Disbarred defense attorney Lynne Stewart is building support for early release from her 10-year prison term in a terrorism case so she can fight advanced-stage cancer. Stewart says a Texas prison warden has recommended compassionate release. She is seeking to benefit from a rarely granted provision letting inmates leave prison early for "extraordinary and compelling reasons."
The 73-year-old ex-lawyer was convicted in 2005 of conspiracy to provide support to terrorist organizations for letting an Egyptian terrorism defendant serving a life sentence communicate with followers. She was imprisoned more than three years ago after an appeals court said a judge’s two-year, four-month prison term was too lenient. She was resentenced to 10 years. A Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman said she cannot comment on Stewart for privacy reasons.
