*Remember the man who got on a plane with a bomb built into his shoe and
tried to light it?* :mad:
Did you know his trial is over? :eek:
Did you know he was sentenced? :eek:
Did you see/hear any of the judge's comments on TV or Radio? :confused:
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 stating,
'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 consecutively. (That's 80 years.) On count
8 the Court sentences you to the mandatory 30 years again, to be served
consecutively to the 80 years just imposed. The Court imposes upon you
for each of the eight counts a fine of $250,000 that's an 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 an $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. Now, 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
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 the officers of government do it
or your attorney 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
known 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 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, 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 bear 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. The 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 will have to 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 will. Mr. Custody Officer. Stand him down. So,
how much of this Judge's comments did we hear on our TV sets?
We need more judges like Judge Young, but that's another subject. Why
didn't the media
put this on the news? Pass this around. Everyone should and needs to
hear what this fine judge had to say. Powerful words that strike home.
God Bless all freedom Loving People
What I meant in my previous post was simply that I don't understand the mentality of anyone who wants to support convicted terrorists. Hey, if you want your tax dollars to go for his upkeep, more power to you. I just can't believe that anyone would. That's why I would comment that wanting to keep this terrorist in prison for fifty years (or however long he lasts) equates in my mind to being tax exempt. And I disagree that hanging him would give him any more attention as a "martyr to a cause" than leaving him in a prison filing appeal after appeal and giving him daily opportunities to harm others.