A woman who has admitted to handling a stolen diary belonging to President Joe Biden’s daughter should serve time in prison, prosecutors said April 2 in a new brief.
A sentence of between 4 and 10 months for Aimee Harris, the woman, “would be sufficient but not greater than necessary to accomplish the purposes of sentencing, including but not limited to promoting respect for the law and specific and general deterrence,” prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York said in the filing.
Prosecutors previously recommended the federal court in New York City sentence Ms. Harris to no prison time and three years of supervised release.
Ms. Harris and her co-defendant, Robert Kurlander, face up to 10 years in prison, but defendants typically receive terms under the maximum under federal sentencing guidelines.
Ms. Harris was originally scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 6, 2022, but her sentencing has repeatedly been delayed. The delays have stemmed from issues including requests for more time to prepare sentencing memorandums, Ms. Harris replacing her lawyer, and Ms. Harris saying she was sick and could not appear.
Prosecutors highlighted how she recently asked her passport to be released by pretrial services so she could travel to New York for the sentencing.
“Although the defendant was incorrect that her passport was being held by the Pretrial Services Office (and she has no valid passport), her request—which reported that the defendant had no government-issued identification card—made clear that the defendant possessed no identification documents to travel and never intended to travel to this district for sentencing at any of the prior dates that were scheduled by this court,” they said.
They also said one of her latest claims, that she could not secure childcare to appear for sentencing, was false.
Those factors are prompting the fresh request for prison time, they said.
Ms. Harris “has abused the administration of justice throughout the pendency of this court proceeding,” they wrote, adding that she “has repeatedly and consistently engaged in tactics to improperly delay this proceeding, including by misleading the court with false information to justify belated and unmerited requests for adjournments, refusing to appear when directed, and failing to comply with court orders to disclose or produce certain information.”
They added later: “The defendant’s flagrant disrespect for the law, including the orders of this court —even after pleading guilty in this case—demonstrates an abdication of responsibility for her conduct and strongly militates for an incarceratory sentence. In particular, the defendant has shown to be completely unamenable to court supervision such that a sentence involving merely probation will not be sufficient to deter the defendant from continuing to flout the law. Moreover, a sentence involving no period of incarceration would be wholly insufficient to reflect the gravity of the defendant’s conduct, including her apparent belief that she is above the law and that she need not comply with this court’s orders.”
A lawyer representing Ms. Harris did not respond to a request for comment.
Ms. Harris’ sentencing filing has been filed under seal.
Ms. Harris is slated to be sentenced on April 9.
Mr. Kurlander has also not yet been sentenced. His sentencing has been pushed back multiple times at the request of prosecutors. The government has not explained their requests, which have all been granted by the court. Mr. Kurlander is currently scheduled to be sentenced on April 12.
“Harris and Kurlander sought to profit from their theft of another person’s personal property, and they now stand convicted of a federal felony as a result,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams, an appointee of President Biden, said previously.
Ms. Harris said while pleading guilty that she committed a crime.
“I found property, including a journal, belonging to another person in a place where I was living. Knowing that I did not have a right to take the property, I agreed with another person and did cause a journal to be transported from Florida to New York City,” Ms. Harris said in court. “The value of the journal was more than $5,000. I know this because I did not directly receive the money for the journal; the organization that purchased it sent two payments of $10,000 each for my benefit to lawyers that were representing me in a child custody matter.”
She added, “I sincerely apologize for my actions and know that what I did was wrong illegal.”
According to court documents and people involved, Ms. Harris and Mr. Kurlander sold the diary and other items to Project Veritas.
Project Veritas ultimately chose not to publish the diary because, the group said, it could not verify its authenticity.
