Casey Anthony Won't Have to Return to Orlando by Thursday Morning

Casey Anthony won't have to return to Orlando, Fla., by Thursday morning.

ByABC News
August 3, 2011, 11:03 AM

Aug. 3, 2011 — -- Casey Anthony, the Florida woman acquitted of murdering daughter Caylee, will not have to come out of hiding and report to a probation officer Thursday morning.

Judge Belvin Perry stayed an order requiring Anthony to report to corrections officers and serve a year's probation.Perry called an emergency hearing for Friday morning. Anthony will not have to attend that hearing.

The stay does not mean that Anthony will not have to serve the probation.

Earlier this week, Judge Stan Strickland issued an amended order in a check fraud case involving Anthony. He ordered her to return to Orlando, serve a year's probation and pay $348 in court costs and $20 a month for the supervision required with her probation sentence.

Strickland recused himself from the case this morning and Perry took it over. Anthony's defense team had accused Strickland of being prejudiced against her and had previously forced him off her murder trial.

The news of Anthony's possible return to Orlando, Fla., comes as new photos and video of Anthony were released by TMZ.com. The photos are the first to show Anthony since she left the Orange County Jail on July 17 and went into hiding.

The photos show Anthony strolling the streets of Ohio.

Anthony has been in hiding since her acquittal and release from jail on July 17. If ordered back to Florida for probation, she will likely be flushed out into the open again.

"She will be treated as any other offender," said Plessinger. "Her address where she lives will be made public."

Casey Anthony May Be Spared Reporting to Probation Officer Thursday

In January 2010, Strickland sentenced her to 412 days in jail and a year's probation after she pleaded guilty to stealing checks from her friend Amy Huizenga while Caylee was missing.

Strickland claimed in court documents filed Monday that he intended for Anthony to serve the year's probation once she was released from jail. Instead, Anthony served it while she was in jail awaiting her murder trial.

Her defense team fired back, filing a legal challenge Tuesday saying Strickland's order would put Anthony in "great peril" because she has received death threats since her release from jail.

The legal challenge filed by attorney Cheney Mason also claims that Anthony has already served her probation while in jail for the last three years.

The Florida Department of Corrections spokeswoman appears to agree with Mason, saying that Anthony began serving her probation on day 410 of her jail sentence.

If the order for Anthony to serve probation is upheld, Anthony can ask to serve the probation out of state but that doesn't happen overnight, said Plessinger.

Anthony would also be required to get a job and submit to random drug tests.

Since Anthony was released from jail, her wherabouts have been a mystery. Photos and video surfaced of Anthony on TMZ.com today showing her in Ohio.

In the photos, Anthony's long brown hair appeared to have been cut. Sporting jeans, a tight t-shirt and sunglasses, the pictures showed her walking with a Starbucks frozen drink and shopping at an Old Navy store.

While Strickland did not specify his reasons for recusing himself from the probation argument, Mason's filing charged that the judge made comments on the Nancy Grace show that indicated he bias against Anthony.

He told Grace after the acquittal, "I just couldn't believe it. ... I try to think why it occurred and I'm still not sure."

He added, "It's not the first verdict I've been surprised at. I've just never seen one like this, and the magnitude of it sort of surprised me. I guess I'm just shocked."