Roy Exum
As the FBI is hot in pursuit of those responsible for the horrific bombs that shook the Boston Marathon on Monday, I am thrilled those responsible will be brought to justice in Boston because that’s the city of one of my favorite judges. I can only pray Judge William G. Young will preside over any trials connected with the tragedy because he is a great jurist who has won the nation’s heart once before.
The chances are you don’t remember a lout named Richard Colvin Reid. Now 39, he was a high school dropout in his native England and – with his father already in jail for stealing a car – he began a career in crime at age 16 when he mugged an elderly woman. Reid soon had an impressive “sheet,” with 10 or so petty offenses, and, when he got out of Blundeston Prison, his dad told him to become a Muslim because they got better food inside the pen.
So the next time the kid gets snared (petty larceny) he says his new name is Abdel Rahim and soon he was on the road to being a terrorist. He first became a zealot, washing dishes in Amsterdam for a year before deploying on his “a soldier of God under the command of Osama bin Laden.”
On Dec. 22, 2001 the 6-foot-4, 200-plus-pound Reid was on United Air Lines flight 63 from Paris to Miami when a female flight attendant saw him strike a match. He ignored the pretty lady, Hermis Moutardier, but she saw him trying to ignite his shoe. Another flight attendant, Cristina Jones, jumped the scraggly Reid and, when he bit her thumb, Hermis Moutardier threw a bucket of water on Reid and his matches.
After the two girls had whipped “the soldier of God,” – and several male passengers also slugged him -- the pilot diverted to the nearest big airport and – viola! -- Flight 63 landed peacefully at Boston’s Logan International. “The Shoe Bomber” was caught and, with the FBI finding his shoes were indeed hiding explosives, the trial was provincially held in Boston with The Honorable William G. Young presiding.
Let’s now go “live” as Judge Young asks “The Shoe Bomber” if he has anything to say before sentencing. The defendant admits his guilt and pledges “allegiance to Osama bin Laden, to Islam, and to the religion of Allah." Then he rather defiantly states, “I think I will not apologize for my actions. I am at war with your country.”
Judge Young nodded acknowledgement and then with firm voice delivered what has become a classic, “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 consecutively. (That’s 80 years.)
“On count 8 the Court sentences you to the mandatory 30 years again, to be served consecutively to the 80 years just imposed. The Court imposes upon you for each of the eight counts a fine of $250,000 - that’s an 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 an $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 statutes. It is a fair and just sentence. It is a righteous sentence.
“Now, let me explain this to you. We are not afraid of you or any of your terrorist co-conspirators, Mr. Reid. We are Americans. We have been through the fire before. There is too much war talk here and I say that to everyone with the utmost respect. Here in this court, 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 the officers of government do it or your attorney does it, or if you think you are a soldier, you are not -- you are a terrorist. And we do not negotiate with terrorists. We do not meet 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’ve known warriors. You are a terrorist. A species of criminal that is guilty of multiple attempted murders. In a very real sense, State Trooper Santiago had it right when you first were taken off that plane and into custody and you wondered where the press and the TV crews were, and he said: ‘You’re no big deal.’
“You are no big deal.
“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 to us 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 wind carries freedom. It carries 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, have filed appeals, will go on in their representation of you before other judges.
“We Americans are all about freedom. 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. The 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. And it always will.
“Mr. Custody Officer. Stand him down!”
* * *
Richard C. Reid is currently incarcerated at USP Florence ADMAZ, which is also called “The Alcatraz of the Rockies.” Other notables being held there include Zacarius Moussaoui of 9/11, Faisal Shahzad of the 2010 Times Square bomb attempt, Ramzi Yousef, mastermind of the 1993 World Trade Center; serial bombers Ted Kaczynski and Eric Rudolph. Timothy McVeigh, who bombed the Federal Building in Oklahoma City, was also held in Florence, Colo., before he was put to death.
Make no mistake, justice will soon win once again in Boston. It is who we are.
royexum@aol.com