Lynne Stewart.
Background, via WSJ:
Stewart was convicted in 2005 for passing along a message from her client, Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, who is serving a life sentence for plotting to blow up several landmarks in New York City.
Prison officials had required Stewart to refrain from carrying messages on his behalf. But in one instance, she called a reporter in Cairo to announce that Rahman was urging a terrorist organization to withdraw from a ceasefire with the government of Egypt.
More background on Stewart from Malkin:
Stewart deserves the max for conspiring to spread violent messages to Rahman’s followers–actions which resulted in the death of some 100 tourists at Egyptian resorts. Also found in her law offices: a draft fatwa from Rahman calling on jihadists to kill Americans and their children until his release is won.
Terrorist sympathizer, who was duty bound to defend a terrorist, but instead took it farther and helped him give orders to commit more terrorist acts, was tried in a civilian court.
Instead of the 30 years that she could have received for such a treasonous act, our civilian court Judge gave her 28 months.
A three-judge federal appeals panel heard arguments Tuesday from prosecutors seeking a harsher sentence for Stewart, who was given just 28 months in prison in 2006 for smuggling dispatches to and from her terrorist-mastermind client.
She could have gotten 30 years.
Nevertheless, District Judge John Koeltl decided that Stewart had performed "a public service . . . to the nation" in representing "Blind Sheik" Omar Abdel-Rahman - regardless of any, well . . . overzealousness in his cause.
Soak that in for a second.
28 months for delivering a terrorist message to other terrorists, abetting a terrorist.
Jump forward to today's news.
The bitch appealed and today a federal appeals court has ordered Stewart to surrender and to start serving her sentence, but they recommend the case be looked at again because the sentence is not harsh enough considering her crime.
A three-judge panel of the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, in Tuesday morning's ruling, not only affirmed Stewart's conviction and ordered her to prison immediately, but remanded the case to Koeltl to consider whether she should get a harsher sentence.
Prosecutors had sought 30 years, and the court said Koeltl - who cited her lifetime of efforts on behalf of the downtrodden in mitigation - may not have adequately considered claims that she perjured herself and other factors.
"Because the district court declined to find whether Stewart committed perjury at trial, we cannot conclude that the mitigating factors found to support her sentence can reasonably bear the weight assigned to them," Judge Robert Sack wrote.
"This is so particularly in light of the seriousness of her criminal conduct, her responsibilities as a member of the bar, and her role as counsel for Abdel-Rahman."
Get that? They remanded the case to the same judge that felt sorry for Stewart and gave her the the pathetic 28 month sentence!
More from the New York Law Journal:
A divided U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit said that Southern District Judge John G. Koeltl must take a second look at the sentence of two years and four months he meted out in 2006, a stretch that Ms. Stewart observed she could do "standing on her head." (NYLJ, Oct. 17, 2006)
Judges Robert D. Sack and Guido Calabresi were in the majority in United States v. Stewart, 06-5015-cr, holding that Judge Koeltl needed to revisit the weight he gave to mitigating factors that led him to give Ms. Stewart the sentence. The government had asked for 30 years.
See a timeline of the Stewart case.Judge John M. Walker Jr. dissented, saying the majority did not go far enough and that he was "at a loss" for "any rationale that could reasonably justify a sentence of 28 months."
A perfect example of why civilian courts should not be where terrorist or terrorist sympathizers are tried.
The original Judge felt "sorry" for Stewart and not only gave her 28 months, but she has been free for the last 4-5 years, walking the streets pending her appeal.
Previous Wake up America post on Lynne Stewart:
Why We Need The Military Commissions Act
I wrote then:
28 Months for an act that can and is seen as treason to some of us.
This prominently shows the civilian courts inability and incompetence in dealing with military issues, national security issues and trying terrorists and their accomplices.
The judge acknowledged that Ms. Stewart'’s crimes were serious, involved dishonesty and breach of trust,” and led to “potentially lethal consequences.
Liberal bleeding hearts can whine all they want about the Military Commissions Act-2006 that was signed this morning, but I, for one, have much more confidence in the Military Tribunals effectively punishing these traitors and terrorists than a court system that can do what Judge Koeltl just did.
I stand by that today in the case of Khalid Sheik Mohammed.
He should not be brought to New York to face a civilian trial. He should be tried in a military court for the crime he committed on 9/11. A terrorist attack on America.
.
