Lynne Stewart, the civil rights lawyer who was convicted of aiding a terrorist cleric, landed at LaGuardia Airport yesterday afternoon. Though she was sentenced to be in prison until 2018, she was freed on "compassionate release" because she has 18 months to live.
Stewart, known as a "radical" lawyer because she defended poor as well as controversial defendants, was found guilty of terror charges in 2006, for smuggling messages from terrorist Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman to his followers in defiance of prison rule. She had pleaded for leniency, because she was diagnosed with breast cancer and received a 28-month sentence. However, Stewart's boasting that she "could do [28 months] standing on my head," plus the fact that she perjured herself during the trial led federal judge Jon Koetel to add another 10 years to her sentence.
The cancer metastasized and spread to her lungs, lymph nodes and bones, and she had been trying to get released from prison early since last year; Koetl indicated he would only do so if the Bureau of Prisons approved. On Tuesday, the Bureau of Prisons sent Koetl a filing, and the judge agreed to the compassionate release, noting that her "terminal medical condition and very limited life expectancy constitute extraordinary and compelling reasons that warrant the requested reduction... It is further ordered that the defendant shall be released from the custody of the Federal Bureau of Prisons as soon as her medical condition permits, the release plan is implemented and travel arrangements can be made."
Stewart, now 74, is in Brooklyn, with her son and his family. Her lawyer, Jill Shellow, told CNN, "I know that she is very happy to be home. I believe her immediate plan is to seek medical attention at Sloan Kettering Cancer Center."
In an exclusive interview with NY1, Stewart said of her freedom, "There's some big words for it, like euphoric, you're floating on the edge of the world, and also a strange of am I going to wake up a minute and this is all a dream because it's happened so fast." NY1 reports, "Stewart also said that while she was serving time, she got a firsthand look at some of the issues plaguing the prison system. She said that in addition to focusing on her health, she wants to fight for reforms of parts of the criminal justice system."
Stewart was disbarred in 2007. Abdel-Rahman is serving a life prison.
