Oak Ridge Today

Former U.S. attorney general, civil rights participant can testify at Y-12 protester hearing

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Y-12 Plowshares Protesters

Pictured above are the three anti-nuclear weapons protesters who broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex on July 28. From left, they are Michael Walli, Megan Rice, and Greg Boertje-Obed.

A federal judge will allow a former U.S. attorney general and civil rights sit-in participant to testify at a Tuesday motions hearing for the three anti-nuclear weapons activists who broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex in July.

The two witnesses are former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark and civil rights sit-in participant Robert Booker.

The three anti-nuclear weapons activists are accused of cutting through three fences in the high-security Protected Area at Y-12 on July 28 and splashing human blood and spray-painting messages on the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility, where most of the nation’s bomb-grade uranium is stored. [Read more…]

Y-12 protesters submit witness list, want extra time for jury questioning

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Y-12 Plowshares Protesters

Pictured above at U.S. District Court in Knoxville are the three anti-nuclear weapons protesters who broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex on July 28. From left, they are Michael Walli, Megan Rice, and Greg Boertje-Obed.

The three protesters who broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex in July want to call a retired bishop, a doctor, a former U.S. attorney general, a civil rights leader, and a retired military officer and diplomat as witnesses in a Tuesday hearing and May 7 trial in Knoxville.

The proposed witnesses include former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, civil rights sit-in participant Robert Booker, doctor Ira Helfand, retired Col. Mary Annette Wright, and retired U.S. Catholic Bishop Thomas Gumbleton.

The three protesters—Greg Boertje-Obed, Megan Rice, and Michael Walli—also want six hours, and not 1.5, to question prospective jurors for their May 7 trial in U.S. District Court. [Read more…]

Judge recommends against dismissing Y-12 protester charges, says weapons work not a war crime

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Transform Now Plowshares

The three anti-nuclear weapons activists pictured above allegedly cut through fences and vandalized a high-security building at the Y-12 National Security Complex in July and now face federal charges of property destruction, property depredation, and injuring national defense premises. From left to right the three are Michael R. Walli, Megan Rice, and Greg Boertje-Obed. (Submitted photo)

The charges against three protesters accused of breaking into the Y-12 National Security in July should not be dismissed, a federal judge recommended Wednesday.

U.S. Magistrate Judge C. Clifford Shirley Jr. said the three anti-nuclear weapons activists—Greg Boertje-Obed, Megan Rice, and Michael Walli—have argued that the charges must be dismissed because the production, processing, and storage of nuclear weapons at Y-12 is illegal under United States and international law.

The defendants also contend that the production and continuing threat of the use of nuclear weapons is a war crime and violates international law, Shirley said in a 20-page report and recommendation filed in U.S. District Court in Knoxville on Wednesday.

“The defendants assert that their nonviolent actions to expose and disarm symbolically nuclear weapons were legal, reasonable, and justified,” Shirley said. “Thus, they conclude that laws designed to protect property, such as the statutes charges in the instant case, cannot be applied in such a way that they abrogate the federal and international laws of war.”

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Y-12 protesters say fence hole remains after break-in, officials say it’s repaired

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Hole in Y-12 Perimeter Fence

The Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance says three protesters crossed into the Y-12 National Security Complex through this hole the trio cut in a perimeter fence before dawn on July 28, and OREPA alleges that the hole had not been repaired as of Monday. (Submitted photo)

More than four months after three protesters broke into the Y-12 National Security Complex, a hole that the trio cut in a perimeter fence still hasn’t been repaired, an Oak Ridge group said Wednesday.

In a statement, the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance, which has supported the Y-12 protesters, said two OREPA members went to the nuclear weapons plant on Monday and, after 15 minutes of walking, found the spot where the protesters had cut through an outer fence. It was open from the ground up to a spot about four feet high—a hole large enough for a person to squeeze through, the group said.

But in a statement Thursday afternoon, federal officials said the fence has been repaired.

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Opposed to nuclear weapons work, Y-12 protesters refused to plead guilty

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The Fruit of Justice is Peace Slogan on HEUMF at Y-12

Three anti-nuclear weapons activists who sneaked into the Y-12 National Security Complex on July 28 allegedly splashed human blood and, quoting Proverbs, sprayed paint on the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility. The protesters also hammered the building, causing it to chip, and strung up crime scene tape. (Submitted photo)

The three protesters who vandalized a uranium storage building at Y-12 National Security Complex in July said they would not accept a plea deal from the federal government earlier this year, even though prosecutors threatened to charge them with more serious sabotage crimes.

“We chose to exercise our constitutional right to a jury trial and refused to bow down to their threats,” the trio said in a statement released Wednesday. “We remain convinced that making and refurbishing nuclear weapons at Y-12 is both illegal under U.S. and international law, and it is also immoral. Ultimately, we are required to follow the law of love and our consciences.”

Calling themselves Transform Now Plowshares, the three protesters—Greg Boertje-Obed, Megan Rice, and Michael Walli— allegedly cut through fences at Y-12 before dawn on Saturday, July 28, entered a high-security area where deadly force is authorized, and splashed human blood and spray-painted slogans on the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility, where bomb-grade uranium is stored.

On Tuesday, a federal grand jury in Knoxville returned a new charge against the trio for this summer’s unprecedented intrusion. The new count of injuring national-defense premises carries a prison sentence of up to 20 years, longer than any of the earlier potential penalties.

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Y-12 protesters face new national defense charge, longer prison sentence

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Transform Now Plowshares

The three anti-nuclear weapons activists pictured above allegedly cut through fences and vandalized a uranium storage building at the Y-12 National Security Complex in July and now face federal charges of property destruction, property depredation, and injuring national defense premises. From left to right the three are Michael R. Walli, Megan Rice, and Greg Boertje-Obed. (Submitted photo)

A new federal charge has been added against the three protesters who allegedly cut through fences at the Y-12 National Security Complex in July and splashed human blood and spray-painted slogans on a uranium storage building.

A three-count indictment returned against Greg Boertje-Obed, Megan Rice, and Michael Walli adds a new count of injuring national-defense premises, U.S. Attorney William C. Killian said in a Wednesday morning press release. The new charge carries a longer prison sentence of up to 20 years.

The indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Knoxville on Tuesday supersedes the earlier three-count indictment from August.

The new indictment does not include the earlier trespassing charge. However, it does include the previous charges of property destruction and property depredation. Including all the charges, the protesters, who are opposed to Y-12’s nuclear weapons work, now face jail sentences of up to 35 years and fines of up to $750,000.

[Read more…]