State files response to Casey Anthony's appealBy Jeff Weiner, Orlando Sentinel
6:35 p.m. EST, September 6, 2012
The State of Florida filed its answer on Thursday to Casey Anthony's appeal of her convictions for lying to law enforcement officers about the death of her daughter, Caylee Marie.
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The next step in the appeal is for the Anthony team to reply to the paperwork filed by the state on Thursday. That reply is due in 25 days. After that, the case will be set for oral argument before the Fifth District Court of Appeal in Daytona Beach.
Anthony's appeal is based on three issues:
Jurors shouldn't have heard testimony about Anthony's lies, her defense argued, because she hadn't been advised of her rights, despite having been briefly handcuffed and put in a deputy's vehicle, before she was questioned by detectives.
Anthony's attorneys argue that her four convictions violate the constitutional double-jeopardy protection. The four lies she was charged with, they say, were really just one "single offense."
The defense also argues Perry incorrectly ruled against an objection to part of the jury instructions about perjury, rendering the only charges Anthony was ultimately convicted on "unconstitutionally vague."
In its answer, filed Thursday, the state countered that Anthony was not officially in custody when she lied to investigators and her appellate brief "failed to show a double jeopardy violation" or prove an issue with the instructions.
The appeal has a substantial impact on several lawsuits Anthony faces in connection with her daughter's death, including a defamation suit brought by Zenaida Gonzalez, who says she was defamed when Anthony told authorities a nanny with a similar name had kidnapped Caylee.
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