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A New York attorney who set fire to an NYPD van with a Molotov cocktail during George Floyd’s 2020 protests pleaded for compassion and lenient punishment by blaming her vandalism on “unprocessed trauma” and alcohol.
Urooj Rahman, 33, a human rights lawyer, along with Colinford Mattis, 35, pleaded guilty to conspiracy, sentenced to no more than five years in prison in June for the destruction.
Federal prosecutors agreed to recommend 18 to 24 months in prison in exchange for the plea.
Rahman is now pushing for that sentence to be commuted to time he is serving after spending 28 days in a Brooklyn federal prison before paying $250,000 in bail.
According to court documents, Rahman’s lawyers said on Sept. 9 that Rahman drank vodka “on an empty stomach” and her condition was described as “quite inebriated” before they set the van on fire, according to police. New York Post.
Lawyers wrote in a file to Brooklyn Federal Court Judge Brian M. Cogan, “Throwing the Molotov cocktail was a way to express anger at those police officers across the country for whom black lives didn’t matter. It was a protest that was meant not to expose others to harm.’
Urooj Rahman (pictured), 33, along with Colinford Mattis, 35, pleaded guilty to conspiracy, sentenced to no more than five years in prison in June for destruction
According to court documents, Rahman’s lawyers said on Sept. 9 that Rahman drank vodka “on an empty stomach” and her condition was described as “quite inebriated” before they set the van on fire.
That wasn’t Rahman’s only excuse. Her lawyers added that she had suffered “early trauma” from living as a Muslim in New York City after 9/11; suffer from ‘abusive relationships’ and ‘injustices she has experienced here and abroad’.
Among the times cited were times when Rahman helped refugees in Turkey and Greece, and low-income New Yorkers who were threatened with eviction.
However, an interview prior to the chaos lets Rahman speak clearly in favor of her cause and not with her speech at all.
Rahman and Mattis initially faced life imprisonment when they were first arrested in 2020, which was then reduced to 10 years in October 2021 before the plea.
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Urooj Rahman, 33, (left) walks out of Brooklyn federal court on Thursday after signing a plea deal to set fire to an NYPD van during the 2020 George Floyd protests
Colinford Mattis, 35, (right) leaves Brooklyn federal court on Thursday after signing a plea deal for setting fire to an NYPD van in 2020
Urooj Rahman grabbed a Molotov cocktail made from a Bud Light bottle the night she used a similar device to set fire to a NYPD van
The pair were arrested amid clashes between protesters and police on May 30, 2020, amid a burst of demonstrations following the murder of Floyd by Minnesota police officer Derek Chauvin.
Surveillance cameras recorded Rahman throwing a Molotov cocktail into a parked police vehicle and setting fire to the interior. No one was injured in the attack, but the car was badly damaged.
Officers arrested the lawyers a short time later, saying they found a lighter, a Bud Light beer bottle filled with toilet paper and a gas tank in the back of a minivan driven by Mattis, a corporate attorney. Prosecutors allege that the lawyers planned to disperse and throw other Molotov cocktails.
An NYPD van that was set on fire in Brooklyn during the May 2020 George Floyd protests. It’s not clear if it’s the same vehicle the lawyers hit with Molotovs
A burned-out NYPD van after the May 2020 protest. It’s not clear if it’s the same vehicle the lawyers hit with Molotovs
Urooj Rahman, (left) and Colinford Mattis (right) after their 2020 arrest for bombing an NYPD van during George Floyd protests in New York City
NYPD union boss Patrick Lynch, (center) has condemned Rahman and Mattis’ short sentences
Initially, Mattis and Rahman were looking at a mandatory minimum count of 40 years and life imprisonment when they were arrested in 2020.
The government’s prosecution plan then shifted to a 10-year sentence with terrorism amplification, based on an October 2021 federal court hearing in Brooklyn, where Mattis and Rahman each pleaded guilty to possessing and making a destructive device.
The couple have spent most of the past two years under house arrest.
The news of the lawyers’ reduced sentences was met with outrage by Patrick J. Lynch, president of the New York City Police Benevolent Association, who said the light sentences will encourage “anti-police radicals.”
The judge must deny this request. There is absolutely no justification for lowering the penalty for a terrorist attack against the police,” Lynch told Fox News.
“It’s bad enough that these dangerous criminals have been allowed to sit at home for the past two years,” Lynch said.
“Giving a punishment under the guidelines would give the green light to other anti-police radicals who try to advance their cause by force.” The judge must deny this request.’
U.S. district judge Brian Cogan said he was not bound by the sentencing recommendations under the new plea deal, but would consider them when he charges the two attorneys this fall.