This week, a federal appeals court ordered attorney Lynne Stewart to prison and asked the trial judge to review her sentence. It may have been too low based on his lack of consideration of whether she committed perjury.
Conservative blogger Michelle Malkin was relieved:
If there is a shining example of just how dangerous it is for America to give foreign-born jihadists the full panoply of American constitutional rights and all the attendant benefits of a civilian trial, it is Lynne Stewart.
Lynne Stewart was convicted of passing notes for her suspected terrorist client that prosecutors said could have incited violence in Egypt. She was facing 30 years, and received 28 months.
I wasn't in the courtroom. I didn't hear all the evidence. I don't know if Michelle Malkin sat through the trial, although I suspect not.
That's the first problem here, and not really the subject of this post.
Conservatives in America long ago lost their tolerance for "liberal" judges who make determinations that defendant's should spend less than the maximum time in jail.
If the maximum for a crime is 30 years, then damn the judge who takes into account the history of the defendant and other issues (like the evidence in the case) and determines that a lower sentence is appropriate.
That's from where "minimum mandatories" came.
So Malkin thinks 28 months was too low. I don't have an argument there. You can't argue with America's love for lengthy prison sentences. That's a waste of time. If Malkin ever was to read this, she would probably chalk up the mere discussion of judicial discretion as a signal that I am a flaming liberal terrorist loving communist.
Which brings me to the purpose of this post.
Malkin ends her blog post on the Stewart case with this:
How many more Lynne Stewarts are out there, ready to aid and abet their jihadi clients on American soil?
Really Michelle? You're on the hunt for American Criminal Defense Lawyers who are ready to aid terrorist suspects?
Well, if you're out there my colleagues, Michelle Malkin wants to know.
Brian Tannebaum is a criminal defense lawyer in Miami, Florida practicing in state and federal court. Read his free ebook The Truth About Hiring A Criminal Defense Lawyer. To learn more about Brian and his firm, Tannebaum Weiss, please visit www.tannebaumweiss.com
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Ironically the Second Circuit's opinion says that one of Stewart's claims on appeal was that there were in fact two other defense attorneys who did (almost) the same thing she did, yet weren't charged-- Stewart claimed selective prosecution.
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