Firebomb plea deal
2 yrs. for cop-car att’ys
The two radical lawyers who firebombed an empty police vehicle amid a violent May 30, 2020, protest in Brooklyn have struck a new plea deal that could limit their prison terms to two years, court documents show.
Colinford Mattis and Urooj Rahman reached an “alternative resolution” with Brooklyn federal prosecutors in their case, according to the filing.
Under the new agreement, the firebugs agree to plead guilty to a conspiracy charge, and prosecutors agree to seek a maximum of two years in prison — but a judge could still impose up to the maximum sentence of five years, according to the filing.
The plea will have to be formally approved by a judge.
Prior to the new agreement, federal prosecutors had sought a 10-year sentence under a terrorism enhancement after both defendants copped to one count of possessing and making a destructive device.
In the letter filed Tuesday, the feds noted the federal probation department had determined that the enhancement was unusually punitive given Mattis’ and Rahman’s lack of criminal histories.
“This increase appears to over-represent the maliciousness of the defendants’ intentions in committing the offense, while also negating the defendants’ otherwise law-abiding lives,” the department wrote.
The two were arrested after Rahman tossed a Molotov cocktail at an empty NYPD van outside the 88th Precinct station house in Fort Greene amid citywide uprisings in the wake of the murder by a cop of George Floyd in Minnesota.
Paul Schectman, an attorney for Rahman, said he is happy with the government’s new position.
“We’re deeply pleased that the Eastern District has taken a second look . . . at the case and modified its position,” he told The Post.