Thread: balloon boy mom is Illegal!!Courts dont care!!

Lawyer: Colo. balloon boy parents to plead guilty
Nov 12, 2009 10:11 AM EST
DENVER - The Colorado parents who reported their 6-year-old son floated away aboard a helium balloon will plead guilty to some charges in an attempt to keep the family together, the attorney for the boy's father said Thursday.

Richard Heene will plead guilty to attempting to influence a public servant, a felony, his attorney David Lane said. Mayumi Heene - a Japanese citizen who could have been deported if convicted of more serious charges - will plead guilty to false reporting to authorities, a misdemeanor, he said.

Prosecutors have agreed to allow both to serve probation sentences, Lane said. The Oct. 15 event raised questions about whether the couple were fit parents, and social workers were contacted. Lane didn't address whether the pleas would include monitoring of the couple, and prosecutors did not immediately return a phone message Thursday morning. Mayumi Heene's attorney, Lee Christian, also did not return a call.

The most serious of the charges recommended by Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden would have carried a maximum sentence of six years in prison.

Keeping the family together was a main factor in reaching the deal, Lane said.

"Upon reviewing the evidence, arguably, Mayumi could have possibly ended up being deported and Richard could have proceeded to trial and had a good chance at an acquittal," Lane said. "This, however, would have put the family at grave risk of seeing a loving, caring, compassionate wife and mother ripped from the family and deported. That was not an acceptable risk, thus these pleas."

Richard and Mayumi Heene's frantic calls to authorities, saying they feared their son Falcon might be aboard a homemade balloon that had escaped from their suburban Fort Collins back yard, triggered a frenzied response before the balloon landed in a dusty farm field without the boy inside. The Heenes said they found Falcon at home - hiding, they said.

Relief soon turned to suspicion. During a live interview on CNN hours after the balloon chase, Falcon looked to his father and said, "You had said that we did this for a show."

The Heenes had twice appeared on the ABC reality show "Wife Swap," and former business partners said Richard Heene wanted a show of his own called "The Science Detectives" or "The Psyience Detectives."

On Oct. 17, deputies questioned both parents separately. Richard Heene, 48, adamantly denied the saga was a publicity stunt. But Mayumi Heene, 45, admitted the incident was a hoax, according to a search warrant affidavit.

Lane said Mayumi Heene's statements likely couldn't have been used against her husband because of marital privilege, which can keep a person's spouse from testifying against him or her.

"Unfortunately, the prosecutors insisted upon a package deal where Richard would have to fall on his sword and take a felony plea despite the fact that he made no incriminating statements to law enforcement and Mayumi's statements could not be used against him," Lane said in a statement.

---

Associated Press Writer Colleen Slevin in Denver contributed to this report.



By P. SOLOMON BANDA Associated Press Writer

It doesn't say that she is here illegally, though. Even a legal non-citizen resident can be deported if convicted of a felony.

So an IA with children will not be prosecuted to the full extent of the law to be allowed to avoid a deportation order. That noise you're hearing are the masses of IA families across America celebrating.

Do you know Virginia sent a couple to jail for 3 years for serving wine and beer at a backyard Birthday Party where not 1, not 1 of the teenagers tested by authorities was over the legal limit and of the 25 some teens there, 19 tested for zero alcohol in their blood?

Yet, this woman causes a major search and response by EMS, Fire Departments, Police Squads, State Police and the National Guard, shuts down a major airport and worries the whole nation on a lie and a fraud, and we can't even deport her back to her homeland of citizenship?

The authorities in our country suck.

The parents of Fort Collins Balloon Boy Falcon Heene will enter guilty pleas in court Friday as part of a deal to avoid deportation to Japan for Mayumi Heene.

In a statement released early this morning, Heene attorney David Lane said Mayumi will plead guilty to false reporting to authorities, a misdemeanor, with a stipulated sentence to probation.

Learn more: Special report chronicles Balloon Boy case at www.coloradoan.com/balloon

Father Richard Heene will plead guilty to attempting to influence a public servant, a felony, with a stipulated sentence to probation, according to the statement.

In the statement, Lane said authorities insisted that Richard Heene "fall on his sword" and take a felony plea.

The Heene family drew international attention Oct. 15 when Richard and Mayumi called 911 to report Falcon had floated away from their home in a UFO-shaped helium balloon.

Millions watched as the balloon's flight was televised live, but Falcon wasn't aboard when it landed near Denver International Airport.

A few hours later, the boy emerged at the family home, besieged by reporters. Falcon said he had been hiding in the garage all along.

Sheriff's investigators said the family staged a hoax to boost their prospects in reality television.

In the statement, Lane said Mayumi Heene is a citizen of Japan, so a felony conviction would result in her deportation. Mayumi Heene confessed, according to sheriff's investigators.

However, under the law, her statements could not be used against Richard Heene, Lane said, setting up the possibility she would have been convicted and deported, while Richard Heene may have been acquitted.

"It is supremely ironic that law enforcement has expressed such grave concern ot the welfare of the children, but it was ultimately the threat of taking the children's mother from the family and deporting her to Japan which fueled this deal," the statement said.

The statement, which was released at 12:49 am this morning, does not indicate whether the Heenes will face paying restitution for the search.

The couple is due in court at 8:30 a.m. on Friday to enter guilty pleas, according to the statement.

Lane noted in the statement that Richard Heene could be sentenced to 90 days in jail, and Mayumi, 60 days. He said once the pleas are entered, court workers will conduct a "pre-sentence" evaluation, and the sentences will be formally handed down in about a month.

http://www.coloradoan.com/article/20091 ... n-to-Japan