Jared Fogle, the ex-subway spokesman, is expected to plead guilty later today in Federal Court in Indianapolis. Fogle is expected to plead to engaging in sex acts with a minor and distribution of child pornography. The allegation came about earlier this year when someone connected with Fogle’s non-profit was raided by the FBI. Fogle has apparently admitted to engaging in sex acts with a 17 year old. The records indicate Fogle informed his victim, and potentially others, he was interested in meeting other, younger children for illicit purposes.
Fogle agreed to not argue for a sentence of less than five years and prosecutors agreed not to argue for more than 12.5 years. Five years is the mandatory minimum sentence for distribution of child pornography. From court documents it appears Fogle will be required to register as a sex offender pursuant to SORNA [Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act].
The plea in this case has came about rather quickly – authorities raided Fogle’s house a little more than a month ago. Fogle’s criminal defense attorneys had little time to evaluate the evidence against their client. However there may be an agreement between Fogle’s defense lawyers and the government that the government will cease further investigations into other possible criminal conduct by Fogle.
While there are always exceptions, t is generally in a defendant’s best interests not to enter a plea so quickly in these types of cases. There is a substantial amount of sentencing mitigation work a criminal defense lawyer can do a lot to help minimize the amount of a time a person has to spend in prison. Developing an effective and persuasive mitigation case can take six, eight, even twelve months. A good mitigation case, both in federal court and in state court, can persuade a judge to sentence a person to less time in prison – sometimes even to the mandatory minimum of five years in a case such as Jared’s.
