ORLANDO, Fla. – Casey Anthony is not quite a free woman.

ORLANDO, Fla. – Casey Anthony is not quite a free woman.

She will be on Wednesday.

Anthony, in jail since 2008, will walk out of the Orange County Jail next week after being sentenced Thursday to four years – but given credit for time served and good behaviour.

The debt to society remains. Up ahead: a fine and a bill from police to cover the costs of searching for a presumably missing toddler. That could take a few weeks to figure out.

Thursday morning’s sentencing brings to an end, at least in court, a case that has been the talk of talking heads for three years.

On the streets outside the Orlando courthouse, a crowd wasn’t ready to close the case.

Amber Block, one of the protesters who had been camped out since before sunrise, shook her head in disgust at the not-guilty verdict. The recent graduate of cosmetology scored tickets to the sentencing hearing, the ninth time she had made it into the courthouse during the six-week trial.

“This is absurd,” said Block, 23, of Orlando. “This makes me sick. That little girl is dead and her mother has her whole life to live.”

Acquitted of the major charges against her in the death of her doe-eyed daughter, Caylee, Anthony faced more time behind bars after she was convicted of four misdemeanour charges of lying to investigators.

Mary Stratton, an Altamonte Springs, Fla., schoolteacher, was among the last protesters in front of the courthouse Thursday afternoon.

With her 5-year-old daughter in tow, Stratton held a poster that read: Mommy, why did you kill me?

“She got away with murder and I am sure most of the mommies would agree,” Stratton said.

In addition to the sentence, credited and reduced just a few hours later, Judge Belvin Perry Jr. hit her in the pocketbook, with a $1,000 fine for each of the four misdemeanour convictions.

Beyond having to pay, what’s next for Anthony when she leaves jail? Book deal? Made-for-TV movie? A new life in a new place? More partying?

Only she knows for sure.

But on Thursday morning, she was an inmate awaiting her fate. A few minutes after 9:30 a.m., in the same Orlando courtroom where she was put on trial for Caylee’s death, Anthony listened as the judge heard from the lawyers on both sides and considered the sentencing.

His verdict: “I will sentence you to one year in the county jail” for each of four misdemeanour counts against her – four years total.

After the judge figured in credit for time served and good behaviour, she will walk out of jail after having served 1,002 days.