Is ignorance of the law ever a viable defense?

Only for cops

Good question. If the put her in the witness chair they’ll get a feel for if she’s lying.

Only if it is unreasonable to know the law for the average person.

Well I have always heard “Ignorance of the law is no excuse.”
However if she can convince the judge that she was lied to she may have a defense.

For example somewhere online I read that in the USA that it is illegal to use a pseudonym on a social media site. Sorry I Googled and could not find the exact link. There are other links, but its too much to slog thought it all. Basically most of Fluther would be guilty of this crime. After hearing this how many of us are going to go online and restart all your accounts from scratch, with your real name instead of a pseudonym?

Most of western democracies have so many laws that it is impossible to know them all, and it is a good chance that we are always in danger of breaking a law any one time.

Nope. Never. Her “story” or “excuse” sounds like a total cop out bullshit story. If she gets up in front of a judge and lays that crap on him/her, she’ll be guilty of perjury.
The jury will be curious as to why they paid out all of that money to a school their kid didn’t go to (yet).

Agree with @Dutchess. If she can produce ANYTHING to back up her claim, they’ll give her a big fine and send her home.

Really why penalize a few harshly, for widespread corruption. Just fix it.

@RedDeerGuy1 , There is no national law in the U.S. to prevent use of pseudonyms on social media sites. Each site has its own rules.

The fact that they submitted pictures of her daughter “rowing” and pretending she was a rower in high school, which she wasn’t, in her application tells me she wasn’t confused, she knew exactly what she was doing.

I think ignorance of the law can and should be taken into consideration in some cases.

This particular case, I think university officials who took the money should be on trial. They are more responsible for knowing the law than Lori and her husband. I don’t know if they knew it was illegal, but I think they knew it was unfair for children who don’t have rich parents.

I think it’s commonly joked about that people are accepted into a school, because their parents bought their way in. I don’t remember people going to jail for it.

As far as I know legacy admission is legal, and that’s unfair too. Not based on merit, but rather bloodline. Why is that ok in the USA? I guess technically the person is supposed to still rise to the admission requirements academically.

I think she knew it was at minimum sneaky, and now everyone knows it’s illegal. I wouldn’t put her in jail, but I would fine her, put the money in a scholarship fund, and to pay court fees, and have her do some sort of community service like tutor children in lower socio economic situations.

Ignorance of the law only works for the more affluent people who can afford high priced lawyers!!! She knew what she was doing; however, with the right lawyer, she may well be found not guilty. I’m just as sure that she did nothing that many parents have been doing for years to help give their kid a step up. Her only real crime…getting caught!!!

I have a question. Did they say their daughter was part of the rowing team, because there is some sort of quota to admit a certain number of students who are on rowing teams? Did her daughter legitimately have the grades to get in?

@JLeslie I don’t know, but I’ll see if I can find those answers. Good question.

What functioning adult can present a rational defense of “I failed to understand that bribery is criminal”?. Laughlin’s only mistake was in not following the established rules for bribing a university. For half a million dollars, you endow a collection, establish a chair, or some other exercise, and you do so years before your kid seeks admission.

@stanleybmanly I’m not defending Lori Laughlin, but I think a lot of people think of bribery in regards to public officials, like politicians, police officers, etc., and not necessarily in the education arena. I think for sure she knew she was doing something to get around the system by using money, but whether she knew it was illegal and you can go to jail, who knows. I can say that I didn’t think donating money to a university can put you in jail. I would have assumed lying to a university regarding your admission can get you expelled if found out. The university in question is USC isn’t it? I think that is a private university, can’t they let in whomever they want? Or, does the government control admissions even for private institutions? I’m sure they have to abide by discrimination laws, but I never thought about buying your kid until this case. It’s so out of my league, I would never buy my way in, I don’t have the money for it if I wanted to, and it would be uncomfortable to me ethically, but I don’t know if I would realize it’s illegal.

I don’t really know the particulars, but from what I understand Laughlin offered the school’s rowing coach half a million dollars to see to it that Loughlin’s kid be admitted as a champion rower. The thing that struck me as extraordinary is the size of the bribe if it was simply destined for the coach’s pocket. For that kind of money you could certainly arrange a more subtle method of weasling your kid into the school. What do you suppose the plan might be when the time arrived for her to demonstrate her rowing prowess?

@stanleybmanly Was the coach fired? Is he being brought up on charges too?

I think it’s a she, and I have no idea what her status is, whether she was acting with school’s knowledge or not. But how long could any school maintain a fake athlete on its rolls without questions being asked. I mean either way, whether she sucks or turned out amazingly talented, someone’s going to report on it & dig into her background. This has to be deeper than it appears.

Has to be.