By Barbara Liston
ORLANDO, Fla (Reuters) - The May 9 trial for Casey Anthony, accused of killing her toddler, might have to be canceled or suspended if proposed state budget cuts go through, according to Orange County Clerk of Courts Lydia Gardner.
"If she can't house, feed and pay the jurors, there is no jury," said Leesa Bainbridge, Gardner's spokeswoman. "That's what's at stake."
Gardner issued her warning to the Florida Supreme Court and trial Judge Belvin Perry after a new estimate showed the trial, expected to last eight weeks, will be costly.
Sequestering 20 jurors and alternate jurors for the duration of the proceedings will cost $360,000, according to a spreadsheet provided by court administration spokeswoman Karen Levey.
The Orlando Sentinel newspaper suggested the trial could become one of the most expensive in Florida criminal history.
State budget measures currently under consideration by lawmakers in Tallahassee include a proposed 5 percent reduction in the clerk's budget, which would take effect during the Anthony trial, Bainbridge said.
"The legislative session has just begun and talks of continuing the case are extremely premature," Levey said in a written response.
Judge Perry ruled last year that jurors would be sequestered to shield them from the intense media coverage that has blanketed the case since Anthony's 2-year-old daughter was reported missing in 2008.
Anthony, who turns 25 on Saturday, faces the death penalty if convicted of killing the child.
(Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Jerry Norton)
