Woman who stole Ashley Biden's diary faces jail threat for misleading the court 12 times
Aimee Harris, the woman who stole Ashley Biden's diary from her time in recovery, must go to prison, the federal prosecutors said in a supplement to a sentencing document filed this week, Law&Crime posted on Thursday.
Harris pleaded guilty to stealing the diary and sold it to the far-right group Project Veritas, which has since closed its operations. The government was only seeking home confinement at first, but now things have changed.
The jail time penalty being requested is not due to the crime itself, but for "misleading" the court at least 12 times after the plea. The sentencing request alleged she has “repeatedly and consistently engaged in tactics to improperly delay" by lying to the court or failing to comply with court orders demanding documents.
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"Prosecutors allege Harris has routinely flouted the administration of justice," described Law&Crime.
“[The] defendant has shown to be completely unamenable to court supervision such that a sentence involving mere probation will not be sufficient to deter the defendant from continuing to flout the law,” wrote U.S. Attorney Damian Williams of the Soutern District of New York.
Biden was storing the diary at a friend's house in boxes that included other items. Harris was then staying with the friend when she found it.
The filing goes line-by-line through the examples of Harris violating the conditions of the agreement, such as failing to provide information or documents to the probation officer, as the Pre-Sentence Report revealed.
They listed four times when Harris requested adjournment of sentencing for various reasons between Nov. 21, 2022, and April 6, 2023.
In March 2023, there were "representation issues," for which the court relieved her current lawyer and appointed another one on May 16, 2023. Harris then refused to meet with the new lawyer, the document says.
On July 10, 2023, Harris was arrested for driving under the influence, driving under the influence with property damage, and careless driving. Ultimately, the court delayed her sentencing several more times until its seventh date in Dec. 2023.
By Jan. 2024 there were more requests for delay.
It has been 17 months since Harris pleaded guilty; she has been cited for violating three traffic laws and arrested for others. She claimed she couldn't get to New York because she didn't have a government-issued I.D. required for travel. She even falsely said the government had her passport, when she was never even issued a passport.
The final example came on March 27, 2024, when she said the court should defer sentencing for the 12th time "because of childcare and other related issues."
That appeared to be the limit of the prosecutors, who are now asking for a stiff penalty.