A nurse in the Miami area has pleaded guilty to threatening to kill Vice President Kamala Harris in videos sent to her imprisoned husband earlier this year, officials said.
Niviane Petit Phelps, 39, who pleaded guilty Friday to six crimes, faces five years in prison, according to prosecutors. The sentence is set for November 19.
In February, Phelps sent her jailed husband six 30-second videos in which she threatened to kill Harris and claimed she had been paid $ 53,000 and that he was “the murdered man,” officials said. He also sent her a photo with a remote gun and applied for a concealed firearms permit.
His lawyer, Scott Saul, said Tuesday that Phelps was going through a tumultuous time in his life and was just disregarding and never intending to make any threats.
“Ms. Phelps has led an honorable life up to this incident,” Saul said, adding that it was important that she take responsibility. “Ms Phelps has pleaded guilty, but plans to prove significant mitigating circumstances.”
Phelps told a Secret Service investigator that he was upset that Harris was vice president, that he felt Harris wasn’t really black, and that he believed Harris hadn’t gotten his hands on a Bible during his inauguration, he wrote. the researcher in an affidavit. Phelps is black.
Harris, who got her hands on the Bible when she swore an oath, is the first black American, the first Asian South American, and the first woman elected vice president in U.S. history.
Phelps’ mother has told NBC Miami that her daughter was depressed and desperate and “listened to what people told her.”
The videos were sent through JPay, a computer application that was used to send media to people who were in prison. An inspector sent them to the Secret Service.
It is up to the judge to impose a sentence, but Saul said Phelps could fall under counseling guidelines ranging from 30 months to three years in prison. He said he will seek a sentence that does not involve imprisonment.