Asking Prayers and Justice For Sister Megan and The Transform Now Plowshares -Sentencing Today Feb 18th

Today,2/18/14 is the sentencing of the Plowshares Now group. This valiant trio including Sister Megan Rice, 83, will be sentenced separately beginning at 12 PM. Sister Megan will be sentenced at 4PM.  Judge Thapar has received good council from Berman and the defense that could allow leniency in sentencing. Let us pray for justice and mercy for these three peace and antinuclear activists who are following the leads of conscience and are in no way terrorists. theirs is the way of Christ.

Here is the blog by tnplowshares:

Judge Amul Thapar received a sentencing brief from sentencing law expert Douglas Berman on the eve of the Transform Now Sentencing hearings. Berman’s brief dealt with several questions raised in court at the first session of the sentencing which was disrupted by snow on January 28.

One argument put forward by the defense at the initial hearing was the use of the sabotage law against nonviolent protesters was outside the “heartland” of the law—meaning the law was intended for use against real saboteurs, not in cases like this. The prosecution argued, and the judge appeared to agree, that since the sabotage law was upgraded, it was rarely used against civilians, in fact, it had been used only three times, and all of them were in nuclear weapons protest cases. The logic was “if this is what it is being used for, it must be what it was meant for.” The judge, ignoring the fact that in two of those three cases judges had ruled for the defendants that the case was “outside the heartland,” concurred with the prosecution. Professor Berman disagrees.

The defense attorneys labored into the evening Monday, February 17, and filed their response to Bermans’ brief, noting Judge Thapar now not only has the discretion to provide some relief in sentencing, but has the opinion of an expert who suggests the Transform Now Plowshares defendants need not and should not be treated as though they were terrorists bent on actual sabotage.

You can read the Berman brief here:

Berman Friend Brief for Judge Thapar

And you can read the superb response by the defense team here:

Defendant’s Reponse to Court’s Request for Guidance 2-17-14

Sentencing on February 18 is expected to begin at noon with Michael Walli, followed by Greg Boertje-Obed at 2:00 and Megan Rice at 4:00pm.