NY court: Consider harsher sentence in terror case

NEW YORK (AP) - A federal appeals court on Wednesday took a sterner stance toward the upcoming resentencing of a former civil rights lawyer convicted in a terrorism case, saying it has "serious doubts" whether her sentence of just over two years in prison was reasonable.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals added new instructions for the judge who will resentence 70-year-old Lynne Stewart, who was convicted of letting an imprisoned Egyptian terrorist client communicate with followers. The court said the judge should consider whether Stewart's sentence should be increased because of the case's terrorism connections.

"We have serious doubts that the sentence given was reasonable but think it appropriate to hear from the district court further before deciding the issue," the appeals court said.

Good. The sow should be hanged. But since they would never do that, she should at least be kept away from decent folks for as long as legally possible.

The leftist pig hates the US so much she was perfectly willing to sell out her country to a bunch of Muslim loonies. In saner times, she’d already have been put to death for treason.

After some soul searching, she wrote, she had concluded that a careless over-devotion to her clients—"I am softhearted to the point of self-abnegation"—was her undoing.

NOVEMBER 2004 early : (LYNNE STEWART TESTIMONY : THERE ARE TIMES WHEN VIOLENCE IS NEEDED TO CHANGE OPPRESSIVE GOVERNMENTS AND INSTITUTIONS, INCLUDING THOSE THAT "PERPETUATE CAPITALISM") A U.S. lawyer accused of aiding militant Muslims said in testimony on Monday there are times when violence is needed to change oppressive governments and institutions, including those that "perpetuate capitalism." The lawyer, Lynne Stewart, 65, is on trial on charges she helped an imprisoned client, the radical cleric Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, communicate with Egypt's Islamic Group. The group is on the U.S. government's list of terrorist organizations.
Stewart has denied any wrongdoing and maintains she was doing her duty as a lawyer representing a client being held incommunicado. She could face 15 years in prison if convicted of the most serious charge against her, providing "material support" to terrorists.
During cross-examination, Stewart, was grilled on her own radical views. She unabashedly described what she felt was the need for uprisings seeking change, even if such actions result in death.
"I believe in politics which lead, in my view of history, to violence being exerted by people on their own behalf to effectuate change," she said. "I believe entrenched institutions will not be changed except by violence. "The American Revolution was accomplished violently."
---------- "Cleric's U.S. Lawyer: Violence Needed at Times," by Gail Appleson, Reuters, Nov 8, 2004

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