Lordy the saga that of felonious Teresa Giudice never ends! This morning Teresa’s crisis PR representative Wendy Feldman fired her because Teresa refused to follow her advice, and allegedly took it upon herself to write a letter to the judge begging for a prison assignment at Danbury Federal Prison in Connecticut. And even worse – Teresa is now attempting to serve the bulk of her sentence in a halfway house under a seldom used Second Chance Act!
After firing her defense attorney (whom Teresa told Andy Cohen she thought would do his job and going so far as to state she didn’t understand the guilty plea she signed) the Real Housewives Of New Jersey star is now working with a new attorney, Stacy Ann Biancamano.
First Teresa’a attorney sent a letter to Judge Salas requesting clarification of the judge’s “language” during sentencing, explaining that it wasn’t explicitly clear if she was recommending a prison camp or detention center.
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Detention Centers are generally for higher risk inmates. This matters because the two closest Federal facilities to Teresa are detention centers in Brooklyn and Manhattan, and during sentencing the judge had acknowledged Teresa’s request to be placed as close as possible to her children. [This is a common thing the BOP takes into consideration, it is not Teresa being given special treatment].
Despite Wendy’s outburst, prosecutors posed no objection to that request and support Teresa’s camp assignment, if the BOP (Bureau of Prisons) also supports it (they make the final determination but usually go with the judge’s recommendation). Given that Teresa is a minimum offender of a non-violent crime with no priors, they should.
But today, Teresa’s attorney went one step further and asked the judge to amend her recommendation so Teresa can serve 12 months of her 15 month federal sentence in a halfway house citing the Second Chance Act.
Prosecutors swiftly opposed the request. “It was clearly not the Court’s intention at the sentencing in this matter to sentence defendant to serve all or virtually all of her sentence in a halfway house,” their rebuttal states. They claim given Teresa’s behavior and the findings at sentencing (i.e. her asset discovery debacle) a predominantly halfway house sentence is too lenient – especially given that it could mean Teresa serves virtually NO prison time. She will likely get less than her 15 month sentence for good behavior, serving as little as 13 months of actual time.
“The Court made detailed, express findings on the record about the need to sentence defendant to jail,” they state. “To amend the judgment now to include a recommendation of 12 months in a halfway house would be to undercut all of these findings completely.”
Among the prosecution’s other objections is that during the original sentencing this was never an option raised by Teresa’s original defense. NJ.com reports that it’s unclear when the judge will decide what happens.
I say, just do your time Tre. If Martha Stewart can do it, so can Teresa. And furthermore just doing her time will make her look better in the eyes of public, making that image rehab possible. Trying all these eleventh hour shenanigans actually garners less sympathy – and less of an opportunity to capitalize on a comeback. Personally, however, I do think the judge will deny this request and Teresa will be doing her 15 months at Alderson in beautiful WV.
[Photo Credit: Ryan/WENN.com]
TELL US – WILL TERESA SCRAPE BY ON THE SECOND CHANCE ACT?
