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 or 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
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 an d 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. Pass this around. Everyone should and needs to hear what this
fine judge had to say. Powerful words that strike home.
Comments: True. U.S. District Court Judge William Young did make the above statement during the sentencing of convicted "shoe bomber" Richard Reid in Boston on January 30, 2003. The judge's remarks followed a belligerent and unapologetic statement by Reid accusing the United States of sponsoring the torture of Muslims in Arab countries (full transcript). "I'm an enemy of your country," he told the court.
Reid had earlier
pled guilty to attempting to blow up an American Airlines passenger
jet in December 2001 with explosives hidden in his shoe. The attempt
was foiled when flight attendants tackled the avowed al-Quaida operative
before he could light the fuse.
http://urbanlegends.about.com/
Description: Email flier
Circulating since: Feb 2003
Status: True
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