Nun, 85, has nuclear plant sabotage conviction overturned

[No Vested Interest]

Last edited Fri May 8, 2015, 05:43 PM - Edit history (1)

As reported on CBS News and other news outlets, a federal appeals court has overturned the most serious conviction of Sister Megan Rice, 85, and two fellow peace activists who broke into a facility storing much of this country's bomb-grade uranium and painted slogans and splashed blood onto the walls. The court upheld another conviction for injuring government property.

At issue was whether the 2012 nonviolent protest injured national security. By a 2-1 opinion, the court held that it did not.
Defendant's attorney said he hopes they will be re-sentenced to time served and released.

[shenmue]

1. Yay!

[rug]

2. Great news!

[hrmjustin]

3. Good!

[okasha]

4. Wonderful!

Time served should cover remaining charges. That prosecution was way over the top. Thanks to the appeals court for slapping it down.

[RobertEarl]

5. 84-year-old activist nun imprisoned in Brooklyn jail hellhole

EXCLUSIVE: 84-year-old activist nun imprisoned in Brooklyn jail hellhole for breaking into nuclear facility, exposing security flaws

http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn/exclusive-nun-84-brooklyn-jail-hellhole-activism-article-1.2083481

Sister Megan’s “cell” is a gymnasium-size dorm unit with 60 bunkbeds for the 111 women, placed a few feet apart. Along one wall are six half-enclosed toilet stalls, six sinks and six shower stalls, and in the middle of the room, 10 dining/work/play tables that can seat 60 women. There is no outdoor courtyard and no mess hall, and food is passed on trays to the women individually through a small window. Little occupational or addiction therapy, no real shot at education other than a GED.

She knew she’d go to prison for breaking into the nuclear facility as a protest, she told me, but believes it’s up to people without children who have nothing to lose to take the risks others can’t afford.

“The question — how can we overcome the secrecy and blatant distortion of the truth of the horrific risks to planet Earth’s survival as we know it as long as we fail to transform the nuclear weapons and energy industries into possible, life-enhancing alternatives, and begin with dismantlement now? We are all equally responsible to stop known crimes, according to our unique gifts and abilities,” Sister Megan said.

The Y-12 Nuclear Facility, which they breached in less than seven minutes, and which can theoretically be breached by real terrorists, houses 100,000 tons of highly enriched uranium. According to Robert Gleason, author of “The Nuclear Terrorist” from Tor-Forge, this uranium is bomb-grade and so explosive that one grapefruit-size chunk, if dropped onto another chunk of the same size from a height of 6 feet, would cause an explosion at least half the size of Hiroshima. The weapons-grade highly enriched uranium held there is, in fact, the most dangerous, destabilizing substance in the world. There is enough uranium to wipe out life as we know it, and yet it was guarded by a few rent-a-cops at this federally financed facility.

[No Vested Interest]

6. Thank you, RobertEarl, for adding this site to Sr. Megan's story.

I had read it when it first came out in the NY Daily News; it gives much greater context to her mission with Plowshares, as well as the conditions under which she is now living.

Well worth the read.