TODAY | October 01, 2011
>>> where a judge friday ordered the release of a jailhouse videotape that shows casey anthony 's reaction after learning that the remainses of her daughter, caylee westbound had been found. number's kerry sanders reports.
>> there's no sound. the quality is poor. but the images are so powerful, a judge decided in 2010 that casey anthony could not get a fair trial of potential jurors ever saw this. not even the jurors who found her not guilty in the murder case of her daughter saw this video. orange county deputies videotaped casey the very moment she watched local tv and learned her daughter, caylee's remains had been found. detectives hoped casey might confess. the trial long over, the casey acquitted of murder, her attorney argued the video should have remained sealed because casey was in the jail infirmary and making it public would violate her medical privacy .
>> in some form of torture, they decided to turn on the television and at that point she was recorded, her reactions, her physical reactions were recorded. there were medical personnel surrounding her.
>> reporter: but friday, orange county judge belvin perry ordered the tape public. it was not to simply see casey 's reaction, but to allow the public to judge how the public officials did their job.
>> one of the reasons public records acts exist is so that the public through the eyes of the media, the eyes and ears of the public, can see how government acts.
>> reporter: in july, casey anthony was found not guilty of murdering her 2-year-old daughter, caylee. casey anthony is free. but she remains in florida in hiding. the 25-year-old is serving out a one-year probation on check fraud charges. her lawyers say she continues to receive psychiatric and grief counseling . the one question that remains unanswered, does the video show a mother's grief or does it reveal casey 's secret had just been revealed? casey says her daughter was not murdered, but rather drown in the backyard swimming pool. for today, kerry sanders , nbc news.