Brooklyn lawyers who made Molotovs plead guilty to one count each, face years in prison

The two Brooklyn lawyers who made Molotov cocktails and tossed one under a police car last year pleaded guilty to one count each of “possession of a destructive device.”

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On Wednesday, Ms. Rahman, 32, and Mr. Mattis, 34, pleaded guilty in federal court in Brooklyn to one count apiece of possession of a destructive device, as part of a deal worked out between their lawyers and federal prosecutors in Brooklyn…

At the hearing on Wednesday in federal court in Brooklyn, a prosecutor, Ian Richardson, argued that sentencing guidelines would compel the judge to sentence Ms. Rahman and Mr. Mattis to 10 years in prison because of the terrorism enhancement.

Judge Cogan acknowledged that the terrorism enhancement was at issue, but said that he had “no idea where I’m coming out on that.” He also said that Ms. Rahman and Mr. Mattis had agreed not to appeal any sentence of five years or less.

Last July when these two were let out on bail I argued that the federal charges leveled against them, including one charge of “use of explosives during a crime of violence” which carries a 30-year minimum sentence, was too much. Ultimately, what these two did was throw a firebomb at an empty car. They deserve prison time for that but let’s face it, a lot of murderers don’t get 30 years. That said, I’d hate to see the judge go too far in the other direction. The NY Post relates some of the text messages these two were trading that night:

“Go burn down 1PP,” Colinford Mattis wrote to his accomplice, Urooj Rahman, before their arrest on May 30, 2020, prosecutor Ian Richardson said at the plea hearing Wednesday in Brooklyn federal court.

“Bring it to their neck,” Mattis added in the text message and shared a Google Maps location of One Police Plaza with Rahman, Richardson said.

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“1PP” is One Police Plaza, the city’s central police station. Meanwhile, Rahman was similarly excited about the potential for large scale destruction:

“My rock hit someone. A cop of course,” she added in another and included a smiley face emoji, Richardson said.

“Molotovs rollin’,” she added in another. “I hope they burn everything down. Need to burn all police stations down and probably the courts too.”

That’s on top of the interview Rahman gave that night in which she said, “This s–t won’t ever stop unless we f–kin’ take it all down.”

Gothamist reports that they will both be disbarred, which is the right outcome. No one who tried to literally burn down the system should be part of that system. The fact that both of them were adult attorneys who were part of the justice system they wanted to destroy only makes them more culpable. All of that to say, they need to spend some real time in prison, not an 18-month sentence which gets further reduced for good behavior. Their sentencing is scheduled for February.

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