Guilty Plea In Balloon Boy Saga

On Friday, Balloon Boy's parents plead guilty.  Which really, wasn't any big surprise once his mom confessed.  What is more surprising is that they ever thought they would get away with it in the first place.

Richard Heene pleaded guilty to a felony charge of attempting to influence a public servant. His wife, Mayumi Heene, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of false reporting to authorities.  Prosecutors had agreed to a sentence of probation with the possibility of up to 90 days in jail for Richard Heene and up to 60 days in jail for his wife.  Sentencing is scheduled for next month.

The plea deal is said to have happened because the Heenes were worried that Mayumi, a Japanese citizen, but a legal resident of the U.S., was going to be deported. With a less than a year jail sentence, she won't be.  

"Even though Mr. Heene would have a triable case, I believe, to avoid the risk that his wife is deported ... we have decided that the best course of action is to proceed as we are proceeding," Richard Heene's lawyer, David Lane, said Friday.

I want to know his definition of "triable case."  The child blew that out of the water, on t.v., and the wife confessed.  But you go ahead, and take that one to trial.

As parents, it is admirable that they want to "keep the family together."  But you know what would be more admirable, not having done this in the first place.  I wonder what happened with the child welfare investigation. 

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Comments

[Palinode]

You know who the real villain is here? Science. If it weren't for scientists and their damn weather balloons, the Heene family never would have been tempted in the first place. I say we put those scientists on trial.