Balloon Boy’s family will stay together and out of jail, thanks to the extremely kind legal system in Fort Collins, Colorado. Both Richard and Mayumi Heene took plea deals: Richard to felony charges of attempting to influence a public servant and Mayumi to misdemeanor false reporting to authorities. They will each serve only probation. It seems that most of this was agreed to because Mayumi is a Japanese citizen and could very well have been deported if she’d been found guilty of a felony. However prosecutors thought there was a good chance Richard could be acquitted at trial, which would leave the family without a mother, and the much crazier father the sole caregiver.

The Colorado parents who reported their 6-year-old son floated away aboard a helium balloon will plead guilty to some charges and serve probation so that the family can stay together, the attorney for the boy’s father said Thursday. Richard Heene will plead guilty in the alleged Oct. 15 hoax to attempting to influence a public servant, a felony, his attorney David Lane said. Mayumi Heene — a Japanese citizen who could have been deported if convicted of more serious charges — will plead guilty to false reporting to authorities, a misdemeanor, he said.

Prosecutors haven’t announced whether they’ve filed charges in the case and didn’t immediately return a call Thursday seeking comment on the plea agreement. The Larimer County sheriff’s office, which recommended criminal charges, hasn’t been notified of any charges filed in the case, spokeswoman Eloise Campanella said. Lane didn’t address whether the pleas would include monitoring of the couple. Mayumi Heene’s attorney, Lee Christian, did not return a call, and the Heenes didn’t answer when an Associated Press reporter knocked on their door Thursday morning.

As part of the plea deal, Lane said prosecutors have agreed to let both parents serve probation sentences. The most serious of the charges recommended by Sheriff Jim Alderden would have carried a maximum sentence of six years in prison.

Keeping the family together was a main factor in reaching the deal, Lane said in a statement. “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 in a statement. “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.”

[From the Associated Press]

It isn’t a fair solution, but the reasoning makes some sense. It sounds like the attorneys were trying to make sure that the more stable parent wasn’t sent away leaving the less stable parent in charge. And obviously they haven’t found cause to remove the children from the home. It’s not a perfect or even just conclusion by any means. And the thought that those three little boys will still be under their father’s influence is rather frightening. I doubt Richard Heene is so crazy that he’d try something this dumb again, but who knows. Even if he doesn’t, his crackpot nature will still influence his sons, and I doubt they’ll have a stable upbringing. It’s good that they boys will still have their mother, but I doubt they’ll ever have normalcy.