The
Shoe Bomber Sentencing
Remember the bloke who got on a plane with a
bomb built into his shoe and tried to ignite 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? 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, I
am at war with your country.”
Judge
Young then delivered his statement
"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 Bouquet 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. However 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. 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 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."
DR. KARL WALLACE D.D.S.
