Nun Faces up to 30 Years for Breaking Into Weapons Complex, Embarrassing the Feds

[jakeXT]

Nestled behind a forested ridgeline on the outskirts of Knoxville, Tennessee, is the sprawling Y-12 National Security Complex, America's "Fort Knox" of weapons-grade uranium. The complex's security cameras and machine gun nests are designed to repel an attack by the world's most feared terrorist organizations, but they were no match for Sister Megan Rice, an 83-year-old Catholic nun armed with nothing more than a hammer and bolt cutters.

In the dark morning hours of July 28, 2012, Rice and two fellow anti-war activists bushwhacked up to the edge of Y-12, cut through three separate security fences, and sprayed peace slogans and human blood (see below) on the wall of a building that is said to hold enough weapons-grade uranium to obliterate human civilization several times over. They remained inside Y-12 for more than an hour before they were detected.

"The security breach," as the Department of Energy's Inspector General later described it, exposed "troubling displays of ineptitude" at what is supposed to be "one of the most secure facilities in the United States." At a February hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, multiple members of Congress thanked Rice for exposing the site's gaping vulnerabilities. But that didn't deter federal prosecutors from throwing the book at Rice and her accomplices: Greg Boertje-Obed, a 57-year-old carpenter, and Michael Walli, a 63-year-old Vietnam veteran. They now sit in Georgia's Irwin County Detention Center, awaiting a January 28 sentencing hearing where a federal judge could put them in prison for up to 30 years.

In May, the three activists were convicted of willfully damaging federal property and, more seriously, sabotaging national defense material—a charge that precludes them from being released on bail. It was the latest in a string of heavy-handed crackdowns on activists who've dared to engage in vital acts of civil disobedience. In 2011, for example, federal prosecutors charged internet activist Aaron Swartz with 11 violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act carrying a maximum sentence of 35 years after he uploaded millions of papers from the scientific database JSTOR in a ploy to "liberate" publicly funded research; he hanged himself last January. Since September 2012, the journo-activist Barrett Brown has been imprisoned on a 17-count federal indictment related to his work exposing the surveillance of other activists by private government contractors. He faces a maximum 105-year prison sentence.

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/01/nun-megan-rice-sentencing-y-12-nuclear-weapons-security

[SharonAnn]

1. "Orange is the New Black"

[Judi Lynn]

2. That was a real group of desperados, wasn't it? One 83 yr older, one 63, and one 57 yr. older.

Instead of using it as a learning opportunity, the government wants to use them as a lesson to other "law breakers."

Hope, somehow, true justice will be done here, and they will be released. They have pointed out a truth people need to ponder. Does this country truly need to be so lethal? If so, why? Who gains from it?

[struggle4progress]

3. That's a pretty sloppy analysis. There's no reason to expect Rice to get a 30 year sentence, given

the history of plowshares prosecutions

And neither Aaron Swartz nor Barrett Brown has any connection to this

Swartz was a Harvard student who repeatedly broke into a network room at MIT to connect personal equipment to the MIT network in order to access JSTOR contrary to the usage agreement; he turned down a plea bargain, because it would have involved six months of jail time, before he committed suicide; it is a sad story, but he alone bears responsibility for his suicide

Charges against Barrett Brown include threatening a federal agent, identity theft, and concealing evidence; he has claimed he was undergoing heroin addiction withdrawal at the time of his arrest. He seems to be a rather obnoxious rich kid from North Dallas, whose libertarian tendencies are perhaps reinforced by the fact that he blames the federal government for his father's loss of millions in real estate and his parents' divorce. It's propaganda, I think, to claim Brown could go away for 105 years, since it's not very likely: his main problem in court is going to be that there's good evidence he did threaten retaliation against a federal agent and his aggressive self-righteous style, which means he probably won't exhibit any remorse for his alleged criminal acts

[bananas]

4. "multiple members of Congress thanked Rice for exposing the site's gaping vulnerabilities"

I hope the judge takes that into account during her sentencing.

At a February hearing of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, multiple members of Congress thanked Rice for exposing the site's gaping vulnerabilities. But that didn't deter federal prosecutors from throwing the book at Rice and her accomplices

[kristopher]

5. I think an outcome similar to this one from Kansas would be appropriate

http://ncronline.org/news/peace-justice/trial-anti-nuclear-activists-ends-unusual-sentence#.UsJK3aW9kiU.facebook

"I want to do something a little different," Bland continued. "I want to say, I totally understand the argument made about Rosa Parks. I've done a significant amount of research on the civil rights movement, and they all suffered the consequences. ... However, I think the more significant thing is that the world was changed by their actions. I can sit here before you, as a black man, doing justice."

Then Bland announced the sentence, shocking the courtroom.

"I want each one of you to write a one-page, single-spaced essay on each of the following six topics," Bland said. "Your responses will be attached to the court record, which is a public record. They will exist as long as Kansas City exists. My way will give you a chance to say what you want to say." (See sidebar below.)

[bananas]

6. "If you're not getting to anyone else, you're getting to me. I think you're educating, because ..."

"I volunteered to take this case because I've done this before with Mr. Stoever and I find it interesting," Bland said, in reference to the activists he sentenced to jail two years ago. "If you're not getting to anyone else, you're getting to me. I think you're educating, because every time I learn something."