Coincidence? Soft Plea Deal For Balloon Boy's Mom

As part of a plea agreement reached with prosecutors, Richard and Mayumi Heene are to plead guilty on Friday morning to charges stemming from the 'balloon boy' incident on October 16th, according to a statement issued by Richard Heene's attorney. The mother, Mayumi, is expected to plead guilty to an offense of false reporting to authorities, a misdemeanor of the lowest level, while Richard is expected to plead guilty to the much more serious felony offense of attempting to influence a public servant.The threat of deportation for Mayumi was a factor in the plea deal negotiation, the attorney's statement said. "Mayumi Heene is a citizen of Japan. As such, any felony conviction or certain misdemeanors would result in her deportation, even though her husband and children are Americans."

Is it just coincidence that today Japanese authorities officially dropped all charges against an American man, Christopher Savoie, who on September 28th travelled to Japan and tried to snatch back his children from his Japanese ex-wife? (Only days before she had taken their 6 and 8 year-old children to Japan from Tennessee, in contravention of their child custody agreement, and then refused to send them back.)