Casey Anthony is planning to fire her lawyer Jose Baez, who defended her in the 2011 murder trial involving her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee. She’s angry over how he’s handling the media circus around her first sit-down interview.
Sources tell us Anthony is furious that Baez has been basking in the limelight and rubbing shoulders with top TV talent, but hasn’t nailed down a big interview deal for her.
Anthony’s original attorney, Cheney Mason, will take over as her representative to the media, and sources say an announcement is imminent.
“Casey doesn’t want to be reading that Jose’s working on all of these deals on her behalf,” a source said, adding that Anthony avidly pores over online reports about herself and her camera-hogging lawyer. “She thinks he’s using her name as a meal ticket,” the source said.
Baez has been dangling a $750,000 fee for the first interview with Anthony, who’s been in hiding in Florida.
While Anthony finishes her probation, Baez has been making television appearances on her behalf and enjoying the perks of being schmoozed by network bigwigs.
“He’s going around taking meetings with TV producers and networks,” a source told us. “She doesn’t trust him anymore.”
After the video diary of Casey leaked on the Internet last week, sources tell us her inner circle grew angrier with Baez.
“They haven’t been talking for weeks,” our source said. “The video was the last straw.”
Baez threatened to sue the perpetrator of the leak in an interview with Geraldo Rivera that aired on Fox News on Sunday, stating that they were private video diaries. Yesterday, it was reported that Anthony told her probation officer that her computer had been hacked and she was upset that the clips were posted on YouTube.
Baez and Mason didn’t respond to numerous requests for comment.