Full Plea Agreement (pdf)

[EPelle]

http://multimedia.nydailynews.com/pdf/2 ... eement.pdf

[tafnut]

So the 10-year max sentence is pled down to 6 months? (having no experience or desire to sift through the fine print)

[bad hammy]

Anyone notice that the day after one E. Garry Hill goes on 'vacation' one F. Hill Allen shows up as Marion's attorney?? Marriott Matt - get on this one ASAP . . .

[EPelle]

So the 10-year max sentence is pled down to 6 months? (having no experience or desire to sift through the fine print)

Agree to not appeal the sentencing if it stays under six months.

[bad hammy]

So the 10-year max sentence is pled down to 6 months?

The recommendation from the prosecutors, agreed to by MJ, is zero to six months. The Court can do whatever it wants. If it says zero to six months then MJ has no recourse to appeal the sentence. If it is over six months she can appeal the sentence, but may not remove the guilty plea.

Seems like judges normally go along with these kinds of arrangements, but not always. A guy I used to work with retired and became a fishing boat captain up in Oregon. One day he was out on the ocean when a storm came in. The Coast Guard gave him explicit instructions about which port to head for. He purposely disobeyed the instructions, the boat subsequently capsized and three people died.

He was prosecuted for ‘seaman’s manslaughter’. A plea agreement was reached where he plead guilty and the federal prosecutors recommended 3 ½ years of jail time. The judge turned around and gave him six years. My guess is, knowing this guy from work, that his smartass know-it-all attitude (the same know-it-allness that got him in trouble and people dead) came across to the judge and the judge let him have it.

Based on that, I would speculate that MJ’s tearful mea culpa is part of an orchestrated attempt to show proper contrition prior to sentencing in January.

[Mennisco]

Based on that, I would speculate that MJ’s tearful mea culpa is part of an orchestrated attempt to show proper contrition prior to sentencing in January.

She could have really screwed up and gone into Sally Field mode. "You used to like me, you really used to like me!"

[eldrick]

justice dept press release :

http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/can/press/200 ... press.html

[eldrick]

bit more from their site :

http://www.usdoj.gov/usao/can/press/pre ... t52007.pdf

[The Kitchen Cynic]

Did you notice the source of those releases? It's the US Attorney's office from San Francisco, even though the case against her was brought in New York. I guess after all the work they did on the BALCO-Jones connection (without ever getting enough to make a case against her stick), they now feel they should be on the victory team when she pleads guilty on the other side of the country. Maybe they made a deal with the NY folks--you get her convicted, we'll do the press release.

OK, as long as they got her, it probably doesn't matter who gets the credit. It's just interesting to see how these things work.