Felicity Huffman will become the first mother convicted of the university admission scandal

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(CNN) - Felicity Huffman says she will accept any punishment the court deems appropriate. And in just a few hours, the seasoned actress discovers what price she will pay for her role in what the authorities called the biggest university admission scam ever processed.

Huffman, who along with fellow actress Lori Loughlin are among the highest profile parents to be caught in the admissions scandal, will be sentenced on Friday.

And while waiting for the “Desperate Housewives” phantom to go to a crowded courtroom during his sentence, Huffman already submitted a letter to Judge Indira Talwani last week in which he tried to explain why he gave the brain of the $ 15,000 scam to increase your daughter's SAT score.

"In my desperation to be a good mother, I convinced myself that all I was doing was giving my daughter a fair chance," Huffman said in the three-page letter. “I see the irony in that statement now because what I have done is the opposite of fairness. I have broken the law, cheated the educational community, betrayed my daughter and failed my family. ”

Huffman's letter adds another dimension to the sentencing decision that awaits Talwani.

• Prosecutors plan to request up to 10 months in jail for actress Felicity Huffman

Prosecutors and defense differ in the duration of the sentence

After Huffman pleaded guilty this year to conspiring to commit postal fraud and honest services, prosecutors, defense attorneys and even United States Probation and Prejudice Services officials have been fighting over how the actress and mother of two should be punished. sons.

Prosecutors have suggested a month in prison and a $ 20,000 fine for Huffman.

His lawyers do not ask for time in jail, but a year of probation, 250 hours of community service and a fine of $ 20,000.

In a motion filed Wednesday, Huffman's defense team says the government's memorandum cited examples of previous cases that are "very different" than hers, and any comparison is "apples with oranges."

Huffman's lawyers argued that the sentencing guidelines in those cases were much higher and reserved for the mastermind of the schemes, not for simple participants.

Prosecutors, meanwhile, argue that universities and companies were victims of the schemes, and the amount the parents paid should correspond to the severity of the sanctions.

But the United States Probation and Prejudice Services, which prepares pre-sentence investigation reports for each defendant, has generally argued that universities and testing companies were not monetaryly damaged and, therefore, the price of Parent bribes are not relevant to any sentence. And if Talwani agrees with this argument, that could mean less severe sentences for parents, including Huffman.

• Judge sets bail of US $ 250,000 for actress Felicity Huffman in case of university fraud

Huffman explains his actions

More than 50 people - including parents, coaches, test administrators and conspirators - were charged in the scandal, in which prosecutors said intellectual author William "Rick" Singer facilitated deception in standardized tests or bribed university coaches to give students an advantage in the admission process.

Of the defendants, more than 30 are parents, accused of conspiring with Singer. More than a dozen of those parents, including actress Felicity Huffman, have pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit fraud.

Huffman is expected to be the first mother sentenced in the case.

So far, only one person has been sentenced: Stanford's former navigation coach John Vandemoer, who did not serve time in jail.

Huffman wrote that before paying $ 15,000 to manipulate his daughter's SAT, he worked with Singer's university counseling and preparation business legitimately for a year to try to improve his older daughter's SAT math scores.

But the scores did not improve and Singer warned him that none of the universities in which his daughter was interested would consider his auditions for his acting programs, Huffman wrote to the judge.

He added that Singer eventually offered a supervisor to increase the daughter's scores after taking the exam, without the daughter knowing. Huffman evaluated the offer for weeks before giving in, he wrote.

The actress recalled the moment when her daughter “looked at me and asked me with tears on her face: 'Why didn't you believe in me? Why didn't you think I could do it alone? '

"There is no right answer for her," she wrote.

Singer pleaded guilty to four charges in March related to cheating on standardized tests and bribing coaches and university administrators.

• READ: What will happen to the students involved in the university fraud scandal?

His loved ones wrote letters of support to the judge

Huffman's husband, actor William H. Macy, and other loved ones presented letters to Talwani on behalf of Huffman, asking for mercy.

Each letter described Huffman's loyalty and commitment, an attempt to show his role in the admissions scam was somewhat atypical in his life.

Macy also shed some light on the immediate consequences of Huffman's morning arrest by the FBI in March.

Two days after the arrest, Macy wrote, her eldest daughter was on her way to an audition at a school where her heart was on, one that didn't require SAT scores. But when he got off the plane, the school sent him an email, formally canceling his hearing invitation due to the scandal.

Macy wrote that her daughter "called us from the hysterical airport," begging them to "do something, please do something."

Macy also said her daughter was still traumatized by seeing her mother's arrest.

Eva Longoria, Huffman's former co-star in “Desperate Housewives,” also wrote a letter saying she remembered that Huffman always helped with Longoria's charity to help poor Latino children.

And he especially recalled Huffman's help during contract negotiations. Longoria would be paid less than the other leading artists, until Huffman intervened and had them negotiate for the same payment, he wrote.

“It wasn't about money for me; it was the fact that they saw me as an equal, which is how Felicity had always seen me, ”Longoria wrote.

- Eric Levenson of CNN contributed to this report.

Felicity Huffman