Teresa Giudice's appeal to serve most of her 15-month prison sentence in a halfway house is being shot down by prosecutors.
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In the same Monday letter Teresa filed to request serving her time at Connecticut's Danbury Federal Prison, a minimum-security prison camp, The Real Housewives of New Jersey star also asked to serve 12 months of her sentence in a halfway house. In reply, federal prosecutors did not raise an objection to Teresa's prison preference, however, they're certainly not budging on the halfway-house option, The Star Ledger reported.
Assistant U.S. attorneys Rachael Honig and Jonathan Romankow reportedly wrote a letter to U.S. District Court Judge Esther Salas, who presided over Teresa and her husband Joe Giudice's fraud case, insisting that Teresa would receive little to no jail time if she's allowed to stay in a halfway house.
"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," the prosecutors wrote in the Tuesday letter obtained by the newspaper.
"The Court made detailed, express findings on the record about the need to sentence defendant to jail... 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."
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When Teresa and Joe were sentenced on October 2, the idea of a halfway house was allegedly never presented by the defense nor did Judge Salas ever consider it. But it's possible Teresa could be placed behind bars in a camp-like prison rather than a more secure administrative facility in New York City.
"If it was the Court's intention at sentencing to recommend a camp facility, the United States has no objection to the Court's clarification of the judgment to reflect this intent -- recognizing, of course, that the ultimate decision regarding defendant's designation remains with the BOP (Bureau of Prisons)," Honig and Romankow reportedly wrote.
Teresa and Joe both pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud as well as three counts of bankruptcy as part of a March plea deal to resolve their 41-count federal fraud indictment. Joe also owned up to failing to file tax returns on nearly $1 million worth of his income.
Teresa, who previously competed on The Celebrity Apprentice, begins her sentence on January 5 so she can enjoy the holidays with her family. Joe will serve his 41-month sentence after Teresa completes her own. The judge made it so that their four daughters will have one parent in their lives at a time.
After finishing his sentence, Joe will face deportation because he's not an American citizen.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski