An attorney representing disbarred civil rights lawyer Lynne Stewart, who is serving a 10-year prison sentence for aiding a terrorist group, on Thursday asked Southern District Judge John Koeltl (See Profile) to grant compassionate release to Stewart, who has late-stage breast cancer. Jill Shellow, Stewart's attorney, said her client likely has less than 18 months to live and has not been receiving adequate medical care in the Texas prison where she is serving her sentence. Stewart has petitioned the federal Bureau of Prisons for compassionate release, but so far the bureau has not made a motion asking the court to grant it.
Southern District assistant U.S. attorney Andrew Dember argued on Thursday that Koeltl has no authority to grant compassionate release unless the bureau makes such a motion. Koeltl seemed inclined toward that view, repeatedly asking Shellow by what statutory authority he could grant release. But Koeltl also expressed sympathy for Stewart. "You don't deny that she has a strong argument for compassionate release, do you?" he asked Dember at one point. Koeltl did not reach a decision at the end of the hearing.
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