Roger Hunko’s statement to the court on behalf of Steve Kelly

Steve Kelly, SJ will appear in United States District Court, Western District of Washington at Tacoma, before the Honorable Benjamin H. Settle in the matter of Steve’s violation of the terms of his supervised release.

Steve, being arrested at Lockheed Martin, Sunnyvale, Good Friday (2103).

Many of you reading this need no explanation of the reasoning behind Steve’s noncooperation with the terms of his supervised release.  Others might ask why Steve did not simply comply and get on with things; make it easy on himself.  For Steve to do so would be tantamount to cooperating with evil; his deeply spiritually grounded resistance to nuclear weapons knows no boundaries.  Essentially, the court that tried, sentenced and continues to attempt to control Steve holds no moral ground and cannot, therefore, hold any real control over him (other than its ability to continue to bring him into court and hand down sentences, as it will do on Monday).  These physical applications of control are meaningless to a person of such deep spiritual grounding.  Steve truly is untouchable; beyond reproach.  The system that continues with the threat of use of nuclear weapons is morally and spiritually bankrupt, in addition to being illegal under international humanitarian law.  The courts of this land that do not allow defendants like Steve (and other nuclear resisters) to mount reasonable defenses in their cases are NOT doing justice; rather they are defending the indefensible actions of a morally bereft government.

A number of attorneys have given of their time and energy to defend the actions of nuclear resisters.  Roger Hunko is one of these people; Roger was Steve’s standby counsel in the Disarm Now Plowshares trial.  Roger has written some beautiful and powerful words on Steve’s behalf, which are contained in the following statement for Judge Settle’s consideration in tomorrow’s hearing.

With Thanks and In the Spirit of Resistance,

Leonard

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Case 3:10-cr-05586-BHS Document 258 Filed 05/18/13

The Honorable Benjamin H. Settle

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT WESTERN DISTRICT OF WASHINGTON AT TACOMA

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA Plaintiff vs. STEVEN KELLY, Defendant

NO. 10 5586 BHS

DEFENDANT’S DISPOSITION MEMORANDA

__________________________________________

Father Steve Kelly comes before this Court on a violation of his Supervised Release.  The violation is a single count of his failure to report as directed in the original sentence. At the time of his sentence he informed the court that because of his conscience he could not comply with the supervised release provision of his sentence. As a result he did not report.

The sentence of Father Kelly did not come from a desire to commit evil, but to prevent evil. He and his colleagues wanted to peacefully protest our government’s proliferation and maintenance of the World’s largest nuclear weapon arsenal and the most advanced method of deployment. All in violation of international treaties and law. To that end Father Kelly and four comrades in peace cut through the fence at Bangor, Washington. The five committed participants traversed the distance to the area where the nuclear warheads for the missiles were stored. Supposedly Bangor is one of the most secure facilities in the world for storing such weapons of mass destruction. They were able to cut through two more fences without being detected and managed to put up a Plow Shares banner condemning the proliferation of nuclear weapons within feet of the igloos where the warheads were suspected to be stored. It was only after this prolonged journey that the Marines designated to secure the weapons arrived. Even though two of the committed peace activist were octogenarians and the rest were either in or close to their sixties. One of the five was taking nitroglycerin to prevent a heart attack. They were arrested, bags put over there heads and months later charged.

The five represented themselves with stand by counsel. I was standby counsel for Father Kelly. A task I am grateful to the Court for giving me the opportunity to meet this man and to participate in an attempt to assist him in his fight against nuclear weapons.

Father Kelly never denied what he had done. He was arrested while attempting to finish a prayer next to the weapons of mass destruction. He did not deny his purpose. He did not deny why he did what he did. His defense was that he was doing what was morally required to put his government and the general population on notice that the possession and deployment of such non discriminate weapons was a violation of international law and also the higher law of nature. He was not allowed to present that defense. He, of course, was convicted which he anticipated. At sentencing he informed the Court that he could not submit to the supervised release conditions because he felt he was doing the morally responsible acts.

He was arrested for failure to report on March 29, 2013. He has been held on a Federal detainer since that time.

At his first appearance he attempted to admit the violation, but Magistrate Creatura, deferred a finding till Your Honor could hear the matter. Father Kelly does not deny the allegation. He only avers that his conscience will not allow him to submit.

I was appointed to represent him on his supervised release violation

I have been practicing law for the last thirty four years. Almost exclusively in the field of criminal defense. I have never represented a man like Father Kelly, wholly devoted in trying to prevent an evil from hurting his fellow man, whether American or anyone else. A man totally committed to peaceful resistance. A man who is willing to risk his life to show others the right path.
In deciding what I could do to represent a totally conscientious person in a violation where he fully admitted both at sentencing and by his actions afterward that he would not submit to supervised release, I was at a loss. I then thought of going back to philosophers, intellects and others to see what defines a conscientious person.

