Casey Anthony: Her $97,000 bill is ‘good,’ Cheney Mason says --HAL

How did Casey Anthony’s attorneys react to the news that she must pay $97,000 in investigative costs for lies she told about her missing daughter?

“Oh, is that all? That’s good,” Cheney Mason told reporters today.

Would they appeal?

“I don’t know. I haven’t seen the judgment,” Mason said. “You’re asking me something I don’t know anything about.”

When has that ever stopped him from commenting?

Then Mason clowned. “Ask him,” Mason said, pointing to a deputy.

“Any time, sir,” the deputy said. Ironically, that deputy was one of the main law enforcers in the courtroom during Anthony’s trial.

“The amount is far less than what the sheriff and state attorney’s office had asked for, but it’s still a hefty price for a woman who hasn’t had a job in years,” WESH-Channel 2 anchor Martha Sugalski said.

WESH’s Amanda Ober called it “a mixed victory” for both sides, because Anthony won’t have to pay the $500,000 that had been sought. Chief Judge Belvin Perry Jr. “sided with Casey’s defense team, saying the amount Casey has to pay should only cover the period when detectives were investigating a missing person and not the homicide case.”

Anthony was acquitted in July of murder in the death of her daughter, Caylee. During the trial, defense attorney Jose Baez said that Caylee had drowned on June 16, 2008. But investigators and volunteers had searched for the toddler before her remains were found in December 2008.

“The big question now is how is Casey Anthony going to pay,” said Dave D’Marko of Central Florida News 13. “She says that she does not have a job.”

D’Marko highlighted that Perry’s decision did not include a payment plan or a timeline. Anthony is serving a year’s probation somewhere in Florida for check fraud.

WFTV-Channel 9’s Steve Barrett reminded viewers, “Casey Anthony has been declared indigent, and her attorneys have repeatedly said she has no money and is currently living off the charity of others. Many expected Casey to cash in quickly after the trial, but there’s no known income source for her yet and she’s not even required to have a job during her probation because of safety concerns.”

WOFL-Channel 35’s Cale Ramaker noted that the state attorney’s office, which “tried Casey for first-degree murder and lost, gets just $50.” The Florida Department of Law Enforcement gets $61,500, the Orange County Sheriff’s Office gets $25,800, and the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation gets $10,200.

Ramaker also highlighted that “Perry did say some of the investigative work from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office was not properly broken down, so he’s given them until Monday afternoon to submit those cost breakdowns.” The upshot: The sheriff’s office could be getting more money.

WKMG-Channel 6’s Mike DeForest explained that the amount that Anthony must pay is unusual. “Your typical criminal defendant, according to attorneys, they’ve got to pay $100, $150 in investigative costs,” DeForest said. “This is definitely an unusual amount.”

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_tv_tvblog/2011/09/casey-anthony-her-97000-bill-is-good-cheney-mason-says.html

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