Michele Naar-Obed, wife of Y-12 protester Greg Boertje-Obed, and supporter Paul Magno, center, listen outside U.S. District Court on Thursday as supporter Bill Bichsel of Tacoma, Wash., talks to the media.
KNOXVILLE—The three protesters who broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex in July and vandalized a uranium storage building will remain jailed while a federal judge considers whether their crimes were violent.
Greg Boertje-Obed, Megan Rice, and Michael Walli were convicted of property depredation and willfully injuring national defense premises on Wednesday. They had a detention hearing Thursday morning.
The question of whether they can be released until their Sept. 23 sentencing depends upon whether their crimes at Y-12 are considered violent, U.S. District Court Judge Amul Thapar said Thursday. If they are, then Boertje-Obed, Rice, and Walli have to be detained, Thapar said.
But if they’re not crimes of violence, then Thapar has to decide whether the trio might flee or pose a threat if they are released.
Thapar asked government attorneys Jeffrey Theodore and Melissa Kirby to submit more information on the defendants such as whether they have previously violated conditions of probation or release. The evidence is due Tuesday.
Also Thursday, Thapar set several deadlines, including a July 29 response deadline, for a motion filed by defense attorneys to acquit the defendants on the most serious charge, the national defense charge. It carries a prison sentence of up to 20 years.
Defense attorneys first asked for an acquittal on that charge on Tuesday, arguing that the government didn’t have sufficient evidence to show Boertje-Obed, Rice, and Walli intended to interfere with the national defense on July 28, when they splashed human blood and spray-painted slogans on the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility, where most of the nation’s bomb-grade uranium is stored.
More information will be added as it becomes available.
Leave a Reply