Casey Anthony, the Florida mother who was acquitted of charges that she murdered her daughter Caylee, was released just after midnight today from an Orange County jail, according to her attorney and jail officials.
She was escorted out of the jail by two sheriff's deputies armed with semi-automatic rifles and was driven away by her attorney, Jose Baez, without speaking to anyone in the mob of reporters and demonstrators.
"This release had an unusual amount of security so, therefore, in that sense, it would not be a normal release," Orange County Jail spokesman Allen Moore said. "We have made every effort to not provide any special treatment for her. She's been treated like every other inmate."
Her release comes 12 days after she was convicted of four counts of lying to police and a day after she filed an appeal of those convictions.
Anthony, 25, was sentenced to four years for lying to investigators about Caylee's death, but she had already served three years and was credited for good behavior. Aside the jail time Anthony was fined $4,000.
Hundreds of protestors, carrying signs reading "Travesty of Justice," "Justice for Caylee ... Bella Vita" -- a reference to the tattoo Anthony got after Caylee went missing -- and "Don't Be a Part of Blood Money," had gathered outside the jail for much of the day.
People in the crowd lined up on both sides of the highway outside the jail chanted "Caylee, Caylee," and cars driving by honked their horns in response a sign saying "Honk for Caylee."
But along with those angy about Anthony's release, were a few supporters of the young woman.
Jose Baez, Anthony's lead attorney, told ABC News she will not be going to stay with her parents and will not be going to Puerto Rico, which had been widely rumored.
He also said that while security is the main immediate concern because of public outrage at the not guilty verdict, there are no plans for Anthony to alter her appearance with plastic surgery.
According to the sheriff's department, the plans for Anthony's release were that she would be driven by jail guards to a secret location away from the grounds, but after that she would be on her own.
Her attorneys say she has received seven serious death threats, including one email photo with a bullet photoshopped through her head, but the sheriffs department said the threats aren't credible and after her release she is on her own.
"We will not be providing any elaborate security or protection for Casey once she leaves," Orange County Sheriff Jerry Demings said.
With only a few hundred dollars in donations from strangers to her inmate account and no family support after her scorched earth defense made her mother look like a liar and painted her father and brother as abusers, where she will go is a mystery.
But security experts advise her to stay under the radar and protected around the clock.
"You have to have someone with you -- we call it shadowing -- 24/7," Clark Pena. "You can't see people the way you used to, you can't go out to clubs the way you used to, you can't -- your life has changed 100 percent."
She will also have to deal with several lawsuits, including one filed by Zenaida Fernandez-Gonzalez who claims the Florida woman cost her a house and a job and subjected her to death threats when Anthony claimed that a babysitter of the same name stole Caylee.
Caylee Anthony died in June 2008 and wasn't reported missing for 31 days.
Casey Anthony claimed for three years that she was kidnapped by a babysitter. Her decomposed body was found six months later in a swampy area near the Anthony home.
At the beginning of her murder trial, Anthony's lawyer said that Caylee actually drowned in the family pool.
Jurors in the case have said they regretted there wasn't a less serious charge for them to consider besides murder.
ABCNews.com
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