ORLANDO, Fla (Reuters) - A Florida judge on Friday postponed a decision on whether Casey Anthony, the young mother acquitted of murdering her toddler, will be required to return to Orlando to serve probation for check fraud.
Judge Belvin Perry's ruling means Anthony, 25, can for now remain out of sight at an undisclosed location. Her whereabouts have been kept secret from the public since she was released from jail last month.
"This is a legal morass," Perry said in court. "If anything could go wrong, it went wrong here."
Earlier this week, a different judge had ordered Anthony to begin serving a year of probation for check fraud charges she pleaded guilty to in 2010.
Judge Stan Strickland said he had intended for the probation to begin after her release from jail.
However, that condition wasn't specified in his written order. The Florida Department of Corrections allowed Anthony to serve her probation while she remained in jail awaiting trial on the murder charge connected to the 2008 death of her 2-year-old daughter Caylee.
Casey Anthony's defense team objected after Strickland clarified his order on Monday. Perry, who presided over Anthony's murder trial, took over the check fraud case after Strickland recused himself.
In court on Friday, an attorney for Anthony said defense lawyers knew corrections officials were not following the judge's intent when they allowed the probation to be served in jail. Perry questioned whether defense lawyers had an obligation to report the problem.
Perry said he needed time to research whether Strickland had jurisdiction to clarify his order so long after it was entered.
(Reporting by Barbara Liston; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Jerry Norton)
