Back to the facts: Carmen Ortiz thought she could make multiple counts of wire fraud, unauthorized access to computer systems and some other charges stick. Each of those charges carries by law a maximum sentence. The 35 years that get handed around is the sum of all those maximum sentences. I so far haven't seen a public statement that says "I, Carmen Ortiz think that the appropriate sentence for the case at hand is 35 years." There is no contradiction here.
Back to the facts: Carmen Ortiz (participant in the system) placed an upper bound of 35 years. She never placed any other gravity quantification in public on the record. All that is on the record is that she thought that the crimes are in the 35 years gravity class. Coming back and saying "I really meant 6 months" is a a contradiction of on the record facts, aka a lie.