The Nuclear Resister

Credit for time served; Also, powerfully written legal brief filed with the court by attorney Roger Hunko

Fr. Steve Kelly, SJ was given a 60 day sentence on March 20 by Judge Settle for violating conditions of supervised release put in place at the end of his prison sentence for the Disarm Now Plowshares action. It’s expected he will be released in 9 days, since he’s been held in custody since a Good Friday arrest at Lockheed Martin in California, and gets credit for most of the time served. Then his Disarm Now Plowshares file will be closed. [later note: Kelly is scheduled for release on May 24.]

Attorney Blake Kremer, part of the legal team for the Disarm Now Plowshares, reports that there were eloquent statements in court made by Steve and supporters. Kremer also forwarded this powerful legal brief written and filed with the court for today’s hearing by Steve’s standby counsel for the Plowshares trial, Roger Hunko (also available here):

photo by Ted Majdosz

from a report by Art Laffin

May 17th marked the 100th day of the hunger strike of Guantanamo prisoners, with protests and vigils around the world calling for an end to indefinite detention, torture and the closing of Guantanamo.  In Washington, D.C., a noon-time vigil on Pennsylvania Ave. in front of the White House brought the hunger-strikers urgent plea for justice to President Obama.

Shortly after the vigil ended, fourteen people, most of whom are members of Witness Against Torture (WAT), walked onto the White House sidewalk in the “picture postcard” area and held a nonviolent witness. A huge banner was unfurled: “Immoral, Illegal, Ineffective — No Torture, No Guantanamo.”

Attorney Bill Quigley with Transform Now Plowshares members Greg Boertje-Obed, Sr. Megan Rice and Michael Walli outside the Knoxville courthouse before the first day of trial

THE PERSECUTION OF THE OAK RIDGE THREE

from Counterpunch

by Fran Quigley

In just ten months, the United States managed to transform an 82 year-old Catholic nun and two pacifists from non-violent anti-nuclear peace protestors accused of misdemeanor trespassing into federal felons convicted of violent crimes of terrorism.  Now in jail awaiting sentencing for their acts at an Oak Ridge, TN nuclear weapons production facility, their story should chill every person concerned about dissent in the US.

Here is how it happened.

A circle of support in front of the courthouse before the first day of the Transform Now Plowshares trial in Knoxville – Michael, Megan, Greg, Greg’s wife Michele and Art.

by Patrick O’Neill

NOTE — During a Thursday morning hearing to decide if Michael, Greg and Sr. Megan would get released pending their Sept. 23 sentencing, the judge, a George W. Bush appointee to the federal bench, was clearly struggling with his decision because it appeared that he might have “no choice” but to remand them to custody because the U.S. Attorney told him a congressional law might require him to do so because the three were found guilty of sabotage — an “act of violence” against the United States. “It is preposterous that Congress would pass a law that would not distinguish between peace protestors and terrorists,” the judge said — and off to jail they went.

Knoxville, TN – In the annals of “Plowshare” lore there was nothing like it. An 83-year old nun, Sr. Megan Rice, and two other “senior citizens” as one defense attorney called Rice and her companions, Michael Walli, 63, and Greg Boertje-Obed, 57, seemed to pass through the midst of what was considered the most secure nuclear weapons facility on the planet.

DEFENDANTS MAY NOT TELL THE WHOLE TRUTH – ONLY THE PART THE JUDGE ALLOWS

Judge Amul Thapar issued rulings on a number of motions before him in the Transform Now Plowshares case scheduled to go to trial on May 7 in federal court in Knoxville, Tennessee.

Thapar’s ruling denies the Plowshares resisters most of the defenses available to them—he ruled out using the necessity defense, any use of the Nuremberg principles, the first amendment, or any testimony about faith, religious or other good motives.