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Prosecutors Question How Anthony Paying Legal Bills

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The Associated Press

Published: March 10, 2009

Updated: 03/10/2009 06:22 pm

ORLANDO - An Orlando mother accused of killing her 2-year-old daughter said Tuesday that an agreement with her attorney contains no clauses which would allow him to sell the rights to her story.

Casey Anthony said in a court motion that she has signed and executed a retainer agreement with her attorney, Jose Baez. The motion was filed in response to prosecutors, who are asking that the financial agreement between Anthony and Baez be made available to them and the judge who is to preside over her upcoming murder trial.

Anthony is accused by authorities of killing her daughter, Caylee, whose remains were found in woods in Orlando last December, six months after the child's disappearance. Her first-degree murder trial has been tentatively set for Oct. 12.

Prosecutors said they were concerned that Baez may be paid by selling the rights to Anthony's story, an arrangement which they say could pose a conflict of interest.

They noted in a motion filed Monday that Anthony had hired eight different attorneys even though her "seeming conversion from pauper to princess" didn't come from the sale of any assets she held.

"The only asset that appears available to the defendant is her story or otherwise valueless items, such as photographs or video tapes, which have value only because of her story," the motion said.

In a response, Baez said prosecutors filed the motion "solely to harass and embarrass the defendant's counsel."

In a sworn affidavit which was filed with the response, Anthony hand-wrote that she believed prosecutors were angry because "I have refused to take a plea agreement for a crime that I did not commit."

Casey Anthony has claimed that Caylee was kidnapped by a baby sitter and she has pleaded not guilty.

Hundreds of volunteers had helped search for Caylee after she was reported missing over the summer. The body was found last December by a utility worker.

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