Saturday, June 30, 2012

NY court upholds lawyer's 10-year prison sentence

June 28, 2012 Associated Press

NEW YORK — A federal appeals court has upheld a harsher sentence for a civil rights lawyer convicted in a terrorism case.

The court says it was fair to boost Lynne Stewart's sentence to 10 years in prison from the just over two years she had faced before.

The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan said Thursday that it disagreed with Stewart's claim that her sentence was "shockingly high." It is accusing the now-disbarred lawyer of exhibiting a "stark inability to understand the seriousness of her crimes."

The appeals court says Stewart placed lives in danger when she allowed a blind Egyptian sheik serving a life sentence for terrorism crimes to communicate with followers. She was convicted in 2005 of conspiracy and providing material support to terrorists.

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