University expulsion due to cheating : legaladvice

TL;DR: Cheated on two exams during my last semester of university by obtaining a professor's login information and seeing the exams before they were given. Professor gave me an F in the course but passed the information along to higher-ups, who subsequently expelled me. I will be appealing my case, I have a few more days to send in an appeal letter. After I send in my appeal I am entitled (based on the code of conduct) to a hearing in front of the dean. I have contacted an attorney who is looking at everything. I want to know what the best course of action is to make my chances as strong as possible in getting my sanctions lessened. Location is United States.

The course I cheated in was NOT a major course. I completed all of my major courses by merit, and this is my first cheating offense. I have never been accused of misconduct or wrongdoing in my 4 years at this university.

First and foremost - I have reached out to an attorney who has recommended me a few things, but I wanted to come here as well for any and all advice. Throwaway account for obvious reasons.

Sometime in February, I planted a camera behind the keyboard in the classroom where my professor lectured. Once she typed in her login information, I was able to view the video and obtain her login information to use for my own personal benefit. On dozens of occasions, I logged on using the professor’s login information on school computers in labs that have cameras, and viewed exams, past labs, and even changed my own grade in the course. The first exam, around late march, I had seen the answer key prior to taking the exam, and naturally got a 100% on the exam. No suspicion was raised by the professor. I continued to view answer keys prior to the next exam, which was taken in late april. My exams were very identical to the answer keys. I had noticed that the professor changed her password after the second exam when I went to login again, and so I put the camera back in the same place as the first time. However this time, at some point during the video it shows her looking directly at the camera, implying that she did indeed see it. In the beginning of May about a week after the second exam, my professor came up to me after class and asked for me to come with her to the department chair’s office. When I sat down, the department chair told me that there was a strong suspicion of me cheating on exams 1 and 2, and asked if there was anything I wanted to tell them. I said “I admit, I cheated on them.” That is all I said. I did not admit to how I cheated. Afterwards, he asked me how I cheated, to which I did not respond. They had me sign a form essentially stating that I admitted to cheating and that they were going to pass along the information to the academic affairs committee for further investigation and potentially further sanctions on top of an F in the course. About a week later, a police officer from the university came to my apartment and asked me to come with him. He drove me to the campus police station, where I was questioned about “illegal computer usage.” An hour later, at the academic affairs office, I was informed verbally that I was going to be expelled from the university, and a day later, I received a letter reiterating the fact that I had been expelled. The letter says that I will not get a degree, can not participate in graduation, and can not be readmitted to the university, now or in the future.

I reached out to an attorney yesterday, and will be meeting with him tomorrow.

The steps I am taking for this:

The university allows students to appeal the decision within 5 days of receiving the letter, which I am doing. Essentially the appeal that I have written states that I admit my actions were egregious, and that I felt so much pressure to pass the course and felt awful when I cheated even before I got caught. I said that I wanted to fess up but didn't know how, and that when I was confronted I did not at all try to justify my actions, hide them, or lie. I came clean completely, and the burden was finally off. In my appeal I am respectfully asking for my sanctions to be lessened to at most a suspension from the university so that I can still graduate, albeit not on time.

I have not yet sent the letter, as I still have a few more days to submit the appeal, and I am waiting for my attorney to look at the letter tomorrow and give me any advice. The reason I got an attorney was so that I could either:

a) heavily grovel (an attorney cannot be present during the hearing) and the attorney would just help me before I go in

b) basically sue the school saying the sanctions are too harsh

I will NOT be denying my actions. The school has sufficient proof that I used the professor's login credentials for my own benefit. I have to come clean, and just hope that the school shows mercy. If the appeal does not go well, I will resort to plan B, which is getting the attorney directly involved.

Any advice on what I should say during the hearing, or anything else I should do?