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Casey Anthony owns rights to her story again

TAMPA, Fla. — A bankruptcy hearing was held Wednesday in Tampa for Casey Anthony, the woman acquitted of murdering her 2-year-old daughter Caylee.
 
Wednesday's hearing came a day after the trustee overseeing Anthony's bankruptcy withdrew a request asking that she be allowed to sell the rights to her story.

Anthony filed for bankruptcy in January, claiming just $1,000 in assets and $792,000 in liabilities.

Channel 9's Kathi Belich asked the trustee why he's no longer interested in Anthony’s story, but he said he is still very much interested.

The trustee's lawyer said after the hearing that withdrawing the request was a strategic move.

Anthony is fighting two defamation lawsuits filed by two people who accuse her of blaming them for her daughter’s death before she went to trial and claimed that Caylee drowned.

“Take the offers away and hope that there's a trial in the case,” said WFTV legal analyst Bill Sheaffer. “There may be a trial in which Casey testifies that may generate interest that may drive up the price of her story.”

The only offer for her story made public was $10,000.

“The offers are low because whoever buys the story knows they have to have her cooperation and they have to have a market and those questions are both open as to one or both,” said Sheaffer.

The ABC Network faced public backlash for paying Anthony $200,000 for the rights to her photos of Caylee months after the child's disappearance.

The bankruptcy judge suggested Anthony could make a deal with whoever buys the rights so they can both benefit and maybe get some money for her creditors.

“There's been no such deals.  She's seeking a fresh start,” said Anthony’s attorney, Andrew Chlemir.

In the meantime, Anthony’s lawyers are pushing to get her defamation lawsuits moved to federal bankruptcy court where they think they have a better chance of getting the suits thrown out.

The judge said he'll make that decision at the next hearing here later this month.

Meanwhile, a Texas search and rescue organization involved in the search for Caylee said Anthony owes it more than $100,000 in expenses.
 
Attorneys for Texas Equusearch Mounted Search and Recovery said in federal bankruptcy court documents that Anthony knew her daughter was already dead when the search began in 2008, and that the $100,000 debt should not be discharged.