An 83-year-old nun and two other nuclear protesters co.nvicted of breaking into Y-12 National Security Complex and defacing the walls of a uranium processing plant are seeking release from jail even as they await sentencing, the Associated Press reported. Megan Rice, and her accomplices Michael Walli and Greg Boertje were convicted in federal court of interfering with national security federal property.
The trio faces several years in prison, as they appeared in court on Thursday. Their attorneys urged U.S. District Judge Amul Thapar to release them while they await their sentencing on September 23.
In July of last year, Rice, with Walli and Boertje-Obed broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tennessee and spray-painted antiwar slogans, while splashing blood on the outside of the heavily guarded Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility.
Their anti-war group is called 'Transform Now Plowshares."
The New York Times reported that nuclear experts called their actions "the biggest security breach in the history of the nation's atomic complex," and were charged with misdemeanor trespass and "destruction and depredation" of government, which is a felony. They were not discovered for several hours, which embarrassed U.S. officials and prompted security changes at the facility.
Jurors deliberated for 2-1/2 hours on Wednesday before finding them guilty of damaging a defense facility under the sabotage act, which carries a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, and causing more than $1,000 damage to government property, and is punishable by 10 years in prison.
Defense attorneys said the activists had taken part in a symbolic break-in that did not harm the facility. They had no intent to harm it, and the damage cost was overstated.
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