WATERVILLE -- U.S. District Court Judge Leonie Brinkema has been portrayed at times in the national media as a woman more resembling a kindly grandmother than a tough federal judge.

But for the woman who sentenced Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui to life in prison in 2006, appearances may be deceiving.

"I think that's accurate -- but I'm not a grandmother," Brinkema said in an interview Sunday afternoon at Colby College. "I give that appearance because I have gray hair and wear a bun. But I'm as mean as they come.

"I'm a tough, mean grandmother, but I'm not a grandmother. I control my courtroom. The lawyers don't control my court room. I run my courtroom."

Brinkema, 63, was in Waterville on Sunday as the recipient of the Morton A. Brody Distinguished Judicial Service Award.

The award was created in memory of U.S. District Court Judge Morton Brody, a who died in 2000. Brody, who lived in Waterville, taught courses at Colby on the judicial system and was the husband of Associate Dean of Admissions Judith Brody, a Colby College Class of 1958 graduate.

The biennial Morton Brody event honors an outstanding federal or state judge who embodies the same qualities of integrity, compassion, humanity and judicial craftsmanship as Brody exhibited throughout his life, according to a Colby statement.

Brinkema, judge for the Eastern District of Virginia, in Alexandra, said Moussaoui's courtroom antics after the jury's decision to give him life in prison, rather than death by lethal injection, was not going to play well in her courtroom.

"America, you lost," Moussaoui taunted, clapping his hands as he left the courtroom, according to published reports. "I won."

The judge was not amused.

"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," she said. "This is the way the world ends, not with a bang, but with a whimper."

And that was the end of it.

Moussaoui, 37, a Frenchman of Moroccan heritage, would be off to the federal prison in Florence, Colo., where prisoners exhibiting the greatest security risk are sent.

"I was never angry at the jury's verdict," she said. "And I was never angry at Mr. Moussaoui. I made the comment to him after he made his statement only because I wanted him to understand that he had not won any great victory."

Moussaoui is the only person convicted in the United States for his role in the attacks. Nearly 3,000 people died when hijacked passenger jets crashed into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon in Washington D.C., and into a field in Pennsylvania.

Although he was behind bars on Sept. 11, Moussaoui pleaded guilty to terrorism conspiracy. He said he knew in advance of the plan to hijack passenger jets and fly them into the World Trade Center.

He said he was supposed to hijack a fifth plane and fly it into the White House with Richard Reid, known as the shoe bomber.

In her address accepting the Brody Award Sunday night, Brinkema said she would discuss the job of being a trial judge.

"I'm receiving, as I understand it, the award because of what I did as a trial judge in that case, but I think it's broader than that," Brinkema said. "What trial judges have to do is try to balance the equities of the case, try to make sure that the parties get a fair trial, make sure that the process remains rational, that there is decorum, so respect for the court is not lost. "Those are the kinds of things I was concerned about it the Moussaoui case and I am in all of my cases. ... That's what trial judges do."

Brinkema said Moussaoui tried to disrupt the decorum of her courtroom, but did not succeed. She said she worked as a team with the U.S. Marshals Service, the lawyers and the court staff to make sure there was no disruption, and there was none.

She said she was at no time ever intimidated by Moussaoui.

Two members of the U.S. Marshals Service were on hand Sunday with Colby campus security for a panel discussion leading up to the award later in the evening.

Their presence was a matter of course, U.S. Marshal Tom Folan, of Portland, said. No photographs of Brinkema were allowed as part of the security measures, he said. "It's just standard procedure, nothing special," Folan said. "There are a number of judges here today, but there were not threats."

Brinkema was nominated by President Clinton to her current position in 1993.

She has presided over major cases including a ruling in favor of the Washington Post and former Scientologist Arnie Lerma in a lawsuit filed by the Church of Scientology.

She also sentenced truck driver and al-Qaida operative Iyman Faris to 20 years in prison for providing material support in a case involving an attempt to destroy the Brooklyn Bridge.

Doug Harlow -- 861-9244

dharlow@centralmaine.com