NEW YORK (AP) - Prosecutors seeking a 30-year prison term for a lawyer convicted of aiding terrorists have called her behavior "flagrant abuse of her profession" ahead of next month's sentencing hearing. Lynne Stewart was convicted in February 2005 of providing material support to terrorists by releasing a statement by her client, Sheik Ahmed Abdel-Rahman, who was imprisoned after being convicted in 1995 of plotting to blow up New York City landmarks.
Stewart's "egregious, flagrant abuse of her profession, abuse that amounted to material support to a terrorist group, deserves to be severely punished," prosecutors wrote in a document submitted Thursday to a judge.
Her lawyers have argued that Stewart should receive no prison time, arguing that a harsh sentence would frighten other lawyers from representing notorious clients and that Stewart's three decades of distinguished work for indigent clients should speak louder than a single serious mistake.
The prosecutors see it differently.
"Stewart did not walk a fine line of zealous advocacy and accidentally fall over it; she marched across it and into a criminal conspiracy," Assistant U.S. Attorney Andrew S. Dember wrote. "The government obviously did not prosecute Stewart because she is a zealous advocate, but rather for blatantly and repeatedly violating the law."
Dember wrote that Stewart's "conduct was not isolated to one single event; rather, it showed a pattern of purposeful and willful conduct, in which she played a central role in repeated fraudulent attempts to pass messages to and from Abdel-Rahman."
He also said Stewart lied at her trial when she said the government knew that special prison rules allowed the sheik's lawyers to issue news releases, and when she denied knowing an overseas terrorist until her trial.
The government also rejected arguments that the terrorism case was handled differently because of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, saying the criminal investigation of Stewart began before then.
Stewart, 65, had argued that Abdel-Rahman was engaging in protected speech when he expressed his opinion about a cease fire by Islamic militants in Egypt that Stewart passed along in a 2000 news release.
Stewart was convicted along with Mohamed Yousry, an Arabic interpreter, and Ahmed Abdel Sattar, a U.S. postal worker. The government sought a 20-year prison term for Yousry and a life sentence for Sattar.
Yousry also was convicted of providing material support to terrorists. Sattar was convicted of conspiracy to kill and kidnap people in a foreign country.
