Legal Commentary

Balloon Boy Parents Sentenced to County Jail Time

By Jeralyn

Balloon Boy parents Richard and Mayumi Heene were each sentenced to stints in the county jail today as conditions of probation for perpetuating the hoax that transfixed the nation a few months ago. (In Colorado, a defendant can be sentenced to up to 90 in days as a condition of probation for a felony and 60 days for a misdemeanor.)

Richard Heene, who last month pleaded guilty to a felony charge of attempting to influence a public servant, will have to serve 30 days of the sentence full-time in the Larimer County jail, with the remaining 60 days served on work-release. Larimer County Court Judge Stephen Schapanski said Heene would start serving the jail sentence on Jan. 11. "I will delay this until after the holiday in fairness mostly to his children,"

Mayumi Heene, who helped hatch the scheme and who pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of false reporting, was sentenced to 20 days of jail, to be served through a program that allows her to perform jail-supervised community service a couple days a week and return home at night.

[More...]

The prosecution is also seeking $42,000. in restitution. Mrs. Heene agreed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor that would allow her to avoid deportation. She is a Japanese citizen lawfully residing in the U.S. At least she won't have to sleep at the jail, and the kids will always have one parent at home. Bottom line: Good result by their lawyers.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on December 23, 2009 (boomark / email).