Posted on 10/03/2002 9:36:40 PM PDT by grimalkin
NEW YORK, Oct 04, 2002 (AP WorldStream via COMTEX) -- A Manhattan attorney accused of helping a jailed Egyptian cleric direct terrorism will not go on trial until late next year, a judge ruled.
U.S. District Judge John Koeltl on Thursday set a trial date of Oct. 7, 2003, for Lynne Stewart and co-defendants Mohammed Yousry, an Arabic translator, and Ahmed Abdel Sattar, a U.S. postal worker.
The judge considered setting a Sept. 16, 2003, trial date until Stewart's lawyer objected, arguing it fell too near the anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
"The risk to a fair trial is very great with the September date," said the attorney, Michael Tigar.
The judge said the yearlong delay was reasonable given the amount of evidence lawyers must sift through and similar delays in other terrorist cases. Evidence includes 97,000 phone-line interceptions by investigators.
Stewart, Yousry and Sattar are charged along with a man held in England with helping relay messages from Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman to the Islamic Group, a radical Egyptian-based terrorist organization. They have pleaded innocent.
Copyright 2002 Associated Press, All rights reserved
Ramsey Clark and Lynne Stewart were also attorneys-of-record for Shiek Abdul Rahman, the convicted terrorist. Stewart has been indicted for facilitating communications between Rahman and terrorist organizations and is facing a 40 year sentence if convicted. I have not seen any recent news regarding Stewart's trial. 13 posted on 03/09/2003 6:58 AM PST by Ben Hecks
I'm looking forward to this trial...
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