Should Casey Anthony Pay $517,000 Even After Her Acquittal?

Casey Anthony’s lawyer argued in a hearing on Friday against the repayment of $517,000 that was associated with her murder trial after the Orlando mother was acquitted of killing her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee.

Prosecutors in the hearing on Friday said that they have all the right to demand the money back from Anthony because she was convicted for lying to detectives in the disappearance of her daughter in 2008.

Defense attorney, Cheney Mason, accused the State Attorney's Office of trying to punish Anthony by ordering her to pay the full cost of the murder investigation and prosecution - even though she was acquitted in July.

I think it is time [prosecutors] accept the fact that they lost this case, Mason argued at a court hearing.

He added that the reimbursement request had nothing to do with justice.

The state wants to charge her the entire cost of prosecution, not the legitimate expenses related to the convicted counts, Mason argued at the Orlando hearing.

That has nothing to do with justice. It has everything to do with [public] outrage and sour grapes.

If Anthony had only told the truth, the state would not have incurred the expense of a three-year investigation and a seven-week nationally televised trial in Orlando this summer, the prosecutor argued.

The argument of the defense completely misses the point of my position as it relates to the costs of prosecution specifically, Prosecutor Linda Drane Burdick said. And that is that, but for Ms. Anthony's lying to law enforcement at the inception of this investigation, there would be no costs of investigation.

Prosecutor Linda Burdick said that Anthony's lies had switched on the machinery of law enforcement to find her missing daughter.

Once Miss Anthony set that machinery in motion by lying, there was no turning back in the investigation. She, to this day, has not given any other information as to what happened to that child, Burdick said.

Mason argued that Anthony might be responsible for some expenses that occurred between July 16, 2008, and Sept. 30, 2008, during the investigation of her daughter's death.

Back in July, Anthony, 25, was acquitted of killing her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee, who disappeared in 2008 and sparked a nationwide search. At the time of the toddler's disappearance, Anthony lied that her daughter was kidnapped by a nanny.

There was no nanny.

The toddler's skeletal remains were later found in the woods near Anthony's family home. When the trial came around, Anthony's defense team argued that Caylee died in an accidental drowning in the family's backyard pool.

The jury, however, found Anthony guilty of misdemeanor charges of lying to detectives during the investigation.

The state wants back the money they spent on Anthony's false kidnapping claim.

In seeking reimbursement, CNN reported that prosecutors have cited a Florida law that allows the state to fine defendants in criminal cases to recoup the money spent.

Prosecutors said the Orange County Sheriff's Office spent $293,123.77 on the case and the district attorney's office spent at least $140,390.60.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement spent $71,939.56 and the Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation spent $10,645.38, according to court documents.

Judge Belvin Perry said he expected to rule by Sept. 22.