Goldfarb Center Lecture Series

The Honorable Leonie M. Brinkema, who sentenced 9/11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui to life in prison, will receive the 2008 Brody Award Sunday, April 6. Brinkema, a U.S. District Court judge for the Eastern District of Virginia, will deliver the Brody address at 7:30 p.m. in Ostrove Auditorium of the Diamond Building. The public is invited. In 1993 Brinkema was nominated by President Bill Clinton for her current position. She has presided over major cases including ruling in favor of the Washington Post and former Scientologist Arnie Lerma in a lawsuit filed by the Church of Scientology. She sentenced truck driver and al-Qaeda operative Iyman Faris to 20 years in prison for providing material support in a case involving an attempt to destroy the Brooklyn Bridge. In 2006, as she sentenced Moussaoui, she said, You came here to be a martyr and die in a great big bang of glory, but to paraphrase the poet T.S. Eliot, instead you will die with a whimper. The Morton A. Brody Distinguished Judicial Service Award was created in memory of the Honorable Morton Brody, a U.S. District Court judge who passed away in 2000. Brody, a Waterville resident, taught courses at Colby on the judicial system, was the husband of Associate Dean of Admissions Judith Brody 58 and was a longtime friend of the College. This biennial event honors an outstanding federal or state judge who embodies the same qualities of integrity, compassion, humanity and judicial craftsmanship as Judge Brody exhibited throughout his life