"So Heinous, So Infamous"

"My life I give for the freedom of my country," said the note carried in the pocketbook of ember-eyed Lolita Lebroon the bloody day last March when she and three henchmen of Puerto Rico's fanatic Nationalist Party sprayed the chamber of U.S. House of Representatives with pistol bullets, wounding five Congressmen.* Last week Terrorist Lebroon got a much lighter sentence than she apparently expected. Washington's Federal Judge Alexander Holtzoff gave her the maximum for assault with a dangerous weapon: 50 years in prison, with eligibility for parole in 16 years, eight months.

Sentenced to 75 years, with parole eligibility in 25 years, were Lolita's henchmen: Rafael Cancel Miranda, 25, Andres Figueroa Cordero, 29, and Irving Flores Rodriguez, 28. They had also been convicted of a graver offense: assault with intent to kill.

Before the sentencing, Lolita Lebroon was allowed to address the court. Said she: "I love you and I love the world and I love God ... I ask God to forgive you and I forgive you, too." Judge Holtzoff was less willing to forgive. The four conspirators, he snapped, had shown no remorse for their "crime, so heinous, so infamous, so daring and atrocious."

*All five are back at work, but Alabama's Kenneth A. Roberts still wears a brace and walks on crutches.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.