Posted on 10/05/2007 4:28:14 PM PDT by SmithL
CLINTON — The peace activists — a hospice nurse, a Catholic priest and a minister — said they were following a higher law to protest a crime against humanity: the making of nuclear weapons.
The judge said the laws he took an oath to uphold bound him.
“I’m obligated to follow the law and treat you like any other defendants,’’ Anderson County Criminal Court Judge Don Elledge told the activists.
With that, Elledge today threw the book at Father Tom Lumpkin, Rev. Erick Johnson and nurse Pam Beziat, meting out the maximum 30-day jail sentence for obstructing a roadway.
They were also ordered to pay a $50 fine and court costs for the misdemeanor convictions.
The defendants were convicted in an August jury trial for blocking Bear Creek Road, or the main entryway in to the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge.
That incident occurred in August 2006 during the annual Hiroshima Day protest at the nuclear weapons plant.
“These people went back (during the protest) and intentionally violated the law,’’ Elledge said.
The defendants were hugged by well-wishers after the brief sentencing hearing and before they reported to the Anderson County Jail to begin serving their time.
They will be eligible for release from jail after serving 75 percent of their sentences.
They are all repeat offenders, having been convicted of similar crimes in the past.
Johnson, a Maryville resident, served six months in a federal prison for going uninvited onto Fort Benning, Ga., during a protest.
Lumpkin, who lives in Detroit, has a dozen prior arrests in Michigan for similar protests and was also arrested at the Pentagon.
Beziat, who lives in Nashville, has three prior Anderson County convictions.
“There’s no question in my mind these are good people,’’ Elledge said, “but these are people who have consistently violated the law.’’
I thought this was going to be a joke! LOL
LOL! Strangely, my higher law says to just hang you, but fortunately for you, they uphold the actual laws right here on Earth, and not “higher laws.”
I'm actually glad people like this keep the memory of Hiroshima alive with their antics. They're saying to the world, "If you think it was bad 60 years ago, think about the roasting you'd get today!"
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