[Marxism] Free Lynne Stewart! Gov't set back by 30 month sentence for lawyer; judge notes possible overturn of conviction

[Fred Feldman]

This sentence, outrageous on many grounds, nonetheless shows how much
altitude the Bush administration, "war on terror" have lost since her
conviction.
Fred
 
www.nytimes.com 
October 17, 2006

Lawyer, Facing 30 Years, Gets 28 Months, to Dismay of U.S. 

By
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/p/julia_pres
ton/index.html?inline=nyt-per> JULIA PRESTON

 
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/s/lynne_f_st
ewart/index.html?inline=nyt-per> Lynne F. Stewart, the radical defense
lawyer, was sentenced yesterday to two years and four months in prison
on charges that she smuggled messages from an imprisoned terrorist
client to his violent followers in Egypt.

The sentence, handed down by Judge John G. Koeltl in Federal District
Court in Manhattan, was significantly lower than the 30 years sought by
prosecutors. He cited the service Ms. Stewart, who is 67, had provided
in her three-decade career as a government-appointed lawyer for unsavory
criminals and penniless outcasts.

The judge allowed her to remain free on bail while a higher court hears
her appeal, saying there was a possibility that her conviction might be
overturned.

The sentence was an unexpected setback for the Justice Department in a
case the Bush administration has frequently highlighted to show the
effectiveness of its tough policy on terror prosecutions. Former
Attorney General
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/a/john_ashcr
oft/index.html?inline=nyt-per> John Ashcroft devoted a chapter to it in
his recent memoir. Defense lawyers and other supporters of Ms. Stewart
had warned that a severe sentence would have a chilling effect,
dissuading others from representing clients accused of terrorism.

In a brief statement to the judge before the sentence, Ms. Stewart,
shaking and barely suppressing tears, refrained from political comment
or discussion of her case, but noted that she would never be permitted
to practice law again. 

"The end of my career is truly like a sword in my side," she said. "I
don't want to be in prison," she pleaded. "Permit me to live in the
world and live out my life, productively, lovingly, righteously." 

Ms. Stewart's lawyers, citing her recent bout of breast cancer, had
asked the judge not to give her any prison time. 

But Judge Koeltl said there had been "an irreducible core of
extraordinarily severe criminal conduct" in her actions on behalf of the
client, Sheik
<http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/a/omar_abdel
_rahman/index.html?inline=nyt-per> Omar Abdel Rahman, a blind
fundamentalist Islamic cleric who is serving a life sentence for
plotting to bomb New York City landmarks. Ms. Stewart was convicted on
Feb. 10, 2005, of conspiring to provide material aid to terrorism by
smuggling the sheik's messages encouraging violence by his militant
followers in Egypt.

While agreeing that Ms. Stewart had flouted the law and deceived the
government by breaking prison rules to publicize the sheik's messages,
Judge Koeltl broadly rejected the prosecutors' portrayal of her as a
serial liar and terrorist conspirator who would be a danger to society
if she remained free. 

[snip]