I came up with the following:

1. Never do anything against conscience, even if the state demands it. Albert Einstien

2. Justice is a temporary thing that must at last come to an end; but the conscience is eternal and will never die. Martin Luther

3. The person that loses their conscience has nothing left worth keeping. Izaak Walton

4. Laws control the lesser man. Right conduct controls the greater one. Justice Louis D. Brandeis

5. Pity the poor, wretched, timid soul, too faint hearted to resist his oppressors. He sings the songs of the damned, ‘I cannot resist, I have too much to lose, they might take my property or confiscate my earnings, what would my family do, how would they survive?’ He hides behind pretended family responsibility, failing to see that the most glorious legacy that we can bequeath to our posterity is liberty! Old Chinese Proverb

6. Non-violent resistance implies the very opposite of weakness. Defiance combined with non-retaliatory acceptance of repression from one’s opponents is active, not passive. It requires strength, and there is nothing automatic or intuitive about the resoluteness
required for using non-violent methods in political struggle and the quest for Truth. W. Vaughn Ellsworth

7. A ‘No’ uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a ‘Yes’ merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble. Mahatma Mohandas K. Gandhi

8. Any attempt to replace a personal conscience by a collective conscience does violence to the individual and is the first step toward totalitarianism. Mahatma Mohandas K Gandhi

9. What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow; that is the whole Law: all the rest is interpretation. Hermann Hesse

10. In no sense do I advocate evading or defying the law … That would lead to anarchy. An individual who breaks a law that his conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law. Martin Luther King

11. The means by which we live have outdistanced the ends for which we live. Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men. Martin Luther King

12. Live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart. Trouble no one about his religion. Respect others in their views and demand that they respect yours. Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life. Seek to make your life long and of service to your people. Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide. Always give a word or sign of salute when meeting or passing a friend, or even a stranger, if in a lonely place. Show respect to all people, but grovel to none. When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light, for your life, for your strength. Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason to give thanks, the fault lies in yourself. Abuse no one and no thing, for abuse turns the wise ones to fools and robs the spirit of its vision. When your time comes to die, be not like those whose hearts are filled with fear of death, so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time to live their lives over again in a different way. Sing your death song, and die like a hero . Tecumseh

I then compared these words to what Robert Oppenheimer said on his successful test of the first atom bomb. “I am Vishnu destroyer of worlds.”

But of course the Court must decide what to do with Father Kelly. In doing so it must consider U.S.C. 18 § 3553. The most appropriate section in this case being Section 6. The need to avoid unwarranted sentence disparities among defendants with similar records who have been found guilty of similar conduct.

Under this cause number the Court has already sentenced Susan Crane on a similar violation. The Court ordered her to do 60 days in custody and terminated her supervised release. A similar result should be ordered in this case.

Dated this 18th day of May, 2013.
/s/ Roger A. Hunko
Attorney for Father Steven Kelly

###

Editor’s Note: You can read this entire document as entered into the official public record at https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzRG1crlv8YMcGpaQ2w4VEtKaVE/edit?usp=sharing

Support vigils and court date for Steve Kelly!

Dear Friends,

On March 29th, Good Friday, Steve Kelly was picked up by the police while demonstrating at the Lockheed Martin missile plant in Santa Clara, CA.

In keeping with his spirit of ‘non cooperation’ an arrest warrant was floating around with his name on it for not reporting to the probation office after his release from SeaTac in June 2012. This current incarceration has him once again at the SeaTac Detention
Center outside of Seattle.

If you want to be in touch with him, his address is:

Steve Kelly, SJ #00816-111
FDC SeaTac
P.O. BOX 13900
SEATTLE, WA 98198

Steve will be going to Federal Court in Tacoma on Monday, May 20th at 11:30 AM – at that time a judge will determine if he is to serve additional time for non cooperation with his June release conditions.

At 10:30, an hour before his court date, there will be a support vigil in front of the court house; all who can attend are encouraged to do so. Following the vigil, at 11:15, you are invited to sit in the court room with Steve.

On Sunday, May 19th, there will be a vigil in front of the SeaTac Detention Center. As in the past, when Steve was there for 15 months,
our presence, and message was very helpful to him. Anyone leaving from Tacoma and desiring carpool information can call me at 253-779-8362. We will be gathering in front of the Tacoma Catholic Worker [1417 S G St Tacoma WA 98405] at 11:45 and leaving at Noon for SeaTac. Hope you can make it.

