W.Va. reviews child neglect laws after Anthony trial

Last week's Casey Anthony verdict has West Virginia lawmakers reviewing state laws that target child neglect, lying to law enforcement and hiding bodies.

A House-Senate interim study committee is also assessing the measure proposed in Florida after a jury there acquitted Anthony in the death of her 2-year-old daughter, Caylee. Lawmakers in at least 16 states are similarly discussing a "Caylee's Law" in the verdict's wake.

Anthony didn't report her daughter missing for more than a month after she was last seen in June 2008. She then repeatedly misled investigators trying to find the child. Caylee Anthony's remains were found six months later. Her mother was found not guilty of murder but convicted of four misdemeanor counts of lying to law enforcement. She was sentenced to the maximum of four years, but after serving nearly three years in jail awaiting trial, coupled with good behavior credits, she is set to go free Sunday.

West Virginia also treats impeding investigators as a misdemeanor, punishable by up to five days in jail, House lawyer Joe Altizer told the interim committee Tuesday. But the state threatens prison time for concealing a body, and when neglect or the failure to act by a caregiver results in a child's death. The latter felony carries a three- to 15-year term, Altizer said.

"There's an argument to be made that there's negligence involved if you have a young child and you're responsible for them and you can't find them," he told lawmakers. "But I do think potentially there's a hole, so to speak, in our criminal statutes."

Florida's proposal would make it a felony for a caregiver not to report a child under the age of 12 missing after 48 hours. It also would make it a felony not to report a child's death or "location of a child's corpse," to police within two hours of learning of either. Altizer said the measure would upgrade misleading or impeding law enforcement by a caregiver to a felony as well. Had Florida's measure been in place and Anthony been convicted, she could have faced another 15 years behind bars.

The committee plans to hear from the state's Prosecuting Attorneys Institute on the subject during its August interim meeting.

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At least one West Virginia legislator, Delegate Kelli Sobonya, has already announced plans to introduce a "Caylee's Law" bill during the 2012 regular session. The Cabell County Republican is not on the interim committee.