You’ve heard it said that protecting the rights of the accused isn’t something we do for the guilty — it’s for the innocent. It’s for everyone.
Imagine you’re in jail, accused of something terrible. You know you didn’t do it. But you’re afraid of the railroad.

You lawyer comes to visit you. That feeling should be such a relief! You want to know you have somebody fighting for you. Fighting for your presumption of innocence.
But something seems wrong. Your attorney seems shifty, nervous, even…afraid?

Imagine how you’re feeling, in jail, awaiting trial, knowing you’ve got a scared lawyer. You’ve never been more alone in your life.
For the United States Department of Justice, this scenario is: MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!

Lynne Stewart, age 66, mother of 3, step mom of 4, and grandmother of 7, was a children’s librarian before going to law school. Since 1975, while showing that an “older” woman could go back to school and change careers, Lynne has also lived up to the ethical canon of her profession: To provide competent, zealous representation to all her clients, regardless of how unpopular they were.
She did such a good job that the New York bar honored her as criminal defense attorney of the year.

She did such a good job that it was decided Something had to Be Done about her.
She and famous former attorney general Ramsey Clark represented Omar Abdel Rahman, the so-called “Blind Sheik,” who was convicted of plotting to blow up New York landmarks. They visited him in jail many times. They followed well-settled benchmarks of competent representation in high-profile cases. They tried to put their case forward in public.

Long after trial, the government indicted Lynne — but not Ramsey Clark — for conspiracy, providing material support to terrorists, and defrauding the U.S. government. Clark testified at Lynne’s trial, “I don’t know of anything that Lynne did that I didn’t do.”

But you can’t really lock up a former attorney general, no matter how much you don’t like him. Clark now has another unpopular client — Saddam Hussein.

At Lynne’s trial, the government played-rewound-replayed Osama bin Laden tapes for the jury, even though there was no factual allegation that her case had anything to do with him.

The National Conference of Black Lawyers called it a “legal lynching,” but Lynne was convicted on all counts. Her sentencing is March 10, 2006. She’s looking at 35 to 45 years.

Remember your scared lawyer? A lot of the government’s case against Lynne came from secret recordings of attorney-client meetings between Lynne and her unpopular client. Under “Special Administrative Measures,” it only takes the attorney general’s signature on a piece of paper to break the attorney-client privilege.
Now that’s what your lawyer calls a “Chilling Effect.”

Come hear NYC attorney and National Lawyers Guild member Michael Smith on “The Case of Lynne Stewart and the Crisis We’re In” —
Saturday, February 18, 2006
1 p.m. SHARP! till 3 p.m.
DePaul University College of Law
Downtown Loop Campus
25 E. Jackson Blvd. — Classroom 803
www.lynnestewart.org/ — Lynne’s site
www.lawanddisorder.org/ — Michael Smith’s radio show & more!
www.nlgchicago.org/
contactnlgchicago (at) yahoo.com