Wishing you well,

Joe [Power-Drutis]

 

Washington State: The Nuclear State

Jinsung Kim, a student at the University of Washington, produced this video focusing on Washington State’s nuclear weapons legacy as a class project.

It begins with Dr. John Findlay, UW Dept. of HIstory professor discussing the history and impact of the Hanford Nuclear Reservation, and then moves on to the Trident ballistic missile submarines based at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor in Kitsap County.  Interviews with Fr. Steve Kelly (of the Disarm Now Plowshares action) and Senji Kanaeda (a Nipponzan Myohoji Buddhist Monk) provide perspectives on Trident and nuclear weapons issues.  There is also footage of the Pacific Life Community vigil and nonviolent direct action at the Main Gate of the Bangor submarine base on March 4, 2013.

Please note that there is at least one error in the video: Lynne Greenwald was unable to give an interview not because she was in prison – she was not in prison at the time the video was being made – but because of her work schedule.

Can the law and justice ever meet?

Can the law and justice ever meet?

By Michele Naar-Obed

Following on all that has been reported about the Transform Now Plowshares action and trial I wanted to add a couple more observations and what I think are inspired insights. I submitted these insights along with a few other questions to the legal and support team and now want to share them with our wider Catholic Worker community. They are given here in the form of excerpts from a letter I sent to the legal team:

It struck me that the govt or the corporations felt so threatened by Megan and Michael going to those congressional hearings that they tried to criminalize that by saying they violated a condition of release. I think this is very telling. Remember Greg’s closing statement with regards to the “Good Samaritan” parable. He said we have heard the cries of the people on the side of the road and there are many of them. We are trying to raise their voices, their voices and stories of oppression of fear of living under the threat of the bomb, of feeling the depredation and loss of life-giving resources plundered and squandered for the benefit of a few.

The prosecution badgered them about going to far. Why can’t they protest from inside the new hope building or the side of the road he asked over and over again?

They couldn’t because they needed to bring the voices of all those people on the side of the road directly to the beast. They marked the beast, they tapped on the shoulder of the beast and begged the beast to listen. Then they went to the people who feed the beast, the lawmakers and policy makers and begged them to listen too. They were begging them to stop feeding the beast with more money. And then they went to the courtroom to the jury in hopes of convincing them that they did this for them too. Megan tried so hard to get them to recognize the spiritual death so many of the workers have undergone by protecting that beast and remaining silent even as they watched their brother and sister workers get sick and die.

I really think that these are the things that the shadow government run by these trillion-dollar corporations want to silence. criminalizing them and locking them up is their attempt to assassinate the Word made flesh and carried by the Holy Spirit by the hands and feet of Megan, Michael and Greg and all of us who are supporting them. They are hoping that by criminalizing them especially by labeling them as terrorists, they will be able to defame their character and take away their credibility. But they must know that they have to do that to all of us because you can’t take away the Spirit as long as there are a few people to receive Her and welcome her. That’s what Catholic Workers do.

And now we are asking you, the lawyers in particular to bring this message into the judges chambers. This is where justice and the law has the opportunity to meet and this is where justice and mercy might kiss (I think that is from Micah). As you continue to analyse what happened in that courtroom and where you will go next with the law in this last phase of sentencing, I’m hoping you will consider these thoughts that the Spirit raised with me in the night.

Happy Mothers Day, Peace, Michele

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Editor’s Note: Read Judge Thapar rules: Convicted Y-12 protesters must stay in jail until sentencing at the Transform Now Plowshares blog.

Transform Now Plowshares: Let the trial begin!!!

Dear Friends,

As I write this our dear friends Megan Rice, Michael Walli and Greg Boertje-Obed of the Transform Now Plowshares are in the thick of the second day of their trial in Federal District Court in Knoxville, Tennessee.  Yesterday was jury selection. Today they get down to the real business at hand.

Bix travelled back to Knoxville to be with them, and based on the photo I saw of him whooping it up with Sr. Megan during yesterday’s street celebration, it should be quite a week.

This trial is NOT – although one might not know it from nearly any of the media coverage – about lax security at a major nuclear weapons production facility (although one might ask questions about that).

• It is about the total lack of security provided by the continued pursuit of nuclear weapons.
• It is about the fundamental immorality of weapons that kill indiscriminately and on a massive scale, and leave a continuous trail of death far into subsequent generations.
• It is about the fact that it is impossible for nuclear weapons and true human security to co-exist.  Nuclear weapons are against all that is human, and do not fit within any moral framework.
• It is about why the United States continues to consider itself above our own laws, international humanitarian law and treaty obligations.
• It is about asking questions such as how does the continuing buildup (by the US) of its nuclear weapons infrastructure along with the production of new weapons systems (example: the new generation of ballistic missile submarines in research and development) move us towards a nuclear weapons free world???
• It is about whether we will we choose to base our nation (and our world) on a culture of peace or a culture of violence?  And nuclear weapons are truly the taproot of violence.

