Sunday, July 18, 2010

Former Civil Rights Attorney Lynne Stewart Re-Sentenced to 10 Years

Lynne Stewart (CBS affiliate WCBS)

NEW YORK (CBS/WCBS) Federal prosecutors may finally believe Lynne Stewart has received the sentence she deserves after a judge added nearly eight years to the 70-year-old civil rights lawyer's original two and a half year prison sentence for letting a jailed Egyptian sheik pass messages to his radical followers.

An appeals court ordered a new sentencing after prosecutors pushed for a lengthier sentence, 15-30 years, due to the "deadly serious nature" of her crime, and Federal Judge John Koeltl agreed.

Judge Koetl listened to Stewart's pleas to reinstate the original sentence she had been given in 2006 because of her diminishing health, but the voices of the prosecutors rang louder, reports CBS affiliate WCBS.

Koetl sentenced the former lawyer who has defended Black Panthers and anti-war radicals to an additional ten years for committing perjury while defending the Egyptian sheik who plotted to blow up New York City landmarks, says WCBS.

He also believed that Stewart had no remorse after her first sentencing when she commented that she would be able to serve her sentence while standing on her head, reports the New York Daily News.

"I have since learned, judge, that nobody, particularly this 70-year-old woman can do 28 months standing on their head," Steweard told Koeltl.

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