's remains and the wooded area where the 2-year-old girl was found.
Casey Anthony's Parents Announce Creation of Caylee's Fund
Casey Anthony's parents, George and Cindy Anthony, intend to honor their grandchild by launching a foundation called Caylee's Fund on her birthday Aug. 6.
Mark Lippman, an attorney for Anthony's parents, described the foundation for ABC News.
"It's a three prong foundation. The first prong is focusing on grandparents' rights...The second prong will be to work with missing and exploited children, trying to bring children home... And then the final prong is to support the final version of Caylee's law," Lippman said.
A group of activists and lawmakers are fighting for passage of a law dubbed Caylee's law that would make it a felony to not report a child missing within 48 hours of his or her disappearance.
Lippman said that George and Cindy Anthony will be officers in the foundation, but will not be paid salaries.
"They won't be paid from the foundation," Lippman said. "We hope that the foundation...will be able to do the work that it's intended to do and George and Cindy look forward to moving into the next chapter of their lives."
Casey Anthony, remains in hiding. Lippman said that he and his clients have been told little about Casey Anthony's whereabouts.
"We've had assurances from her attorney that she's safe, and right now that's good enough for them," Lippman said.
She was last seen when defense attorney Jose Baez led her from the jail shortly after midnight on July 17 and the two sped away in a car. She was clad in jeans and a pink Polo shirt with her long brown hair in a tight bun.
Since then the speculation of where Casey Anthony may be has become like a real-life version of "Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego," people have been sifting through clues in an attempt to figure out where she may be hiding.
Anthony boarded a private plane at the Orlando Executive Airport, sources told ABC News Orlando affiliate WFTV. The plane belongs to Anthony's one time defense lawyer Todd Macaluso. Since then, the plane has been sighted in Arizona, Louisiana and Florida.
Some thought the riddle was solved on July 19 when three people, one of them a woman wearing a pink shirt and jeans, were seen running on the tarmac from Macaluso's private plane at the same airport that Anthony departed from on July 17. That turned out to be a hoax with attorney Baez telling ABC News that Macaluso was "fooling around."
Rumors also swirled that Anthony was shopping with two bodyguards in Carlsbad, Calif., north of San Diego. Others said she was staying on St. George Island in Florida where there's a posh gated community and an air strip.
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