Release and Die

            In the posting of 14 August 2011, I stated the following:

            "I am, of course, rather skeptical regarding medical death prognoses for ill prisoners. Susan Atkins was supposed to have only 3 months left when she petitioned the California Parole Board for compassionate release, and she lived another year-and-a-half.  Abdelbaset Ali Mohmet al-Megrahi, the "Lockerbie Bomber," was released on "compassionate" grounds because he was given 3 months to live, and, nearly 2 years later, is still alive and revered as a hero in Libya."

            [Note:  Mohmet al-Megrahi persisted for another 9 months before he stopped wasting the world's precious oxygen.].

           
            Now we have another "compassionate" release of a criminal.  Lynne Stewart, who, who supposedly has less than 18 months, has been sprung, with the approval of the Bureau of Prisons and U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara (who is not particularly reputed to be a wimp).  If indeed she has Stage 4 breast cancer that has metastasized to her lungs and bones, then she will not exceed the 18 month goal line by much if indeed she does reach it.

            My personal view is that she should have been left where she was behind bars (albeit in a specialized prison medical facility).  But if the BOP and the US Attorney are not putting up too much of a fuss at Lynne Stewart's release, then neither will I.  And no, I do not wish cancer upon anyone.

            Judge Koeltl has decreed that Lynne Stewart will be released from prison.  The judicial compassion of Judge Koeltl does not particularly debase my respect for the criminal justice system, particularly when I can confidently foresee Ms. Stewart being held to account, very soon, by a Judge on an Infinitely Higher Bench.

Padlocking Unauthorized Immigration Law Practices

Whatever else might be said about New York Attorney General and gubernatorial wannabe Andrew Cuomo, he is doing a few things correctly, and on that score I applaud him.

Specifically, he has been on the rampage against various business entities that have been illegally providing legal services to aliens regarding their immigration status. Not oblivious to the need to give his name some positive spin, he has posted a news release on his official website to boast of his accomplishments. My partisan political sentiments in the upcoming gubernatorial election notwithstanding, I applaud this. Under the circumstances, I even applaud his posting of the Spanish version of the news release.

One of the 7 entrepreneurs that got pinched in Cuomo's latest outing was Oficina Legal Para Hispanos, P.C., owned by one Geoffrey S. Stewart, Esq. The settlement agreement (styled as an "Assurance of Discontinuance") between the AG's Office and OLPH/Stewart contains some interesting findings and terms. Specifically, Stewart was employing people not licensed to practice law to provide legal services to the "immigrants" (the correct terminology, in most cases, should be "illegal aliens").

The settlement terms include, but are not limited to: (A) Oficina Legal Para Hispanos, P.C will be dissolved, (B) Stewart will permanently cease and desist from practicing immigration law or providing "immigration-related services," and (C) OLPH and/or Stewart shall pay the AG's office $30,000 for their trouble (via wire transfer or certified check -- no personal checks accepted).

Giving credit where credit is due, I thank our AG.

[Geoffrey Stewart happens to be the son of another attorney (ex-attorney) who has gotten into trouble for the "legal services" she provided to aliens. His mom is Lynne Stewart.].

Lynne's (not so) Little Liars

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"I don't object to Gladstone always having the ace of trumps up his sleeve, but merely to his belief that the Almighty put it there."

--- Attributed to British MP Henry Labouchere.




As reported here, here, here and here, a New York City schoolteacher now stands charged with forgery and criminal possession of a forged instrument, in connection with her alleged falsification of an excuse to take sick leave time off from work. The potential maximum jail time is 7 years.

It is very likely that someone has it in for this hapless schoolteacher. In many respects it just isn't fair. I'd say that I sympathize with this schoolteacher, except that I, too, am biased against her.

The schoolteacher in question is Brenna Stewart, who is the daughter of traitor, terrorist collaborator and former attorney Lynne F. Stewart. Brenna is also admitted to practice law.

According to the allegations, Brenna used a fake doctor's note purporting to document that she suffered from a contagious disease in order to substantiate her sick leave request. The physician who wrote the note was not licensed to practice in New York, but is licensed in Florida. This physician is Zenobia Brown, who is Brenna's sister (and Lynne Stewart's daughter). Brenna also submitted a purported doctor's note from a nonexistent physician.

Brenna is also accused of altering a copy of a relative's death certificate in order to substantiate funeral leave.

The leave was used by Brenna to attend mom's trial and sentencing.


As an attorney who (A) is married to a physician; (B) has approved sick leave requests from government bureaucrat subordinates; and (C) has occasionally given broad interpretation to the applicability of sick leave when managing his own personal attendance/absence from work, I shall make the following observations, in no particular order:

A. On one hand, if you take away all of the baggage carried by Lynne Stewart and her family, this then becomes a petty picayune penny-ass case. Can't the prosecutors find something else to do on their time and the public tax dollars? Why can't they just boot Brenna from her position as a teacher (removal proceedings reportedly have been initiated)?

B. On the other hand, a criminal conviction on some of the more serious charges would likely result in Brenna's disbarment as an attorney. Maybe the prosecutors ought to go for it!

C. If Brenna Stewart is taking sick leave, or annual leave, or any other kind of leave from her job, then that means she is not teaching the kids, which is not such a bad thing.

D. And while we're on the subject of Brenna's fitness (or lack thereof) to practice law, what about Brenna's sister Zenobia's fitness to practice medicine? In all of my 20+ years of marriage to a physician, I have yet to even ask my wife to document a nonexistent illness, contagious or otherwise. Because I know what her answer would be.

E. In most governmental offices, a bureaucrat can generally go out sick for a day or two without having to document any illness or medical situation. Why did Brenna have to document the sick leave in the first place? It usually is the chronic abusers of sick leave who are called upon to substantiate their need for sick leave, not the ordinary working bureaucrats.

F. As Charlie Halpin, my Personnel & Labor Relations professor, used to frequently tell us, employees come in to work when they are sick, and stay home when they are well. Charlie acknowledged to us that this was more than a little bit of a facetious and hyperbolic statement, but it does have more than a grain of truth in it. These so-called "mental health days" are frequently a wise use of sick leave for employer and employee alike. I myself functioned better overall when I could take a day off from work once in a while, and I noticed this phenomenon in some of the people I supervised. An employee who crosses the line from boredom to demoralization is not very productive, and his or her production is error-prone and quality-deficient. A "mental health day" now and then can work wonders.

G. Lynne Stewart's tendencies towards duplicity and falsehood seem to have been acquired by her two daughters. Is this genetics or environment?

H. To be sure, Brenna's mere attendance at her mother's trial and sentencing was, in and of itself, an appropriate and admirable act. Being there to give moral support to one's parents does not necessarily amount to condonation of their misdeeds. But Brenna should have been able to figure out, in short order, that the venue she was attending would be the subject of national and international attention in the news media. My father has frequently said to me (even as late as a few months ago) that if one is going to do wrong, one should at least do it right. Applying this maxim to Brenna, people who play sick should at least act sick, and not place themselves into positions where their alleged illness is likely to be questioned! What was Brenna doing in a crowded courtroom if she really had a contagious disease? Did she think that her presence in the courtroom when she was playing sick would actually go unnoticed by the folks back at school?



And so, to paraphrase Henry Labouchere, I do not object to Brenna Stewart taking loose liberties with her sick leave, but merely to her belief that her profligate use of the sick leave privilege should be beyond all question and account.