The Transform Now Plowshares has a website/blog where you can keep up with trial developments on a daily basis.  While you’re at the  blog you can sign up (see the upper right hand column) to get updates by email.

Let’s hold Greg, Megan and Michael and all who support them through their trial in our thoughts and prayers this week and beyond.

In Peace,

Leonard

Transform Now Plowshares URL: http://transformnowplowshares.wordpress.com/

Prophets of Oak Ridge: The Fruit Of Justice Is Peace

Dear Friends of Plowshares,

Our Friends Megan Rice, Greg Boertje-Obed and Michael Walli (of the Transform Now Plowshares) will begin their trial next Tuesday, May 7th in US District Court, Knoxville, Tennessee for their July 28, 2012 Plowshares action at the Y-12 uranium facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

The Washington Post did a major feature article in last Sunday’s edition about Transform Now Plowshares.  The article titled “The Prophets of Oak Ridge” is well worth reading.  You can also view a Photo Gallery containing additional photos at The Washington Post.

National Public Radio also did a piece on today’s All Things Considered. Of course, just like most every other media outlet, they focused on the lax security at Y-12 rather than the issues raised by Transform Now Plowshares.  Listen to Trial Begins For Protesters Who Broke Into Nuclear Complex.

Artwork from The Washington Post article on Transform Now Plowshares

Judge Amul Thapar issued a gag order ruling out using the necessity defense, any use of the Nuremberg principles, the first amendment, or any testimony about faith, religious or other good motives.  Not much left, is there?!?!?!  The judge will, however, allow the defendants to speak to their intent, which is good considering they have been charged under a little used sabotage law which includes, as an element of the charge, the intent to injure the national defense of the United States.  Geeeez!!!!!

May we all be in solidarity with and pray for these brave souls as they attempt to put the real culprits on trial next week – NUCLEAR WEAPONS and the policies of the US Government that continues to threaten other nations with the use of nuclear weapons.  May true justice be done.

The Fruit of Justice is Peace.

Leonard

Charges Against Transform Now Plowshares: Two Down, Two To Go

Greetings Friends of Plowshares,

It’s two down and two to go as it pertains to charges against the Transform Now Plowshares!!!  The update from Ralph Hutchison (read below) is good news.  Who knows; maybe they will drop that silly “sabotage” charge next.

Peace,

Leonard

*********************

Government drops one count against Transform Now Plowshares activists.

[April 25, 2013 • Knoxville, TN]  Since entering the Y12 Nuclear Weapons Complex in July of 2012, Greg Boertje-Obed, Megan Rice and Michael Walli have faced four charges ranging from trespass to sabotage. In November, the government dropped the trespass charge. Today, April 25, the government dismissed a second charge:

COUNT TWO

The Grand Jury further charges that, on or about July 28,2012, within the Eastern District of Tennessee, the defendants, MICHAEL R. WALLI, MEGAN RICE, and GREG BOERTJEOBED, aiding and abetting each other, at a place within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States, namely, the United States Department of Energy, National Nuclear Security Administration, Y-12 National Security Complex, did willfully and maliciously destroy, injure, and attempt to destroy and injure, a structure, and other real and personal property within the Y-12 National Security Complex, in violation of Title 18, United States Code,ı Sections 1363 and 2.

The charge carried a possible sentence of 5-10 years.

With this dismissal, two charges remain:

• one count charging damage to federal property in excess of $1,000 which carries a maximum ten year sentence

• one count under what is commonly known as the sabotage act charging intent to injure the national defense of the United States which carries a maximum 25 year sentence.

Jury selection for the Transform Now Plowshares case is scheduled for 1:00pm on Monday, May 6 in Knoxville, Tennessee. The trial is scheduled to begin on Tuesday, May 7, 2013 before Judge Amul Thapar.

The defendants are awaiting a ruling, due within a week, from Judge Thapar on what testimony, if any, will be withheld from the jury during the trial. Judge Thapar heard testimony from former Attorney General Ramsey Clark on Tuesday, April 23, and received written testimony from several other experts, including Col. Ann Wright (USAF, ret) Dr. Ira Helfland (past president of Physicians for Social Responsibility) and Bishop Thomas Gumbleton of the Archdiocese of Detroit.