22 June 2005
William Moses Kunstler Fund for Racial Justice
Help needed for Lynne Stewart video
Off Center Media Advocacy and the William Moses Kunstler Fund for Racial Justice have teamed up with the Lynne Stewart Defense Committee to make a video to assist with education, and organizing and advocacy efforts leading up to Lynne Stewart's sentencing on September 23, 2005. Lynne Stewart worked with William Kunstler on a number of cases. She is a tireless fighter for racial and social justice, and her prosecution exemplifies the erosion of civil liberties under the Bush administration’s “War on Terror.”
Through interviews with Lynne Stewart and her family, former clients, and fellow attorneys, the video will give the viewer a sense of who Lynne is, as both a lawyer and a human being, explain the case against her and what she actually did, and show the impact of Lynne’s prosecution and conviction on the rights of all Americans. At this point, 24 interviews have already been filmed, and we are in post-production. Although the realization of this video is a largely volunteer effort, completion funds are desperately needed to ensure the video can be edited, duplicated and circulated.
We are asking for your help to finish this video so it can be of help to Lynne and to all of us who care about liberty and justice in America. Make your checks payable to the William Moses Kunstler Fund for Racial Justice, and be sure to write “Lynne Stewart” on the memo line. Send all contributions to the William Moses Kunstler Fund for Racial Justice, 13 Gay Street, New York, NY 10014.
We have included the National Conference of Black Lawyers Statement on Lynne’s Conviction below. Off Center and the William Moses Kunstler Fund for Racial Justice stand with the NCBL in supporting Lynne Stewart and decrying her conviction.
NCBL STATEMENT REGARDING THE CONVICTION OF LYNNE STEWART
Those of us who know Lynne Stewart as a lawyer of great integrity and as a zealous advocate for all of her clients, even those whose cases are considered unpopular, are saddened and outraged by the conviction returned against her on February 10, 2005. Convicted on all counts including violating the SAMS provision, a subsection of the Patriot Act, Ms. Stewart now faces decades in prison. This conviction, secured by government prosecutors who were permitted to raise the specter of Osama Bin Laden repeatedly during the trial and thereby inflame the jury, will have a chilling effect on lawyers who contemplate zealous and competent representation of clients charged with crimes of "alleged" terrorism or any other "unpopular" crime during this climate of "terrorism" hysteria.
As Lynne Stewart stated in her own words, "You can’t lock up the lawyers". NCBL understands and supports the proposition that everyone deserves and needs competent, zealous representation, and an attorney’s representation of his/her client should not be held hostage to the prospect that the attorney may later be prosecuted and convicted, in violation of the 5th, 6th and 14th Amendments to the United States constitution. Government eavesdropping on attorney/client conversations must cease immediately-as that practice can now (following the conviction of Lynne Stewart) be seen for what it truly is, a way to gain evidence against lawyers for prosecution. Otherwise, lawyers-under fear of prosecution-will simply not be willing to engage in full and complete discussions with their clients, a situation that will surely hinder the lawyer’s quality of representation.
The National Conference of Black Lawyers does not support open defiance to just and fair laws, but it firmly and uncompromisingly opposes the legal lynching of lawyers in highly politicized trials, no matter how that process may be otherwise "packaged".
The Federal Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit should take an objective look at this case against Lynne Stewart and reverse in its entirety, this conviction.
The William Moses Kunster Fund for Racial Justice http://www.kunstler.orgCopyright 2005 by Buffalo Report, Inc.