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Eight Sentenced In 1980 Protest At Nuclear Unit

Eight Sentenced In 1980 Protest At Nuclear Unit
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April 11, 1990, Section A, Page 14Buy Reprints
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In a case that seems to bridge the years between the antiwar turmoil of the 1960's and the current easing of the cold war, eight peace advocates were sentenced today for a 1980 protest in which they poured their blood on blueprints at a nuclear weapons plant.

The sentencing was the latest, although perhaps not the last, chapter in the case of the group that calls itself the Plowshares Eight, after the reference in the Bible to the beating of swords into plowshares.

In their protest, one of the best-known antiwar incidents in this country since the Vietnam War, the group also damaged components of nuclear warheads at the General Electric complex in King of Prussia, near here.

All eight, including the Rev. Daniel J. Berrigan and his brother Philip, received sentences equal to the time they had already served in jail before the 1981 trial, at which they were convicted of criminal conspiracy and burglary. The time they had served ranged from five days to 17 1/2 months. Some defendants, citing matters of conscience, had declined to post bail pending appeals of the 1981 verdict. The original sentences, 1 1/2 to 5 years for some defendants and 3 to 10 years for others, were eventually thrown out on the ground the trial judge had been biased.

Watch on Washington

The defendants were told today that they would have to serve 23 months in county jail if they are convicted of any more antiwar activity in the next 23 months, a condition that the defendants said they might not be able to fulfill.

After the sentencing, Daniel Berrigan, who is 68 years old, said: ''I'm going to watch President Bush very closely. It all depends on him whether I go back in the pokey or not.''

Judge James E. Buckingham of Montgomery County Court of Common Pleas expressed sympathy for the defendants, although he said he could not condone their actions. ''The defendants were attempting to make a statement of their deep-felt convictions,'' he said, ''I agree with many of those convictions. We are all concerned about nuclear war.''

Besides Daniel Berrigan, a Jesuit priest from New York City, those sentenced were: Philip Berrigan, a former priest and peace advocate from Baltimore., Molly Rush, 54. director of the Thomas Merton Center in Pittsburgh, an advocacy organization on social issues. John Schuchardt, 50, a peace advocate and lawyer from Madison, Conn. Dean Hammer, 36, a pastoral counselor, from New Haven. The Rev. Carl Kabat, 54, a Roman Catholic priest. Elmer Maas, 54, a peace advocate and former history professor. Sister Anne Montgomery, 69, a Roman Catholic nun.

Mr. Kabat, Mr. Maas and Sister Montgomery were all brought from other prisons, where they were serving time for similar acts of defiance.

Philip Berrigan said in an interview on Monday that despite worldwide lessening of tension, a nuclear war could happen. ''The Soviet Union and the United States are deploying more and more sophisticated first-strike weapons, which are less and less under human control,'' he said.

In court today, Mr. Maas said, ''Beating nuclear weapons into plowshares will not guarantee our survival, but I believe it is our only hope.''

Rejected Plea Bargains

Ten years ago, the Plowshares Eight rejected a plea bargain that would have dropped all charges except some misdemeanors and released them based on the jail time they had served while waiting for the 1981 trial.

The group has argued all along that their actions were justified by the threat of war. They also argued that Nuremberg principles of law gave the citizens of any country the right to interfere with the commission of war crimes or crimes against humanity.

But the judge at the 1981 trial ruled that the group's motives were irrelevant and he did not let them present their justifications. His decision was reversed by the state Superior Court, but the State Supreme court ultimately upheld his decions, and the United States Supreme Court last October refused to hear a further appeal.

An Antiwar Concert Held

Monday night, supporters of Plowshares Eight held a religious service, a candlelight march to another G.E. nuclear missile plant, in West Philadelphia, and an antiwar concert featuring Pete Seeger in a local church.

Today, peace advocates rededicated themselves to their struggle in a ceremony in front of G.E. Aerospace Headquarters in Valley Forge, Pa. Just before the sentencing began, they held a prayer vigil on the courthouse steps.

The incident in King of Prussia, on the morning of Sept. 9, 1980, was the culmination of two years of demonstrations by the Brandywine Peace Community, a local group, against the manufacture of nuclear weapons.

Mr. Schuchardt gave this account in an interview Monday: The group, armed with hammers and about four pints of their blood, distracted a guard to enter the G.E. complex in King of Prussia, a Philadelphia suburb. They found two metal nose cones that protect and guide nuclear warheads to their targets and beat the cones with hammers, causing damage later estimated at $28,000, and poured blood on some nose cones, desks, work orders and blueprints.

A version of this article appears in print on  , Section A, Page 14 of the National edition with the headline: Eight Sentenced In 1980 Protest At Nuclear Unit. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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