A second disbarred New York attorney was given a year and a day in prison for his role in the 2020 protest in New York City that followed George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis during which he threw Molotov cocktails at police. In late May of 2020, Colinford Mattis, then 35 years old admitted to attacking an unoccupied police patrol car while working for the New York Police Department.
After serving his time in prison, he will be subject to one year of supervised release and ordered to pay restitution to the police department in the amount of more than $30,000. This is according to John Marzulli, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.
As of June 2020, both Mattis and another ex-New York attorney, Urooj Rahman were charged in connection with the incident. Rahman was given a 15-month prison term for her involvement in the incident last November. Federal prosecutors have filed charges against Mattis and Rahman for arson and bombing the police car.
They arrived in Fort Greene, Brooklyn in a tan minivan. According to court documents, during the protest, Rahman approached an empty NYPD vehicle with a broken window and tossed in a makeshift explosive device. According to the evidence, she escaped in Mattis’ van.
Upon stopping the vehicle, police discovered precursor items that could be used to create explosives, such as a lighter, a Bud Light bottle stuffed with toilet paper and a gasoline tank. The allegations against Mattis and Rahman are serious and the defendants themselves are interesting for a number of reasons.
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Both Mattis (a graduate of Princeton University and New York University Law School) and Rahman (a graduate of Fordham Law School) have impressive academic credentials and histories that attest to their commitment to family and community.
Mattis, who is African-American was a community board member and the foster parent to three kids, two of whom he was in the process of adopting in East New York at the time of the protest. During the protest, Rahman, a Pakistani immigrant and attorney was caring for her elderly mother while also living with her roommates and doing her job representing tenants facing eviction at Bronx Legal Services.
In recommending a sentence for Mattis, US Attorney Breon Peace wrote that the case presented a uniquely difficult task citing factors like Mattis’s decision to adopt his foster mother’s children and his entry into a profession that offered a future of gainful and meaningful employment. Follow our official Facebook page to stay up to date on all the newest information.