Ted Poe: “as a former criminal court judge, I always thought it was necessary and important at sentencing to let the defendant…”

“as a former criminal court judge, I always thought it was necessary and important at sentencing to let the defendant know and the victim know what society thought of the criminal behavior. I know the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Gohmert) who is here and the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Carter) also did the same thing when they sentenced individuals. Judge William Young of the United States District Court sentenced the so-called shoe bomber who took a shoe and made a bomb out of it and got on an airplane. He sentenced this terrorist and did a similar thing, letting the defendant know what society thought of his criminal behavior. Prior to sentencing, as all judges do, Judge Young asked Richard Reid if he had anything to say. First he admitted his guilt and then, for the record, he pledged his allegiance to Osama bin Laden, to Islam and to the religion of Allah, and defiantly stated in open court, ``I think I will not apologize for my actions,'' and told the Court, ``I am at war with this country.'' Judge Young then delivered the following statement. ``Mr. Richard Reid, hearken now to the sentence the Court imposes on you. Court has found you guilty of all crimes committed and sentences you to first, 3 life sentences, 4, 20 year sentences stacked, which means that is 80 years, 1 30-year sentence and one $2 million.'' He also ordered restitution to the victim and to American Airlines.…”