"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/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 stated "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 consecutive
with the other.
That's 80 years. On count 8 the Court sentences you to the mandatory
30 years consecutive to the 80 years just imposed. The Court
imposes upon you each of the eight counts a fine of $250,000
for the 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 the $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.
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 all 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 it is the officers of
government who do it or your attorney who 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 know 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 where 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 and 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 bare 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.
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. Pass this around. Everyone
should and needs to hear what this fine judge had to say.
Powerful words that strike
home."
Author unknown
