U.S. District Judge John Koeltl has granted former defense lawyer Lynne Stewart a “compassionate” release from prison because she is dying of cancer.
Stewart, 74, has been serving a 10-year sentence (after a federal appeals court found Stewart’s original 28-month term too short) over her 2005 conviction for helping a client, blind Egyptian cleric Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, smuggle messages from prison to Egypt’s Islamic Group, which the U.S. government had listed as a terrorist organization.
Earlier this year, Stewart asked Koeltl for early release under a Federal Bureau of Prisons program for terminally ill inmates, but was denied noting that the Bureau of Prisons had not supported it.
However, following a recommendation for release today from the Bureau of Prisons and the U.S. attorney in Manhattan. Koeltl reduced Stewart’s sentence to the time she has already served and ordered Stewart released as soon as her medical condition permits, according to a court filing.
The government said Stewart has Stage IV breast cancer that has metastasized to the lung and bone and is expected to live 18 months or less.
It said her terminal medical condition and limited life expectancy were “extraordinary and compelling reasons” to reduce the sentence and that Stewart posed a “relatively limited” risk of recidivism and danger to the community.
Prior to being disbarred, Stewart had been known for representing controversial defendants, including one-time crime underboss Salvatore “Sammy the Bull” Gravano.
