Yesterday, moments after the deal seemed to be effected, it was already off the table. After turning down an already accepted plea bargain of 30 years, the judge decided that even the newly agreed upon 40 years was not sufficient for the crimes committed by Maxim Hoppens. She, thusly, attached another five years per additional crimes related to the murder: two counts of forgery and one for the use of a stolen credit card (called “access device fraud”). She is imposing the sentence for these crimes as consecutive, adding an additional fifteen years to the prison term: 55 years in total.
It remains to be seen how Team Hoppens will respond to this additional requirement. The scuttlebutt around town is that the judge prides herself on being a “tough” judge (surely not always a bad thing). A dreaded trial may be the outcome: an outcome that she may prefer, but that I don’t.