Balloon Boy parents avoid jail time, will admit hoax: Richard and Mayumi Heene will plead guilty Friday to charges stemming from the "Balloon Boy" hoax the Colorado couple put their child up to October 15.
In an effort to avoid jail time (and deportation for Mayumi Heene) Richard Heene's lawyer said the couple will admit their guilt--he for the felony of attempting to influence a public servant and she for a misdemeanor of false reporting to authorities.
It's unclear how long the probation will last or what other terms may accompany the sentence, though Lane credited the family's desire to stay together for the duo agreeing to fess up to the charges, according to E! News.
The couple created a national spectacle last month when they claimed their 6-year-old son, Falcon, was swept up in a silver weather-type balloon Richard Heene had created. They placed emergency calls, only to have the boy show up a few hours later from their Fort Collins, Colo. home. The whole tale fell apart as quickly as the media attention that descended on the family. Falcon famously vomited on the Today show whenever the hoax theory was brought up, and Mayumi admitted to authorities shortly thereafter that she and her husband had been planning it for a couple of weeks prior to the incident. If convicted, she would have faced deportation charges back to Japan.
"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."
"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."
Carrie Prejean walks out on Larry King: Carrie Prejean--known for her support of "opposite marriage," being kicked out of the beauty queen circuit and a sex tape--walked out on Larry King Live after refusing to take viewer questions and talking about why she settled with the Miss California organization.
The ousted beauty contestant has been making the media rounds this month to hawk her book, Still Standing, talked with Larry King long enough to tell the world former Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin is her hero, but became testy when King tried to get her to talk about why she settled her suit against the pageant organization. Prejean filed a lawsuit against the organization, including Shanna Moakler, for slander, libel, religious discrimination, public disclosure of private facts and infliction of emotional distress stemming from public and media reaction to the anti-gay-marriage position she took before she was named runner-up at this year's Miss USA pageant, E! News reported.
The group, part of the Miss Universe organization run by Donald Trump, then countersued requesting that she return the $5,200 it gave her for breast-augmentation surgery.
"You accused [the organization] of a number of things, including religious discrimination—clearly an issue very important to you. Why did you settle?" King asked Prejean Wednesday. "You don't have to tell me the terms of the settlement. But why settle, since you had a fight to carry on?"
Prejean replied that she couldn't discuss it, but King pushed on. She then told the host, "Larry, you're being inappropriate. You really are."
He countered by renaming his show "Inappropriate King Live" and taking a call from a viewer. The caller asked a question about gay marriage, but Prejean wasn't answering. Instead she left, proclaiming that she never agreed to take viewer questions.
I guess the book and sex tape will speak for her then.
Other celeb news: Taylor Swift cleans up at the CMAs; is the youngest ever to win 'Entertainer of the Year'
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All of them are losers.
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