That's The Lynne Stewart Story. Attorney Lynne distinguished herself as the people's attorney over decades of hard work during which she took cases others avoided because she believed that everyone was entitled to solid defense.
That ticked off some people. This press release was issued when Bill Clinton was president and the Attorney General was Janet Reno. Reno and her Justice Department looked into the issue. They told Stewart not to do it again and closed the subject. Reno knew Lynne had done nothing but violate a guideline. No law was broken. There was no need for prosecution.
Then the Supreme Court installed Bully Boy Bush and Bush named John Ashcroft as his Attorney General. Ashcroft, frothing at the mouth, went after Lynne. Grasp that this was the second time Lynne was 'tried' for issuing a press release.
Ashcroft used 9-11 and fear to convict her, having the trial in lower Manhattan, constantly referencing 9-11. The same way the Bush administration lied and falsely linked to sell the Iraq War, they lied and falsely linked to put Lynn behind bars.
Lynne was convicted, stripped of her license and tossed in prison for 28 months.
But that wasn't good enough for new President Barack Obama. He had the Justice Department fight for Lynne to be given a longer sentence -- after she had already been sentenced.
This time around, she got sentenced to 10 years.
That was b.s. then, it's only more so now. On last week's week's. Black Agenda Radio, hosted by Glen Ford and Nellie Bailey (first airs each Monday at 4:00 pm EST on the Progressive Radio Network), Lynn's husband Ralph Poynter was noted.
Ralph Poynter: For months, we have been worried about a spot that's shown on Lynn's lung -- one of her lungs. And we did not want to go public with it until we were sure what was happening. What is happening is her breast cancer is spreading. It has spread to the other lung and to parts of her back. We feel that it is a death sentence in the prison. We fought in the beginning to keep Lynn out of jail, to make them take her from a local hospital with the doctor's objection because we could see the hand writing on the wall. This was not taken up as a legal issue and Lynn went to prison and now the other shoe has fallen. Her cancer is spreading. She is in Fort Worth, Texas subjected to the regulations of a prison between her and health care. From the greatest center of health care probably in the world from New York to Fort Worth, Texas and we know cancer is spreading. And as our daughter the doctor says, cancer has to be nipped in the bud. But first it has to go through regulations of Fort Worth Texas -- not knowing when you go to the hospital, not knowing who's going to be there. So we're working on that.
The return of the cancer should mean Lynne is immediately released.
Since November 2009, she's been imprisoned. That's 37 months. Her original sentence was just for 28.
She has cancer.
She needs treamtent.
She can't get that treatment if she's being shackled.
She's over 70-years-old and she has cancer.
Due to the humane thing and release her.
