The focus will be on Southern District of New York Judge John G. Koeltl today as he resentences disbarred lawyer Lynne Stewart for providing material support to a terrorist conspiracy. In a hearing scheduled for 2:30 p.m., Koeltl will consider whether Stewart perjured herself at her 2005 trial for helping the U.S.-designated terror organization Islamic Group communicate with its spiritual leader and her client, imprisoned Sheik Omar Abdul Rahman.
Koeltl sentenced Stewart, 70, to 28 months in prison but a two-judge majority of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the sentence in November and instructed Koeltl to sentence her anew, with a focus on perjury. Koeltl was also invited by the 2nd Circuit, in a revised opinion in December, to revisit his treatment of a sentencing enhancement for a crime of terrorism, which could add substantial time to Stewart’s prison term.
