Posted on 02/11/2005 7:34:25 AM PST by snowrip
Updated: 08:15 AM EST Left-Leaning Attorney Is Guilty of Aiding Terror Case Has Broad Implications for Civil Liberties By LARRY NEUMEISTER, AP
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AP Stewart said she was stunned and vowed to appeal the verdict. Gallery: See Trial Photos More on This Story: · Stewart's Case Log · Lawyers Uneasy on Future
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NEW YORK (Feb. 11) - A veteran civil rights lawyer known for representing radicals and revolutionaries in her 30 years on the New York legal scene has vowed to fight her conviction for smuggling messages of violence from one of her jailed clients to his terrorist disciples.
Lynne Stewart, 65, a firebrand, left-wing activist, was convicted Thursday of conspiracy, providing material support to terrorists, defrauding the government and making false statements.
''It's a dark day for civil liberties and for civil liberties lawyers in this country,'' attorney Ron Kuby said Thursday. ''In the post 9-11 era, where dissidents are treated as traitors, it's perhaps no surprise that a zealous civil rights lawyer becomes a convict.''
Kuby, who briefly represented Omar Abdel-Rahman after the radical Egyptian sheik's 1993 arrest, said the verdict was a ''terrible message to send at a time when we need civil rights lawyers more than ever.''
A tearful Stewart insisted she did nothing wrong after taking over Abdel-Rahman's case and representing him until her arrest in 2002. The blind cleric was convicted in 1995 of plotting to blow up New York landmarks and assassinate Egypt's president. "I hope this is a wake up call to all the citizens of this country. You can't lock up the lawyers." -Stewart said outside court
''I hope this is a wake up call to all the citizens of this country,'' she said outside court. ''You can't lock up the lawyers.''
Lawyers have said Stewart most likely would face a 20-year sentence. She will remain free on bail but must stay in New York until her July 15 sentencing.
Vowing to appeal, Stewart blamed the verdict on inflammatory evidence that included videotape of Osama bin Laden urging support for the jailed Abdel-Rahman, who prosecutors said communicated with the outside world with Stewart's help.
''When you put Osama bin Laden in a courtroom and ask the jury to ignore it, you're asking a lot,'' she said.
Other lawyers viewed the verdict as reasonable.
''I think lawyers need to be advocates but they don't need to be accomplices,'' said Peter Margulies, a law professor at Roger Williams University in Rhode Island who has studied terrorism cases. ''I think the evidence suggested that Lynne Stewart had crossed the line.''
The trial focused on the line between zealous advocacy and criminal behavior by a lawyer. Some defense lawyers saw the case as a government warning to attorneys to tread carefully in terrorism cases. Trial of Lynne Stewart
''The purpose of this prosecution ... was to send a message to lawyers who represent alleged terrorists that it's dangerous to do so,'' said Michael Ratner, president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, who was not involved in the case.
The jury heard two vastly different portraits of Stewart. Prosecutors described her as an essential and willing aide to terrorists, while defense attorney Michael Tigar focused on a lengthy legal career of representing the destitute and the despised.
The trial before U.S. District Judge John G. Koeltl began in late June, with prosecutor Christopher Morvillo telling the jury in his opening statement that Stewart ''used her status as a lawyer as a cloak to smuggle messages into and out of prison.'' He said she allowed Abdel-Rahman, the blind sheik, to ''incite terrorism.''
Prosecutors said Stewart broke a promise to the government by letting outsiders communicate with the sheik, who was in solitary confinement under special prison rules designed to stop him from communicating with anyone except his wife and his lawyers.
Tigar suggested the case was an intrusion into attorney-client privilege as the government eavesdropped on prison conversations between Stewart and the sheik.
The anonymous jury, which deliberated 13 days over the past month before convicting Stewart, also convicted a U.S. postal worker, Ahmed Abdel Sattar, of conspiracy for plotting to ''kill and kidnap persons in a foreign country'' by publishing an edict urging the killing of Jews and their supporters. A third defendant, Arabic interpreter Mohamed Yousry, was convicted of providing material support to terrorists. Sattar could face life in prison and Yousry about 20 years.
