Lori Loughlin and her husband, fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli, made their first court appearance in months in Boston for their alleged involvement in the college admissions scandal.

The couple arrived at the courthouse at around 2:45 p.m. on Tuesday and entered through the back door.

The Full House star, 55, and Giannulli, 56, are expected to officially waive their rights to separate attorneys. They are being represented by attorneys from the same law firm in order to put forth a “united front,” sources have told PEOPLE.

According to legal expert James J. Leonard Jr., Esq., that decision comes with one potential downside.

“The risk with any joint defense is that one defendant may be more culpable than another and the less culpable defendant could suffer as a result of a strategy designed to protect that individual,” he explains.

On March 12, the U.S. attorney’s office in Massachusetts indicted Loughlin and Giannulli in the shocking nationwide scam dubbed Operation Varsity Blues. The pair and nearly 50 other parents, coaches, exam proctors and admissions counselors are accused of such actions as paying for boosted SAT scores and lying about students’ athletic skills in order to gain them acceptance to elite colleges including Yale, Georgetown and Stanford.

Loughlin and Giannulli allegedly paid $500,000 to admissions consultant William “Rick” Singer to falsely designate daughters Olivia Jade Giannulli, 19, and Isabella Rose Giannulli, 20, as recruits to the University of Southern California crew team, though neither actually participated in the sport.

Olivia Jade and Isabella Giannulli Standing by Mom Lori Loughlin amid Scandal

While 14 defendants, including actress Felicity Huffman, agreed to plead guilty in April, Loughlin and Giannulli declined a plea deal.

“They weren’t ready to accept that,” one legal source said at the time.

Since neither Loughlin nor Giannulli has a criminal record, if they are convicted of the same offenses, the judge will likely hand down identical sentences, Leonard says.

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