…To provide Fair, Informed, and Honest Coverage
By Terry Orr
(Facebook post
on 6/15/13)
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 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:
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. Pass this around. Everyone should, and needs
to, hear what this fine judge had to say. Powerful words that strike home.
