After pleading guilty to her role in the college admissions scandal, actress Felicity Huffman is awaiting sentencing.
Prosecutors have recommended that she serve a month in prison, but her attorneys submitted a filing requesting that she be sentenced to a year's probation, a $20,000 fine and 250 hours of community service.
Included in the filing were over two dozen letters of support from Huffman's family, friends and former co-workers.
Eva Longoria, who starred alongside Huffman on the drama series "Desperate Housewives," submitted one such letter, where she complimented Huffman's character.
"There was a time I was being bullied at work by a co-worker," wrote Longoria. "I dreaded the days I had to work with that person because it was pure torture. Until one day, Felicity told the bully 'enough' and it all stopped. Felicity could feel that I was riddled with anxiety even though I never complained or mentioned the abuse to anyone."
Longoria said that Huffman didn't only help her with on-set issues. According to the letter, Longoria was initially the lowest-paid actor on the show, until Huffman suggested that the two negotiate together so the less-experienced Longoria could have a more equal paycheck.
Longoria also said that Huffman comforted her after she was the only "Desperate Housewives" actress not to be nominated for a Golden Globe award in 2005.
"Felicity came to my trailer and said, 'It's just a piece of metal, that and $1.50 will get you a bus ticket,'" Longoria wrote, adding that she had been "devastated" not to be included in the nominations. "Her humor always made things better, but it was her heart and intentions to make sure I was always OK that I remember most."
Previously, Longoria has said that the scandal "humbled" Huffman.
Marc Cherry, the creator of "Desperate Housewives," backed up Longoria's comments about Huffman's on-set behavior.
"Felicity was beloved by the people who worked with her on our show," he wrote. "Her fellow actors, the directors, and crew members ... all had something lovely to say about her. She was, and continues to be, a kind, down-to-earth and caring individual. That makes her something of a unicorn in Hollywood."
Cherry went on to describe Huffman as patient and supportive on set and a gracious actress who was the "only one" who thanked the writers of "Desperate Housewives" for creating the show as the series was ending.
Another letter in the filing came from Huffman's husband, William H. Macy, who wrote about Huffman's dedication to her family.
"I think the result of (Huffman's) unstructured upbringing was a determination that her children would always have a mother there backing them up," wrote Macy, explaining that Huffman had been the youngest of eight children growing up. "Felicity's family is her world. From the day we learned that (our daughter) was on her way, Felicity threw herself into parenting."
Macy added that their daughters are still traumatized from watching their mother get arrested by the FBI but Huffman has "borne the brunt of this" and rarely leaves the house in an effort to avoid paparazzi.
