January 30, 2003 United States vs. Reid. <br /><br /> Judge Young:<br /><br /> Mr. Richard C. Reid, hearken now to the sentence the<br /> Court imposes upon you.<br /><br /> On counts 1, 5 and 6 the Court sentences you to life<br /> in prison in the custody of the United States<br /> Attorney General.<br /><br /> On counts 2, 3, 4 and 7, the Court sentences you to<br /> 20 years in prison on each count, the sentence on<br /> each count to run consecutive with the other.<br /><br /> That's 80 years.<br /><br /> On count 8 the Court sentences you to the mandatory<br /> 30 years consecutive to the 80 years just imposed.<br /><br /> The Court imposes upon you each of the eight counts<br /> a fine of $250,000 for the aggregate fine of $2<br /> million.<br /><br /> The Court accepts the government's recommendation<br /> with respect to restitution and orders restitution<br /> in the amount of $298.17 to Andre Bousquet and<br /> $5,784 to American Airlines.<br /><br /> The Court imposes upon you the $800 special<br /> assessment.<br /><br /> The Court imposes upon you five years supervised<br /> release simply because the law requires it. But the<br /> life sentences are real life sentences so I need go<br /> no further.<br /><br /> This is the sentence that is provided for by our<br /> statutes. It is a fair and just sentence. It is a<br /> righteous sentence. Let me explain this to you.<br /><br /> We are not afraid of you or any of your terrorist<br /> co-conspirators, Mr. Reid. We are Americans. We<br /> have been through the fire before. There is all too<br /> much war talk here. And I say that to everyone with<br /> the utmost respect.<br /><br /> Here in this court, where we deal with individuals<br /> as individuals, and care for individuals as<br /> individuals. As human beings, we reach out for<br /> justice.<br /><br /> You are not an enemy combatant. You are a<br /> terrorist. You are not a soldier in any war. You<br /> are a terrorist. To give you that reference, to<br /> call you a soldier, gives you far too much stature.<br /> Whether it is the officers of government who do it<br /> or your attorney who does it, or that happens to be<br /> your view, you are a terrorist.<br /><br /> And we do not negotiate with terrorists. We do not<br /> treat with terrorists.<br /><br /> We do not sign documents with terrorists. We hunt<br /> them down one by one and bring them to justice.<br /><br /> So war talk is way out of line in this court. You<br /> are a big fellow. But you are not that big. You're<br /> no warrior. I know warriors. You are a terrorist.<br /> A species of criminal guilty of multiple attempted<br /> murders.<br /><br /> In a very real sense, State Trooper Santiago had it<br /> right when you first were taken off that plane and<br /> into custody and you wondered where the press and<br /> where the TV crews were, and he said you're no big<br /> deal.<br /><br /> You're no big deal.<br /><br /> What your counsel, what your able counsel, and what<br /> the equally able United States attorneys have<br /> grappled with and what I have as honestly as I know<br /> how tried to grapple with, is why you did something<br /> so horrific.<br /><br /> What was it that led you here to this courtroom<br /> today? I have listened respectfully to what you<br /> have to say. And I ask you to search your heart and<br /> ask yourself what sort of unfathomable hate led you<br /> to do what you are guilty and admit you are guilty<br /> of doing. And I have an answer for you. It may not<br /> satisfy you. But as I search this entire record, it<br /> comes as close to understanding as I know.<br /><br /> It seems to me you hate the one thing that is most<br /> precious. You hate our freedom. Our individual<br /> freedom. Our individual freedom to live as we<br /> choose, to come and go as we choose, to believe or<br /> not believe as we individually choose.<br /><br /> Here, in this society, the very winds carry freedom.<br /> They carry it everywhere from sea to shining sea.<br /> It is because we prize individual freedom so much<br /> that you are here in this beautiful courtroom. So<br /> that everyone can see, truly see that justice is<br /> administered fairly, individually, and discretely.<br /><br /> It is for freedom's sake that your lawyers are<br /> striving so vigorously on your behalf and have filed<br /> appeals, will go on in their, their representation<br /> of you before other judges. We are about it.<br /> Because we all know that the way we treat you, Mr.<br /> Reid, is the measure of our own liberties. Make no<br /> mistake though. It is yet true that we will bear<br /> any burden, pay any price, to preserve our freedoms.<br /><br /> Look around this courtroom. Mark it well. The<br /> world is not going to long remember what you or I<br /> say here. Day after tomorrow it will be forgotten.<br /> But this, however, will long endure. Here in this<br /> courtroom and courtrooms all across America, the<br /> American people will gather to see that justice,<br /> individual justice, justice, not war, individual<br /> justice is in fact being done.<br /><br /> The very President of the United States through his<br /> officers will have to come into courtrooms and lay<br /> out evidence on which specific matters can be<br /> judged, and juries of citizens will gather to sit<br /> and judge that evidence democratically, to mold and<br /> shape and refine our sense of justice.<br /><br /> See that flag, Mr. Reid? That's the flag of the<br /> United States of America. That flag will fly there<br /> long after this is all forgotten. That flag stands<br /> for freedom. You know it always will.<br /><br /> Custody Mr. Officer. Stand him down.
