How to sentence an "(a)merican terrorist.
Awesome...
Remember the guy who got on a plane with a bomb
built into his shoe and
tried to light it?
Did you know his trial is over?
Did you know he was sentenced?
Did you see/hear any of the judge's comments
on TV/Radio?
Didn't think so.
Everyone should hear what the judge had to say.
Ruling by Judge William Young, US District
Court.
Prior to sentencing, the Judge asked the
defendant if he had
anything to say.
His response: After admitting his guilt to
the court for the
record,
Reid also admitted his "allegiance to Osama bin
Laden, to Islam, and to
the religion of Allah," defiantly stated "I think I
will not apologize
for my actions," and told the court "I am at war
with your country."
Judge Young then delivered the statement
quoted below:
January 30, 2003, United States vs. Reid.
Judge Young:
"Mr. Richard C. Reid, hearken now to the
sentence the Court
imposes upon you.
On counts 1, 5 and 6 the Court sentences you to life
in prison in the
custody of the United States Attorney General. On
counts 2, 3, 4 and 7,
the Court sentences you to 20 years in prison on
each count, the
sentence on each count to run consecutive with the
other.
That's 80 years. On count 8 the Court
sentences you to the
mandatory 30 years consecutive to the 80 years just
imposed. The Court
imposes upon you each of the eight counts a fine of
$250,000 for the
aggregate fine of $2 million. The Court accepts the
government's
recommendation with respect to restitution and
orders restitution in the
amount of $298.17 to Andre Bousquet and $5,784 to
American Airlines.
The Court imposes upon you the $800 special
assessment.
The Court imposes upon you five years
supervised release simply
because the law requires it. But the life sentences
are real life
sentences so I need go no further. This is the
sentence that is
provided for by our statutes. It is a fair and just
sentence. It is a
righteous sentence.
Let me explain this to you. We are not
afraid of you or any of
your terrorist co-conspirators, Mr. Reid. We are
Americans. We have
been through the fire before. There is all too much
war talk here and I
say that to everyone with the utmost respect. Here
in this court, we
deal with individuals as individuals and care for
individuals as
individuals. As human beings, we reach out for
justice.
You are not an enemy combatant. You are a
terrorist. You are
not a soldier in any war. You are a terrorist. To
give you that
reference, to call you a soldier, gives you far too
much stature.
Whether it is the officers of government who do it
or your attorney who
does it, or if you think you are a soldier. You are
not----- you are a
terrorist. And we do not negotiate with terrorists.
We do not meet
with terrorists. We do not sign documents with
terrorists. We hunt
them down one by one and bring them to justice.
So war talk is way out of line in this
court. You are a big
fellow. But you are not that big. You're no
warrior. I've know
warriors. You are a terrorist. A species of
criminal that is guilty of
multiple attempted murders. In a very real sense,
State Trooper
Santiago had it right when you first were taken off
that plane and into
custody and you wondered where the press and where
the TV crews were,
and he said: "You're no big deal."
You are no big deal.
What your able counsel and what the equally
able United States
attorneys have grappled with and what I have as
honestly as I know how
tried to grapple with, is why you did something so
horrific. What was
it that led you here to this courtroom today?
I have listened respectfully to what you
have to say. And I ask
you to search your heart and ask yourself what sort
of unfathomable hate
led you to do what you are guilty and admit you are
guilty of doing.
And I have an answer for you. It may not satisfy
you, but as I search
this entire record, it comes as close to
understanding as I know.
It seems to me you hate the one thing that
to us is most
precious. You hate our freedom. Our individual
freedom. Our individual
freedom to live as we choose, to come and go as we
choose, to believe or
not believe as we individually choose. Here, in
this society, the very
wind carries freedom. It carries it everywhere from
sea to shining sea.
It is because we prize individual freedom so much
that you are here in
this beautiful courtroom. So that everyone can see,
truly see, that
justice is administered fairly, individually, and
discretely. It is for
freedom's sake that your lawyers are striving so
vigorously on your
behalf and have filed appeals, will go on in their
representation of you
before other judges.
We Americans are all about freedom.
Because we all know that
the way we treat you, Mr. Reid, is the measure of
our own liberties.
Make no mistake though. It is yet true that we will
bare any burden;
pay any price, to preserve our freedoms. Look
around this courtroom.
Mark it well. The world is not going to long
remember what you or I say
here. Day after tomorrow, it will be forgotten, but
this, however, will
long endure. Here in this courtroom and courtrooms
all across America,
the American people will gather to see that justice,
individual justice,
justice, not war, individual justice is in fact
being done. The very
President of the United States through his officers
come into courtrooms
and lay out evidence on which specific matters can
be judged and juries
of citizens will gather to sit and judge that
evidence democratically,
to mold and shape and refine our sense of justice.
See that flag, Mr. Reid? That's the flag of
the United States
of America. That flag will fly there long after
this is all forgotten.
That flag stands for freedom. And it always s will.
Mr. Custody Officer. Stand him down.
We need MORE judges like Judge William Young perhaps on the US Supreme Court.
Mark
Reply With Quote
