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Second Molotov Cocktail Lawyer Sentenced to One Year and a Day in Prison

Second Molotov Cocktail Lawyer Sentenced to One Year and a Day in Prison

“You’re not one of the oppressed. You’re one of the privileged”

EDNY photos okay to use

Colinford Mattis, one of the two ‘Molotov Cocktail Lawyers’ who firebombed a NYC police car during the George Floyd riots, was sentenced this week to one year and a day. His co-defendant Urooj Rahman was sentenced to 15 months in November. Both of them have been disbarred.

Alexander Nazaryan reports at Yahoo News:

Attorney who helped firebomb NYPD car during BLM protests sentenced to prison

In a dramatic hearing on Thursday, a federal judge sentenced a corporate attorney who firebombed a police car during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests to a year in jail, arguing that his prestigious education — boarding school, Princeton, a law degree from New York University — should have rendered him a peacekeeper, not an instigator.

“You’re not one of the oppressed. You’re one of the privileged,” senior Eastern District of New York Judge Brian Cogan told Colinford Mattis, even as he expressed admiration for what the 35-year-old had accomplished in his life.

The sentencing marked the culmination of a two-and-a-half-year legal battle that saw Mattis and his co-defendant, Urooj Rahman, become symbols of the nation’s political tumult and divisions. Spanning two presidential administrations, their case saw competing imperatives play out in public and in the courtroom, as well as in the media.

To the Heritage Foundation they were “terrorists,” while New York magazine allowed that they could be seen as “civil-rights heroes, even martyrs.” The Daily Mail called them “woke lawyers.” In the pages of the New York Times, they were described by a guest contributor as victims of “deeply ingrained injustices.”

Nazaryan’s article then devolves into pure politics, arguing typical left wing talking points about the dangers of far-right extremism and presenting this case a rare example of progressives becoming violent:

In succumbing to anger at a time of profound division, fear and isolation, the two were perhaps no different from many other Americans who see no meaningful outlet for their frustration at what they see as society’s misguided direction. Political violence remains rare, but it is rising. For the most part, the perpetrators are far-right extremists. In this case, the malefactors were progressives, which may be why the case gained national attention.

Professor Jacobson obtained the sentencing documents. In the first, the crime is laid out in plain language:

In the early morning hours of May 29, 2020, just hours after the Minneapolis Third Precinct stationhouse was overrun and burned by rioters, Mattis and Rahman used a separate group chat to discuss the use of weapons and violence to pursue social change. In their discussion, Rahman expressed the view that “all the police stations” and “probably all the courts” “need[ed]” to be burned down.

Over the course of the evening, Rahman and Mattis sent many group chat messages in which they, among other things: discussed the burning of Minneapolis’s Third Precinct; expressed support for burning police stations and One Police Plaza, the headquarters of the NYPD; detailed acts of violence and property damage targeting the NYPD, including the use of fireworks and Molotov cocktails (improvised incendiary devices) to set fires; encouraged others to engage in violence; mocked reportedly injured police officers; and disparaged law enforcement generally, writing “Fuck 12” and referring to police officers as “pigs.”

In this one, you can see that Mattis was seeking a sentence of time served:

In Mr. Mattis’s main submission we explained why a sentence of time served is sufficient in this case. The government’s sentencing submission does not show otherwise. Instead, it largely recycles its analysis of the 18 U.S.C. § 3553(a) factors that it applied to Ms. Rahman. But Mr. Mattis is not Ms. Rahman.

These two got off lucky. Under Trump, the DOJ wanted to send them to prison for decades. They were saved by the 2020 election.

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Comments

Sit at the wrong desk in the wrong building after being invited in by the police and your life is destroyed.

Destroy public property at State approved riots and be lionised as a super hero.

Strange old world we live in eh.

It’s good these goons got prison time AND disbarred! But that should only be a start of the reprisals for these two domestic terrorists!

They firebombed an NYPD car?
And it was a federal case?
Thus the City of New York said “ho-hum”?
What’s wrong with this picture?
Too bad January 6th trespassers didn’t get the same “consideration”.

Year and a day officially makes him a felon. Cold comfort.

    Subotai Bahadur in reply to henrybowman. | January 28, 2023 at 9:36 pm

    Wait for it. What do you want to bet against the regime supporting a commutation of their sentences?

    Subotai Bahadur

      henrybowman in reply to Subotai Bahadur. | January 28, 2023 at 9:56 pm

      Doesn’t matter. If the crime is ELIGIBLE for 1+ years, it’s a felony. Once they’re sentenced to it, it doesn’t matter how long they actually serve.

    Subotai Bahadur in reply to henrybowman. | January 29, 2023 at 2:23 pm

    OK then, a pardon by either Biden on his way out, or Biden’s replacement by non-electoral means. A pardon means the conviction did not officially happen.

    Subotai Bahadur

    SeiteiSouther in reply to henrybowman. | January 30, 2023 at 11:15 am

    Yep. Good luck trying to apply all that legal knowledge at a McDonald’s. Applying to the bar in other states will equally be hard, since they do ask if you have a criminal record.

2smartforlibs | January 28, 2023 at 3:20 pm

Yet the political prisoners are still waiting for their day in court.

ThePrimordialOrderedPair | January 28, 2023 at 3:41 pm

The DA should be charged as an accessory after the fact.

And I am not joking, because that’s exactly what he is.

Besides the time in prison ( not long enough) they need to be fined enough money to pay for a replacement vehicle. The city should put a decal on the replacement vehicle, paid for by Mattis and Rahman.

    Agree with your restitution idea. I would extend that to include no jail or prison time and keep them as practicing attorneys. Require them to do 50% pro-bono work for folks of meager means needing help with wills, etc. And lay a levy upon their earnings for the next 30-years. Take a small portion of earnings and keep buying cop cars over the years.

    Lazing in a cell does nothing good. Take away income mechanism and the hood rats will likely end up as permanent felons doing what hood rats do best. Make it years of punishment that provides some public good.

It’s nice to see that our justice system is fair and impartial. Oh, wait…

Political violence remains rare, but it is rising. For the most part, the perpetrators are far-right extremists. In this case, the malefactors were progressives, which may be why the case gained national attention.

The sad thing is that this is probably not a lie. The writer probably actually believes it.

    henrybowman in reply to Milhouse. | January 29, 2023 at 7:23 pm

    “The sad thing is that this is probably not a lie.”
    And by that, you mean “under the George Costanza criterion,” I hope?

I’m suprised they were sentenced to prison.

Not 100% on this but in Fl. if you get sentenced to 1 year or less you serve that time in county jail. There is no parole or good behavior in county. If your sentence is one year you will serve 365 days. But if you are sentenced to ‘a year and a day’ you go to prison and with ‘good behavior’ you will serve three or four months at most.

“Political violence remains rare, but it is rising. For the most part, the perpetrators are far-right extremists.”
———

I suppose this Dumb-o-crat twit slept though the Dumb-o-crats’ violence committed throughout the 1960’s and 1970’s; the Dumb-o-crats’ insurrection, riots, arson, murders, assaults and synagogue desecrations in year 2020; the Dumb-o-crats’ attacks on pro-life groups’ buildings, etc., etc.

The judge is a wuss. Both of them have been VERY lucky. Hopefully the inmates will give them lots of love.

Steven Brizel | January 30, 2023 at 9:23 am

At least they were disbarred for their conduct. Query-perhaps Giulani should seek reinstatement to the bar based on the contents of the Twitter files with respect to the”consultations” between the Democrats, the FBI and the pre Musk powers that be at Twitter