Casey Anthony trial

The Casey Anthony trial (officially titled the State of Florida v. Casey Marie Anthony, 48-2008-CF-015606-O) was a criminal trial held in Orlando, Florida from May 9 to July 5, 2011 in the state's Ninth Judicial Circuit Court involving the death of two year old Caylee Marie Anthony. Caylee's mother, Casey Marie Anthony, was arrested on July 16, 2008 and indicted on charges of first degree murder on October 14, 2008. On April 13, 2009, prosecutors announced they would seek the death penalty. Anthony maintained that she was innocent and that the child died accidentally by drowning in the family swimming pool.

On July 5, 2011, Casey Anthony was found not guilty of first degree murder, aggravated manslaughter of a child, and aggravated child abuse. She was found guilty of four misdemeanor counts of providing false information to a law enforcement officer. On July 7, 2011 she was sentenced to one year in jail and $1,000 in fines for each count. With credit for time served and good behavior, her release date was set for July 17, 2011.

The case received national media attention in the United States and became a public obsession, with newspapers and magazines calling it "the biggest ratings draws in recent memory" and "the social media trial of the century". Defense counsel charged that Anthony was being tried in the media to her great detriment while she was facing the death penalty. The case has been cited as an example of the unfairness of prejudicial pretrial publicity impacting the rights of defendants in the United States.