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Fifth Column

Ivy League Lawyers Head to Trial for Firebombing Cop Car

2021-07-20

[Free Beacon] Two New York City Ivy League lawyers will stand trial in March 2022 for allegedly firebombing a police cruiser and distributing Molotov cocktails during the George Floyd riots last summer.

Defense lawyers for Colinford Mattis

...African-American, Princeton, NYU Law, former corporate law associate at some fancy New York City law firm, along with his sister the primary caregivers for his dead mother’s three foster children — the things ya gotta do in Brooklyn to keep the family’s rent controlled apartment!

and Urooj Rahman

...the pouty, connected Pakistani-American who trained with Hamas before studying human rights law at Fordham. Her self-proclaimed best friend, successful Washington, DC lawyer Salmah Rizvi, previously worked for President Obama as an intelligence analyst ...

have been in plea negotiations with federal prosecutors since February but have not come to terms, prompting U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan to set a trial schedule for both defendants. Pretrial motions are due on Sept. 17 and jury selection will begin on March 14, 2022.

The accused enjoy widespread support and sympathy from New York’s legal and media elites. Rahman is represented by one of the city’s best defense attorneys, and a former Obama administration official guaranteed her bail in the amount of $250,000. Both have been the subject of favorable profiles in New York magazine and NPR, among other venues.

Cogan has delayed proceedings three times while the parties discussed a prospective plea. Those talks can continue as the case heads to trial. Mattis and Rahman are under house arrest with electronic monitoring, though they’ve each sought relaxed release conditions. Cogan allowed Rahman to attend a bridal shower and a wedding in May, though he denied a bail modification that would have authorized her to move freely about four city boroughs during daylight hours. Mattis obtained permission to celebrate Christmas at a relative’s home.

Supporters and defense lawyers say the Trump administration was out to make an example of Mattis and Rahman. Destroying a police vehicle is the sort of crime that is usually handled by local authorities. But the Department of Justice chose to prosecute the case instead, saying the case was a federal matter because the New York Police Department takes federal dollars and the cruiser was "an instrument in interstate commerce." What’s more, the charges the pair face carry stiff sentences and are typical of prosecutions involving violent drug dealers.

The Justice Department has emphasized that the defendants are practicing attorneys who have a special obligation to uphold the rule of law.

Posted by:Besoeker

#6 ^SteveS for Snark of the Day?

Posted by: Glenmore 2021-07-20 13:38

#5 Perhaps the phrase 'criminal lawyers' does not mean what we think it means.

Posted by: SteveS 2021-07-20 11:00

#4 The Justice Department has emphasized that the defendants are practicing attorneys who have a special obligation to uphold the rule of law.

Where's the NY Bar on this one? I'd think a suspension of their licenses would be fitting, at a bare minimum, until the trial when they should both be disbarred on conviction.

Posted by: Raj 2021-07-20 10:55

#3
Stop and think about the $200,000,000+ in student loans that they or mommy and daddy have to still pay back WITHOUT a law license to help. I'm hoping for a convicted and disbarred due to Felony Conviction. You just have to Love the Karma.

Posted by: NN2N1 2021-07-20 10:06

Posted by: Spirt Guelph7332 2021-07-20 01:44

#1 Case to be thrown out. Everyone knows Bud Lite is non-flammable.

Posted by: Besoeker 2021-07-20 01:42

00:00