| Leonie Milhomme Brinkema | |
|---|---|
| Born | June 26, 1944 Teaneck, New Jersey |
| Nationality | United States |
| Education | B.A. 1966 M.L.S. 1970 J.D. 1976. |
| Alma mater | Douglass College, Rutgers University, Cornell Law School (also University of Michigan, New York University) |
| Occupation | lawyer |
| Title | United States District Court Judge |
| Term | October 20, 1993 — |
| Predecessor | Albert V. Bryan Jr. |
| Spouse | John Robert Brinkema, Dec. 22, 1966 |
| Children | Robert Aaron Eugenie Alexandra |
| Parents | Alexander Juste Milhomme Modeste Leonie Milhomme |
| Notes | |
Leonie M. Brinkema (born June 26, 1944) is a United States District Court judge, in the Eastern District of Virginia.
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Of Dutch descent, Brinkema was born in Teaneck, New Jersey.[3] She received her B.A. from Douglass College in 1966 and undertook graduate studies in philosophy at University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (1966) and New York University (1967-1969). She earned her M.L.S. at Rutgers University in 1970 and her J.D. at Cornell Law School in 1976.
She worked in the United States Department of Justice Criminal Division's Public Integrity Section 1976–1977, and then the U.S. Attorney's office in the Eastern District of Virginia, Criminal Division 1977–1983. During 1983–1984 she returned to the Criminal Division and worked as a solo practitioner from 1984–1985.
Brinkema was a U.S. Magistrate Judge in the Eastern District of Virginia from 1985 to 1993.
On August 6, 1993, President Bill Clinton nominated Brinkema to a seat on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia vacated by Albert V. Bryan. She was confirmed by the United States Senate on October 18, 1993, and received her commission on October 20, 1993. She took up her post on October 23, 1993.
Brinkema presided over RTC v. Lerma et al. (1995), a case that involved the reproduction of materials owned by the Church of Scientology. Brinkema found for the defendants in most of the claims, and awarded minimum damages of $2,500 for copyright infringement, citing the "increasingly vitriolic rhetoric" of RTC's legal filings.
On October 28, 2003, she sentenced al-Qaeda operative Iyman Faris to twenty years imprisonment for providing material support to the group.
Brinkema presided over the case of 9/11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui.[4] When she asked about the videotapes showing the interrogation of Abu Zubaydah, the government denied their existence.[5] As she sentenced Moussaoui to life in a supermax prison, she told him he would "die with a whimper."[6] She told him: “You came here to be a martyr and to die in a great big bang of glory, but to paraphrase the poet T. S. Eliot, instead, you will die with a whimper. The rest of your life you will spend in prison." Mr. Moussaoui began to respond, but Judge Brinkema continued. “You will never again get a chance to speak,” she said, “and that is an appropriate and fair ending.”[7]
On April 2, 2009, Brinkema weighed in on the question of whether terrorist detainees at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp could be prosecuted in the civilian justice system.[8]
Brinkema's husband is a 1961 graduate of Ramapo High School.[9] He works for the Judicial Conference of the United States.