Voice Of Post

Joe Giudice accepts 18-month plea deal on charges he used brother's ID to obtain fake driver's license, Joe Giudice, the lunkhead half of the "Real Housewives of New Jersey" couple recently convicted for fraud, pleaded guilty Wednesday to obtaining a bogus driver's license.

But only after a judge talked some sense into him.

Giudice, who is already facing a 41-month prison term after he and his wife, Teresa, were convicted of trying to finance their lifestyles with $5 million in fraudulent mortgage and construction loans, shocked the court by initially turning down a plea deal that would have meant no extra jail time.

“He rejects it for a simple reason — and that reason is he maintains his innocence, he said he did not do what is charged in the indictment and wants to exercise his right to a trial,” defense lawyer Miles Feinstein said.

Passaic County Judge Adam Jacobs told Giudice to give it some more thought.

“You’re making a momentous decision, there’s no going back after this,” the judge warned him.After a lunch break, Giudice took the plea.

Feinstein insisted they agreed to a deal that allows Giudice to serve an 18-month sentence concurrently with his federal sentence after “negotiating” with prosecutors.

But the deal on the table didn’t appear to be any different from the one prosecutor Jay McCann offered Giudice in the first place.

Feinstein also tried to put another rumor roiling the reality TV world to rest — that Joe and Teresa were heading for splitsville.

“I know nothing about filing for divorce,” he said. “In fact, I would say 100 percent that’s not true.”Dressed in a blue velvet jacket, jeans, a purple checkered button-down shirt and no tie, Giudice was all charm when he showed up — sans wife — at the state courthouse in Paterson, N.J.

“If you don't get out of my face I'll kick every one of youse in the head," Giudice barked at photographers.

Inside, Giudice shoved a TV cameraman, nearly knocking him over.

“I don’t think it was intentional,” Feinstein said later. “It wasn’t an assault.”

Giudice eventually pleaded guilty to using his brother's marriage and birth certificates in 2010 to obtain a new license after he lost his because of a drunken-driving conviction.Afterward, he ducked out of the courthouse without saying a word and got into the back seat of an Infiniti getaway car.

Teresa, who is facing 15 months in prison, will begin doing her time on Jan. 5. Joe goes to prison as soon as his wife is sprung, under a deal worked out with a judge.

But when he gets out, he might wind up deported back to Italy. His real name is Giuseppe, and he is not an American citizen despite having lived in New Jersey since he was a baby.