Although I've resisted blogging about this case until now - I feel I must explain something about it now, mainly because everyone and their brother have asked me about it.
This morning, Casey Anthony was sentenced. Prior to sentencing the State made an argument to the judge that the "investigative costs" part of sentencing should be "bifurcated" from the rest of the sentencing. Although this sounds important it's really not.
Bifurcate is a fancy legal word for separate. Many trials are bifurcated, for example, in a felony DUI- the regular DUI will be tried first and if the defendant is found guilty - the felony portion of the DUI - that is, proving there are priors DUI convictions - will be tried second.
Investigative costs - are the cost of any criminal investigation which are assessed as a fine in all criminal cases. This is the cost of the time it took the police to investigate the crime usually calculated by the hour in addition to other costs. In most misdemeanor cases the costs are around $100 - $200.
But in Casey Anthony's case - because she led the police on a "wild goose chase" for months, I would imagine the costs are going to be ALOT higher. As part of her sentence the judge will assess those costs of investigation and she'll have to pay them. How? you're probably asking. She'll set up a payment plan with the Clerk of Court and she'll have to pay them, or they'll send it to collections and suspend her driver's license.
By bifucating the sentencing, the judge is allowing the State more time to figure out the exact figure of investigative costs and to present that to the defense so that they can object or agree. Clearly it's much easier for the attorney's to work out something rather than have a long hearing on the costs.
So for everyone who's called me today asking me to explain what happened - and those of you who don't even know me but were thinking of calling - this is the short and simple answer.
Don't ask me anything else about the case - I didn't have time to watch it and I'd rather stick pins in my eyes than listen to Nancy Grace's version of any issue.
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