ORLANDO, Fla. — A Florida sheriff announced Tuesday that authorities were looking into witness-tampering allegations during Casey Anthony’s murder trial, even as he held a wide-ranging news conference with his top investigators in what he said was an effort to bring closure to a case that polarized the country.
Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings also revealed that prosecutors were considering perjury charges against Anthony’s mother, but a spokeswoman for the state attorney’s office later said they would not be pursued.
Casey Anthony was acquitted a week ago on charges of killing her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee, in 2008. Anthony was found guilty on four charges of lying to law enforcement officers. She is to be released from jail Sunday.
The sheriff held the news conference to defend his investigation and because his office had been besieged with interview requests since the verdict.
“The ultimate goal . . . is that our personnel can get back to work doing the business of the taxpayers and residents of Orange County,” Demings said. “This is the only way that we can move forward.”
Demings wouldn’t say who was accused of witness tampering, but it didn’t involve Casey Anthony’s mother, Cindy. She stunned prosecutors during the trial when she testified that she had done searches for chlor oform on the family’s computer.
Prosecutors believed, along with sheriff’s investigators, that Anthony had performed the search.
Witnesses were later called to challenge Cindy Anthony’s claim, and in the days after the verdict, prosecutors hinted at possibly charging her.
The government presented evidence at trial that chloroform was found in Casey Anthony’s car trunk and insinuated that she could have used it to render Caylee unconscious.
As for the alleged witness tampering, detective John Allen would only say the sheriff’s office has interviewed some witnesses.
“In regards to where we will go, it really depends on what information we get and what people come forward to provide additional information,” Allen said.
The investigators at the news conference sat at a table alongside a blown-up picture of Caylee. The sheriff said it was a reminder of what his investigators were pursuing during the three-year case that dominated his resources.
“This is what this was all about,” Demings said. “It was about a missing child. That’s what motivated our staff and our community.”
