Sheik's lawyer gets nearly 2 1/2 years

[TomInTib]

I'll bet this one pissed 'em off.

NEW YORK - A firebrand civil rights lawyer who has defended Black Panthers and anti-war radicals was sentenced Monday to nearly 2 1/2 years in prison — far less than the 30 years prosecutors wanted — for helping an imprisoned terrorist sheik communicate with his followers on the outside.

Lynne Stewart, 67, smiled, cried and hugged supporters after U.S. District Judge John G. Koeltl pronounced the sentence of 28 months.

The judge said Stewart was guilty of smuggling messages between her client and his followers that could have "potentially lethal consequences." He called the crimes "extraordinarily severe criminal conduct."

But in departing from federal guidelines that called for 30 years behind bars, he cited Stewart's more than three decades of dedication to poor, disadvantaged and unpopular clients.

more:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061017/ap_on_re_us/terror_trial

[Rose Siding]

1. Here's a photo from the NYT -

"Lawyer Gets Much Less Jail Time Than U.S. Sought in Terror Case"
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/17/nyregion/17stewart.html?ei=5094&en=f76e52b6539bc8b1&hp=&ex=1161057600&adxnnl=1&partner=homepage&adxnnlx=1161052502-FzXlI+xMYUJzBdFfUJysCw

[NJCher]

2. does anyone know...

Would this 28-month sentence be reduced for good behavior?

And how will her breast cancer be treated? Will the state be paying for the treatments? Or will she work with her insurer?

I'm glad the judge recognized her contributions but the sentence should have been suspended because of her illness.




Cher

[MADem]

6. Her cancer is in remission presently. She's still got a year out on

appeal, for which I understand she has already filed.

If I were her lawyer, I'd work out a deal where they cuff her on house arrest during the appeal process. That way, she can grocery shop, see her lawyer, her doctor, and so on, but she's sufficiently leashed--and if she loses her appeal (odds are good she will, she knowingly and willfully violated a basic contract) and has to go behind bars, she'll have some "good time" to shorten the total.

[madrchsod]

11. 85% in the federal system

[stepnw1f]

3. What a Lady... a Modern Day Hero

We need more like her. Inspiring...

[TomInTib]

5. Even the prosecuter in the original case said it was a sham.

"unwarranted overkill"

[stepnw1f]

7. They Have Been Waiting for Her to Make a Mistake...

just waiting for years.... it was overkill. Don't worry... we get our turn after Nov. to go after these bastards BIGTIME!

[MADem]

4. Good judge. Appropriate sentence.

I suspect the prosecution isn't crying either, and may have suggested to the judge that they wouldn't bitch too loudly if he lowballed the sentence. After all, they get the win (the time doesn't matter, it's the 'win' that counts for them), and the defendant gets righteously checked for failing to either follow or appropriately complain about the restrictions contained in the SAMs she signed.

[TheGriz]

8. Appropriate sentence...

But I don't find there to be anything particularly heroic about the woman in this case. She has obviously done great things throughout her life but she DOES deserve her sentence; defending a terrorist in court, insuring that they are treated fairly? Excellent. Carrying their messages to the outside world? Borderline treason. Sorry, but it is the truth.

[TomInTib]

9. Was it a crime before passage of the "Patriot" Act?

I cannot remember.

[madrchsod]

12. yes it was

[CHIMO]

10. Facing Up To 30 Years in Prison, Civil Rights Attorney Lynne Stewart Speak

Facing Up To 30 Years in Prison, Civil Rights Attorney Lynne Stewart Speaks Out As She Heads To Courthouse for Sentencing

LYNNE STEWART: I’m stressed, but I am beneficial of a large outpouring of support and love, recognition of my career as a lawyer in this city -- my representation of the poor, of the disenfranchised, of the voiceless, if you will, for over 30 years -- that happened last night at Riverside Church and at other meetings all week long, St. Mark’s, up in Harlem, we had an outpouring as well. So I’m buoyed by the people who believe in me, the people who know that everything I did, I did as a lawyer, not as a terrorist, as the government would have people believe.

LYNNE STEWART: Yes. You know, the government has put in what my dear friend Bill Kunstler used to call “weasel words,” words that don’t state the exact facts but really pull a kind of reaction. So they use words like “smuggled out messages.” We would visit the Sheik. He would tell us, he would dictate to us letters. He would dictate to us press releases.

The real thrust of my conviction is that I made a press release very openly to Reuters, no secret, nothing under the bra straps, and that press release called for a reconsideration, not an end to the ceasefire, but a reconsideration of a unilateral ceasefire that the Sheik's group, which he of course had not been a member of for ten years at the time he made the release, had made in Egypt. Ramsey Clark had announced his original position, which was in support of the ceasefire. Ramsey Clark never heard from the government at all. I made the press release saying, “I think you should reconsider this ceasefire,” and a year-and-a-half later, I was indicted.

LYNNE STEWART: Yes. I’m afraid that if you only read the New York Times, you may get the wrong impression. It’s not a craven, begging letter. I am still very sure of my principled stand in this whole matter, that everything I did, I did as a lawyer, that I never intended to aid my client's cause. I intended to aid this man, this man who was in terrible isolation.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/10/16/143257