Civil rights lawyer Lynne Stewart arrived at her sentencing packed for prison. The 67-year-old, convicted of helping a jailed terrorist sheik communicate with his disciples, smiled through tears as the judge announced the sentence Monday.
Instead, Stewart walked out of the courtroom unshackled, free pending appeal of a 28-month sentence after a judge took into account her career of standing up for the most unpopular clients.
The judge said there was ample evidence she had smuggled messages between her client, Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman, and senior members of an Egyptian-based terrorist organization ? messages he said could have had "potentially lethal consequences." But the judge noted no one was harmed as a result.
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