Casey Anthony not guilty of murder, convicted only of lying to cops

A Florida jury found Casey Anthony not guilty of murder in the June 16, 2008 death of her 2-year-old daughter Caylee, in a case that riveted millions since Caylee was first reported missing that year.


After less than 11 hours of deliberation, a jury Tuesday found Casey Anthony not guilty of first-degree murder and the other most serious charges against her in the 2008 death of her 2-year-old daughter.



Chief Prosecutor Jeff Ashton, meanwhile, shook his head slightly from side to side in apparent disbelief.

Across the room, Anthony's father wiped tears from his eyes. Without speaking to Casey Anthony, he and his wife left the courtroom escorted by police as the judge thanked the jury.

Casey Anthony with her defense attorneys, Jose Baez, left, and Dorothy Clay Sims, as the verdict in her murder trial was read on Tuesday.  

Anthony was also found not guilty of child abuse and aggravated manslaughter.

The only counts Anthony was found guilty of were for providing false information to investigators looking into the June 2008 disappearance of her daughter. The child's body was found in the woods six months later and a medical examiner was never able to determine how she died.

Cindy and George Anthony : During the trial, George Anthony was a target of his daughter's defense, which accused him of both molesting Casey and having an affair with a woman who helped search for Caylee.

Timeline in the Casey Anthony case

• June 16, 2008: 2-year-old Caylee Anthony is last seen alive leaving the home of her grandparents, George and Cindy Anthony, along with her mother Casey.
• June 18, 2008: Casey Anthony borrows a shovel from Brian Burner, a neighbor of George and Cindy Anthony. Burner says that Anthony returned it an hour later.
• June 19, 2008: Casey Anthony goes with boyfriend Tony Lazzaro to help him look for an apartment.
• June 20, 2008: Casey Anthony is captured in various photos partying at Fusion nightclub and participating in a "hard body contest."
• June 23, 2008: Casey Anthony and her boyfriend, Lazzaro, break into a shed at the Anthony family home to borrow her father's gas cans to fill her car, which had run empty.
• June 24, 2008: Casey Anthony gets into a fight with George Anthony about the gas and she storms out of the home. She tells her father that Caylee is with the babysitter, Zanny.
• June 25, 2008: Cell phone records show she was in the area of her parents' home.
• June 28, 2008: Casey Anthony's car is towed from the parking lot of a check cashing store after a supervisor calls to report it abandoned.
• June 30, 2008: Casey Anthony is captured in surveillance videos shopping at JC Penney and Target.
• July 1, 2008: Surveillance video shows Casey Anthony back in JC Penney buying more clothes.
• July 10, 2008: Casey Anthony is recorded in surveillance video at Target.
• July 12, 2008: Casey Anthony is seen in surveillance video at Winn-Dixie
• July 15, 2008: Casey Anthony is recorded in Blockbuster Video, Bank of America and Winn-Dixie surveillance videos.
• July 15, 2008: George and Cindy Anthony pick up Casey's car from a tow yard. George Anthony observes a strong odor emanating from the vehicle. Later, back at the Anthony family home, Casey tells her mother and brother, Lee Anthony, that she hasn't seen Caylee in a month and that a babysitter named Zanaida Fernandez Gonzalez (Zanny) kidnapped her.
• July 15-16: Casey Anthony takes police to the last place she says she saw Caylee. It turns out to be a vacant apartment. Authorities also take her to Universal Studios where she said she worked, but supervisors there say she hasn't worked there in more than two years.
• October 14, 2008: Casey Anthony indicted on charges of first-degree murder, along with aggravated manslaughter, aggravated child abuse and four counts of lying to police.
• Dec. 11, 2008: The skeletal remains of Caylee Anthony are discovered in a wooded area not far from the Anthony family home.
• May 9, 2011: Jury selection begins in Clearwater for Casey Anthony's murder trial.
• May 24, 2011: Trial begins in Orlando. The prosecution shows jurors a photo during opening statements of Caylee Anthony alive and smiling, along with a picture of the girl's skull as it was found in 2008. They say Anthony used duct tape to suffocate her. The defense contends the child actually drowned in her grandparents' swimming pool.
• July 5, 2011: Casey Anthony acquitted of murdering Caylee but convicted of lying to police.