NYC lawyers who threw Molotov cocktail into police car during George Floyd riots strike plea deal

Two radicalized New York attorneys who tossed a Molotov cocktail in a police car during the George Floyd protests, have struck a plea deal and could get less than two years for the attempted murder of cops.

The leftist duo, Colinford Mattis, 35, and Urooj Rahman, 33, torched an NYPD van in 2020. They admitted to doing so and appeared in a Brooklyn court on Thursday to take a proffered plea deal that could drastically reduce their sentences, according to the Daily Mail.

Both withdrew their earlier guilty pleas to charges of unlawfully possessing Molotov cocktails and pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges punishable by no more than five years imprisonment.

Mattis and Rahman each agreed to pay $30,137 in restitution according to Courthouse News. Assistant U.S. Attorney Ian Richardson noted that one of the “collateral consequences” of the plea deal is “almost certainly their disbarment from the practice of law,” which is mandatory under state law.

“We assembled the device together and I threw it into an unoccupied, damaged police vehicle,” Rahman said in court according to Courthouse News. “I deeply regret my actions and wish I had made different choices.”

“This was in Brooklyn, a few days after George Floyd’s murder,” Mattis recounted. “I wish I had made different and better choices that night, and I have regretted my actions ever since.”

The lawyers were originally facing a minimum of 40 years up to life in prison in 2020 but had that grim prospect reduced to ten years with a terrorism enhancement in October of 2021. Now, federal prosecutors are recommending a prison sentence of 18 to 24 months in the plea deal.

The suspects were taken into custody on May 30, 2020, during demonstrations that followed Floyd’s death while in the custody of Minnesota police officer Derek Chauvin.

Rahman, who is a human rights attorney, was caught on surveillance throwing a Molotov cocktail into a parked police vehicle, setting it afire. No one was injured, but the vehicle was severely damaged.

Both attorneys were arrested shortly after that. Officers said they found a lighter, a Bud Light beer bottle filled with toilet paper, and a gasoline tank in the back of a minivan that was driven by Mattis, who is a corporate attorney. Prosecutors contend the lawyers planned to distribute and throw other Molotov cocktails.

Mattis and Rahman have spent most of the last two years in home confinement rather than behind bars for their crimes.

Patrick J. Lynch, President of the New York City Police Benevolent Association is reportedly furious over the reduced sentences. He charged that the light sentences will embolden “anti-police radicals.”

“The judge must reject this request. There is absolutely no justification for lowballing the sentence for an anti-police terrorist attack,” Lynch told Fox News. “It’s bad enough that these dangerous criminals have been allowed to sit at home for the past two years.”

“Handing them a below-guidelines sentence would give a green light to other anti-police radicals who seek to advance their cause through violence. The judge must reject this request,” he added.

U.S. District Judge Brian Cogan asserted he was not bound by the sentencing recommendations under the new plea deal. However, he said he would take it into consideration when he sentences the two attorneys this fall.

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