Lawyer convicted for assisting terrorists
NEW YORK -- A veteran civil rights lawyer was convicted yesterday of crossing the line by smuggling messages of violence from one of her jailed clients -- a radical Egyptian sheik -- to his terrorist followers on the outside.
The jury deliberated 13 days over the past month before convicting Lynne Stewart, 65, an activist known for representing radicals and revolutionaries in her 30 years on the New York legal scene.
Stewart slumped in her chair as the verdict was read, shaking her head and later wiping tears from her eyes. Her supporters gasped upon hearing the conviction, and about two dozen of them followed her out of court, chanting, "Hands off Lynne Stewart!"
She vowed to appeal and blamed the conviction on evidence that included videotape of Osama bin Laden urging support for her client. The defense protested the bin Laden evidence, and the judge warned jurors that the case did not involve the events of Sept. 11.
She's guilty of blatant treason. 20 years is not enough. I'm not a supporter of the death penalty. History is shown that the death penalty does not deter crime. Crime rates in states that have and use the death penalty are statistically even with those without. I also don't think the state has the right to take revenge when the state isn't the victim. But for treason, the federal government is the victim. It is my view that treason is the only crime punishable with death.
The jury deliberated 13 days over the past month before convicting Lynne Stewart, 65, an activist known for representing radicals and revolutionaries in her 30 years on the New York legal scene.
Stewart slumped in her chair as the verdict was read, shaking her head and later wiping tears from her eyes. Her supporters gasped upon hearing the conviction, and about two dozen of them followed her out of court, chanting, "Hands off Lynne Stewart!"
She vowed to appeal and blamed the conviction on evidence that included videotape of Osama bin Laden urging support for her client. The defense protested the bin Laden evidence, and the judge warned jurors that the case did not involve the events of Sept. 11.
She's guilty of blatant treason. 20 years is not enough. I'm not a supporter of the death penalty. History is shown that the death penalty does not deter crime. Crime rates in states that have and use the death penalty are statistically even with those without. I also don't think the state has the right to take revenge when the state isn't the victim. But for treason, the federal government is the victim. It is my view that treason is the only crime punishable with death.
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