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Appeals by nuns rejected
Convictions stand in 3 women's actions
at Weld County missile silo
By Jim Kirksey
Denver Post Staff Writer
March 18, Denver--The convictions of three Roman Catholic nuns for raiding a Minuteman III nuclear missile silo in Weld County have been upheld by the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
A three-judge panel rejected the nuns' appeals of their April 2003 convictions for obstructing national defense and damaging government property.
One of the nuns, Sister Jackie Marie Hudson, 70, has already served her 30-month sentence and was released from prison this month.
Sister Ardeth Platte, 68, and Sister Carol Gilbert, 57, are still serving their terms of 41 and 33 months, respectively.
The Dominican nuns had appealed on the grounds that the evidence at their federal district court trial was insufficient to support the convictions; the court improperly denied their request for a good-faith jury instruction and other instructions; and the term "national defense" was overly broad and vague in instructions to the jury.
In rejecting the defense arguments, the circuit court affirmed the sentences handed down by U.S. District Judge Robert Blackburn.
The nuns were charged after entering the grounds of the missile silo northeast of Greeley early Oct. 6, 2002. They cut two gate chains and a fence, then symbolically tapped hammers on the rusted railroad tracks used to transport the missile. They also drew six crosses on the 110-ton concrete silo dome with their own blood.
When military riflemen arrived after an alarm sounded, they found the nuns singing and praying.
Hudson is temporarily serving her probation in the state of Washington, pending the ruling on her appeal. She may now have to return to Colorado.
Hudson has refused to pay the $3,080 restitution ordered by the court because doing so would violate the principle of her protest. That refusal could result in her being returned to prison.
The nuns' attorneys didn't return telephone calls Thursday.
See also:
Carol Gilbert, Jackie Hudson and Ardeth Platte,
2003 Nuclear-Free Future Resistance Award recipients
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