Felicity Huffman arrived at a Boston courthouse on Friday, where she will learn her fate from a judge at her sentencing hearing. The Desperate Housewives star previously pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail fraud in the case in which prosecutors said she spent $15,000 to cheat on her daughter’s SAT test.
Felicity Huffman arrives at court with husband William H. Macy on Friday to learn whether she’s headed to jail in college admissions scheme. https://t.co/DENhfXdsWR pic.twitter.com/itlDyKvM8G
— CBS News 8 (@CBS8) September 13, 2019
In video published by TMZ, Huffman walks arm-in-arm with husband William H. Macy and alongside a police officer escorting them into the courtroom, surrounded by dozens of onlookers and paparazzi. She donned a simple black slitted dress while Macy wore a suit.
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At the hearing, prosecutors will recommend Huffman, 56, spend a month behind bars, 12 years of supervised release and pay a $20,000 fine.
Huffman’s lawyers are asking that she receive one year of probation, 250 hours of community service and a $20,000 fine.
Prosecutors initially wanted a minimum of four months after Huffman made a plea deal and admitted her guilt in the case months ago. However, in the face of a probation report, they reduced the recommendation to one month, saying that the amount of time does not matter, as long as the judge sends a message that similar wrongdoers will get at least some time in jail.
In March, the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts announced that it had charged 50 people, including Huffman and Lori Loughlin, in the cheating scandal. They were indicted on accusations of falsifying SAT scores and lying about their athletics skills to gain entry into universities, among other alleged crimes.
In an emotional letter to the judge, Huffman said it was “desperation to be a good mother” that led her to pay $15,000 to fake her daughter’s SAT scores — and she’ll feel “utter shame” for the rest of her life.
“I talked myself into believing that all I was doing was giving my daughter a fair shot,” she wrote to the judge of paying admissions consultant William “Rick” Singer to have a proctor change Sophia’s SAT answers after she took the test.
