This was passed to us
by retired OSI Special Agent Jack Miller, author
of "Cold War Warrior"
US District Court Judge
William Young made the following statement in sentencing "shoe
bomber", Richard Reid to prison. It is noteworthy, and deserves to
be remembered far longer than he predicts.
January 30, 2003, United
States vs. Reid.
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 statues. It is
a fair and just sentence. It is a righteous sentence. Let me
explain this to you.
We are not afraid of 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, where 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 that happens to be your view,
you are a terrorist. And we do not negotiate with terrorists. We
do not treat 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 know
warriors. You are a terrorist. A species of criminal, guilty of
multiple attempted murders.
In a very real sense Trooper Santigo 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're no big deal.
What your counsel, 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 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 winds carry freedom. They carry 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 are about it.
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. 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. You know it always will.
Custody Mr. Officer. Stand him down.
'I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United
States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one
nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all'