02-11-05 07:36 EST
Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. All active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
>>>> Gallery: See Trial Photos More on This Story: · Stewart's Case Log · Lawyers Uneasy on Future<<<<<
Please freepers, be kind. We don't need to be tortured by any more of these pictures!
I think this proves YES YOU CAN jail the lawyers- and jailing many more of them would be a good start.
Lynne Stewart, 65, a firebrand, left-wing activist should be hanged for her crimes against this nation! An invitation to join her should be extended to those who support her.
No offense.
BINGO!
The title of this makes me want to gag, but it's from AOL so no big surprise.
She can appeal this 'till Doomsday, but... sitck a fork in her. She is DONE.
Score one for the good guys.
"Stewart said she was stunned"
Stewart is another example of the liberal elite who think they are above the law.
Sandy Burger -- you are next!
Not yet she is free until sentencing. I hope she tries to run.
www.gaycitynews.com/gcn219/newsbriefs.html
Radical Lawyer in News Aided Gay Group in 70s
Attorney Lynne Stewart is charged with helping her convicted client Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman pass messages to Al-Qaeda, a prosecution that has been assailed by civil liberties group. When CUNY law students moved to honor Stewart at their graduation ceremony this spring, Dean Kristin Booth Glen overruled them.
Activist Joe Kennedy recalled that Stewart helped as a legal observer at a controversial demonstration by the Gay Activists Alliance (GAA) against Adam Wallinsky outside his Westchester home in 1977. Wallinsky, a former aide to U.S. Sen. Robert Kennedy, had written a virulently anti-gay screed in the New York Daily News. After the boisterous demonstration, he sued GAA, Kennedy, and Stewart.
“The judge presiding dropped her from the prosecution at her request,” Kennedy said, “when it was clear that she was there as an observer.”
To see Lynne Stewart described as "left-leaning" is equivalent to seeing Ted Kennedy described as "a noted swimming instructor"; Mao described as "an agrarian reformer" (US State Dept.,right after WWII);Osama as "a member of the loyal resistance".
Get a rope.
Lawyers are not to promote their clients terrorism..and they are not to sign agreements and break them.
She did it publically and privately..and thought she was a heroine for doing so..Lawyers are not above the rules...Hand the activist lawyers a Kleenex.
Ron Kuby is a commie piece of sh*t. I listen to him and Curtis Sliwa every morning going to work because I cant stand the I(diot)Man. Kuby is a sugar cane cutting lacky of Castro. He goes there to cut cane for that mass murderer every year at harvest time. He has no right to say anything in defense of Lynn Stewart for he is a proven treasonous b#stard himself.....
I heard last evening that that long haired phony Indian professor in Colorado trained terrorist in bomb making some years ago. May be suffer the same fate as this scum lawyer did.
Denny Crane: "There are two places to find the truth. First God and then Fox News."
What planet is this person from to believe that passing an exam gives one legal immunity. I'm hoping this type of character is just one odd-ball in the mix.
"A tearful Stewart insisted she did nothing wrong after taking over Abdel-Rahman's case and representing him until her arrest in 2002. The blind cleric was convicted in 1995 of plotting to blow up New York landmarks and assassinate Egypt's president. "I hope this is a wake up call to all the citizens of this country. You can't lock up the lawyers." -Stewart said outside court."
Read as: "It doesn't matter who is injured bu my actions, how irrational I am, or what institutions I drag down with me..What REALLY matters is that my heart says it's all o.k.!"
I Just goes to show you the mindset of the left. This is what moral equivalency buys you.
No it sends the message that if you do represent them, don't break the law be their patsy and illegally be a courier of messages between your client and his comrades outside of jail, and expect to get away with it.
"A tearful Stewart insisted she did nothing wrong after taking over Abdel-Rahman's case and representing him until her arrest in 2002. The blind cleric was convicted in 1995 of plotting to blow up New York landmarks and assassinate Egypt's president. "I hope this is a wake up call to all the citizens of this country. You can't lock up the lawyers." -Stewart said outside court"
Of course you can when you think you are above the law.
You didn't do anything wrong taking the case and defending that slime. But thats not what you were convicted of, now is it?
Thats the point that needs to hammered into you. From your statements you obviously don't want to get it.
I hope they send you up for a good while.
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