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Lynne Stewart

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For the actress, see Lynne Marie Stewart.
Lynne Stewart

Lynne F. Stewart (born October 8, 1939) is an American radical activist, and was an attorney who represented controversial, and often unpopular, defendants, including black nationalists, members of the Weather Underground, Mafia figures, and convicted terrorists.[1] [2]

In 2005, Stewart was accused of helping pass messages from her client, Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, an Egyptian cleric convicted of planning terror attacks, to his followers in al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya, an organization designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization by the United States Secretary of State[3]. Stewart was convicted on felony charges of conspiracy and providing material support to terrorists and sentenced to 28 months in prison as well as being disbarred.

Education

Stewart was educated at Hope College, American University, and graduated with a B.A. in political science from Wagner College. Received a Masters in Library Science from Pratt Institute. And received a J.D. from Rutgers School of Law-Newark.

The Rahman case

Stewart was convicted of providing material support (through a press conference and allowing access by her translator) to a terrorist conspiracy to kill persons outside of the United States and conspiring to defraud the U.S. government when acting as counsel to Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, the blind Egyptian cleric who was convicted in 1996 of plotting terrorist attacks against various sites in the New York City area. Specifically, she was accused, in a federal grand jury indictment, of passing Rahman's blessing for a resumption of terrorist operations to his fundamentalist Muslim terrorist cell in Egypt after cell members inquired whether they should continue to honor a ceasefire that was in place against the Egyptian government. [4]

Stewart claims that the dispute is over one communication on behalf of her client to his supporters via a Reuters article, followed by a clarification after it appeared to have been misinterpreted. The clarification said: "I [Omar Abdel-Rahman] am not withdrawing my support of the cease-fire, I am merely questioning it and I am urging you, who are on the ground there to discuss it and to include everyone in your discussions as we always have done."[1]

Indeed, the evidence showed that, after Stewart issued the press release, she was told that Rifai Taha, a militant terrorist in Egypt who was associated with Osama bin Laden, viewed the press release as support of Taha's desire to return the Islamic Group to violence. Nonetheless, Stewart disseminated another press release, reaffirming Abdel Rahman's withdrawal of support for the ceasefire.

These measures, which Stewart had accepted in writing in order to be allowed to meet with Abdel Rahman in prison, provided that she would not, "use [their] meetings, correspondence, or phone calls with Abdel Rahman to pass messages between third parties (including, but not limited to, the media) and Abdel Rahman". The material support charges were dismissed in the summer of 2003, but, in November 2003, Stewart was re-indicted on charges of material support to a murder conspiracy, of which she was ultimately convicted.

At trial, she was represented by Michael Tigar, a famous defense attorney who also represented Terry Nichols in the Oklahoma City Bombing case. Supporters of Stewart alleged that the government charged her for her speech in defending the rights of her client. They believed that Stewart's efforts to release communications from her client were part of an appropriate defense method to gain public awareness and support. They also expressed alarm that wiretaps and hidden cameras authorized by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act were used by the Government to gather evidence against her, which they called a violation of attorney-client privilege.

On February 10, 2005, following a nine-month trial and thirteen days of jury deliberations, Stewart was found guilty of conspiracy, providing material support to terrorists and defrauding the U.S. government. Co-defendants Mohamed Yousry (whose first name is frequently misspelled "Mohammed") and Ahmed Sattar were found guilty as charged.[5][2] Her conviction meant automatic disbarment, and on October 16, 2006, judge John G. Koeltl sentenced Stewart to 28 months in prison. [6]

Sentencing submissions

In a letter to the court dated September 26, 2006, Stewart affirmed that her actions were consistent with how she had always represented her clients, but that she failed to recognize the difference in a post-2001 America and, in hindsight, should have been more careful to avoid misinterpretation. "I inadvertently allowed those with other agendas to corrupt the most precious and inviolate basis of our profession – the attorney-client relationship." [7] The New York Times reported Stewart "acknowledged [...] that she knowingly violated prison rules and was careless, overemotional and politically naïve in her representation of a terrorist client." [8].

Stewart requested that the Court exercise the considerable sentencing discretion given to judges by the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in U.S. v. Booker and impose a non-custodial sentence. The government requested that the Court impose the maximum statutory penalty, stating, "We hope that this sentence of 30 years will not only punish Stewart for her actions, but serve as a deterrent for other lawyers who believe that they are above the rules and regulations of penal institutions or otherwise try to skirt the laws of this country."

Stewart's original sentencing was to be in July 2005 but Stewart's defense team had repeatedly asked for and received numerous adjournments (delaying sentencing for over a year), due to her needing treatment for breast cancer.

In explaining his refusal to either impose the longer thirty year sentence proposed by the prosecution, or waive jail time entirely as Stewart had requested, the judge said that during her long career of representing unpopular clients she had "performed a public service, not only to her clients, but to the nation", but that her actions in this case constituted "extraordinarily severe criminal conduct"[9]

Her case was the inspiration for an episode of Law & Order entitled "Open Season".

Support and opposition

Stewart's most outspoken support came from the National Lawyers Guild of which she was a member. Some of Stewart's supporters included the Center for Constitutional Rights and the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers; both organizations filed amicus briefs in support of Stewart. They expressed concerns that the prosecution for zealous defense tactics could cause attorneys to become fearful of defending alleged terrorists and deprive individuals of their constitutional right to due process.[10]

At a press conference at the courthouse following her conviction, Stewart stated, "I hope it will be a wakeup call to all of the citizens of this country and all of the people who live here that you can't lock up the lawyers."

Ben Johnson, writing in the conservative Front Page Magazine, said that the trial was "in many ways a trial of the Left itself," but noted that the verdict "will not still the anti-American fanaticism of Stewart’s and Yousry’s campus cult-worshippers. Their hatred of this country blinds them to its greatness just as it excused their evil deeds – and will probably cause them to overlook the pro-terrorist actions of Stewart’s comrades in the future."[11]

Writing in the National Review, Rachel Zabarkes Friedman writes that Stewart expresses "approval" for the legacies of Stalin, Mao, and Castro[3] referring to an interview in which Stewart is asked if she will accept monitoring and control of political prisoners by a government she supports. In reply, Stewart describes her position as "a strange amalgam of old-line things and new-line things. I don't have any problem with Mao or Stalin or the Vietnamese leaders or certainly Fidel locking up people they see as dangerous. Because so often, dissidence has been used by the greater powers to undermine a people's revolution. The CIA pays a thousand people and cuts them loose, and they will undermine any revolution in the name of freedom of speech", adding "on the other hand, I do believe in a free marketplace of ideas. I have a big problem with government repressing that kind of exchange…".[4]


See also

References

  1. ^ "Convicted Attorney Lynne Stewart: "You Can't Lock Up the Lawyers"". Democracy Now. 2005-02-11. Retrieved 2006-10-16.
  2. ^ http://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/02/10/terror.trial.lawyer/
  3. ^ Stewart’s Betrayal, National Review
  4. ^ Day, Susie (November 2002). "Counter-Intelligent: The Surveillance and Indictment of Lynne Stewart". Monthly Review. Retrieved 2006-10-16. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
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