Earlier this week, a judge sentenced activist lawyer Lynne Stewart to an additional ten years in prison. In 2006, Stewart was sentenced to four years (considered too low by critics) for smuggling messages from a radical leader to his followers in Egypt, but more recently an Appeals Court had suggested she receive more prison time. Judge John Koetl noted on Thursday that Stewart's remarks about her 28-month sentence—specifically how she "could do [28 months] standing on my head"—plus finding that she perjured herself during the trial showed the original sentence wasn't sufficient. more ›

Judges squabbled over what to do with 70-year-old civil rights lawyer Lynne Stewart, who's been convicted on charges of helping a jailed client communicate with his followers after he plotted to bomb NYC, but faces a resentencing in April. All wanted a lower-court judge to extend her sentence, but, unusually, each issued a statement criticizing how the others had handled the case. According to the AP, Chief Judge Dennis Jacobs said the judge should start his sentence from scratch since Judge John Koeltl didn't take into account the terrorist consequences of Stewart's case, but another judge fired back. more ›

Inmate and disbarred lawyer Lynne Stewart has been selected by WBAI listeners to serve on the station's board of directors, even though she doesn't even have access to a radio. The 70-year-old civil-rights fighter was sentenced to 28 months in prison for helping a radical Islamic leader she represented smuggle messages to his followers in Egypt. Stewart claimed she was being a "zealous advocate" for her client, Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, nonetheless she was found guilty of conspiracy and providing material support to terrorists. more ›

Yesterday, a federal appeals court panel of three judges upheld the conviction of lawyer Lynne Stewart for smuggling messages from a radical leader to his followers in Egypt. And the panels also thinks a judge should consider increasing her prison time from the 28 month sentence that was already handed down. more ›

After the prison-yard murder of Larry Davis in upstate New York, most City papers noted his infamy and folk- or anti-hero status, but for the most part were content to portray him as a vicious thug, murderer, and all-around lowlife. Davis was shanked multiple times by another inmate at the Shawangunk Correctional Facility in Ulster county New York. more ›

Brenna Stewart, the daughter of convicted so-called "terrorist lawyer" Lynne Stewart, is to undergo psychiatric testing after she was charged with providing phony doctors' notes claiming she was sick to get days off from her job as a gym teacher. Ironically, the fake notes, at least one of which she submitted to attend the sentencing of her mother, could land her in jail for up to seven years. Stewart was busted last year when an administrator at the school where she taught noticed that the phone number of the doctor's office on her notes was the same as that of Stewart's emergency contact number on file. Stewart's sister is an actual physician, but practices in Florida. more ›

• Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: an overturned auto on Christopher and New Lots Aves. in Brooklyn, a scaffold collapse on East 166th St. and Sherman Ave. in the Bronx, and a fire with evacuated animals on Greenpoint Ave. and 46th St. in Queens.
• If you're the head of a major corporation that wants to make a mark on the New York skyline by occupying space in a tower that comes with all the cachet of being above the Port Authority Bus Terminal, you may be in luck.
• Limousine company Attitude New York sued one of its former drivers for setting up his own company, E-Z Ryder Limousine, and allegedly poaching celebrities from its client list. The plaintiff wanted E-Z Ryder banned from ever soliciting a client he'd driven while with Attitude, but the judge thought that was a stretch and the case was decided in favor of the defendant.
• Brooklyn Assemblyman Karim Camara was arrested for drunk driving this morning and upstate police are thorough. Not only was Camara witnessed weaving through traffic doing 65 m.p.h. in a 30 m.p.h. zone, but he smelled of alcohol and was slurring his words when the cops pulled him over. Then he was given several field sobriety tests, each of which he failed. He refused to take a breathalyzer test, however, so he still has the tiniest shred of plausible deniability.
• Nathan Kensinger found his way into the tunnels underneath Brooklyn's Atlantic Yards and, thank goodness, remembered to bring his camera.
• Trailer for the street art grafitti vandalism movie Bomb It. It's about paint in public places.
• Incredible slideshow of pictures of the aircraft carrier Intrepid in a Bayonne, NJ drydock.
• The five-judge panel that refused convicted terrorist helper Lynne Stewart's bid to resign from the bar after her conviction was apparently just waiting for an opportunity to disbar her themselves.
• SHORPY, The 100-Year-Old Photoblog, has a great picture of workmen building the Manhattan Bridge taking a break in 1907, back when New York was cool.

We love stories about public school teachers and sick days: There was the guy who wanted some time off to serve a jail sentence, the principal who was actually conducting an orchestra, and, our favorite, the teacher who took sick days when performing as a wrestler for the WWE. But we would never have dreamed that Lynne Stewart, the controversial lawyer who was convicted of aiding terrorist Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman while he was in prison, would even be involved in one! more ›

Last week, the FBI issued a bulletin about Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, the Egyptian cleric who is considered the spiritual leader for groups of militant Muslims. Abdel-Rahman, who has been serving a prison sentence for planning to blow up various NYC landmarks, was found to have a tumor on his liver. And considering that he's been in poor health, the FBI was prompted to remind authorities that "Rahman pleaded for followers to 'extract the most violent revenge' should he die in U.S. custody." Hmm. more ›

Yesterday's decision by a federal judge to sentence controversial lawyer Lynne Stewart to 28 months in prison for charges in helping terrorist Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman carry out his message was met by relief from Stewart supporters and overwhelming outcry from the government (which had hoped for a 30 year sentence) and many of the local papers. The Post, Daily News and the Sun all have editorials criticizing Judge Koetl's short sentence. From the Daily News:

Perhaps kindly Judge Koeltl was touched by the sight of Stewart, all her revolutionary bravado fled, blubbering that the end of her legal career "is like a sword in my side." Perhaps he was moved by the defense argument that Stewart, who is 67 and ailing, would die behind bars if a sentence of any reasonable length were imposed. more ›

Well-known radical lawyer Lynne Stewart was sentenced today to 28 months in prison. In February 2005, she found guilty of terror charges - she had smuggled messages from terrorist Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman to his followers in defiance of prison rules. Stewart had been pleading for leniency, as she was diagnosed with breast cancer last year, and before the sentencing, Stewart's lawyer Elizabeth Fink said, "If you send her to prison, she's going to die. It's as simple as that." The AP reported that Stewart smiled when she heard 28 month sentence; she had faced a maximum of 30 years in prison. The NY Times mentions that Judge Koetl acknowledged that there was "'no evidence that any victim was in fact harmed' by her actions" and noted her career as a "lawyer to the poor and the unpopular." Stewart will be appealing. more ›

- And some of the most gorgeous New York City photograph we've seen are from Arnold Pouteau - here are his pictures on Flickr more ›

- The Politicker reports that the D.A. Pennebaker documentary of the Ferrer campaign hasn't been happening for a while, because the crew wasn't "getting a film that was worth doing, as compared with what you just got off of every TV screen." Damn TV! more ›

more ›

Newsday has reactions from a number of city lawyers, most of whom believe this will make lawyers think twice about who they defend. And as to be expected, the Post brands Lynne Stewart the terror traitor.
more ›

Some stories Gothamist has been following lately [additionally, based on a totally unofficial survey of a couple newspapers, it seems about 50% - or more - of the stories are about the convention...we suppose NYC will have to get more interesting post-convention]:
more ›