from the Transform Now Plowshares
After hearing arguments from both sides during a teleconference sentencing hearing on the morning of September 15, Judge Amul Thapar split the different between the defense’s request for no supervised probation and the government’s request for supervised probation for Sr. Megan Rice, Greg Boertje-Obed and Michael Walli.
In the end, the judge sentenced each to two years of “unsupervised” supervised probation with only three conditions:
* they must not commit any local, state or federal crimes
* they may not enter any U.S. nuclear facility
* they must report any arrests for any reason to their probation officer
There are no other restrictions on their activities. When defense attorneys asked if they retained their first amendment right to protest nuclear weapons at facilities, the judge said, “Absolutely, as long as they don’t enter the facility.”
The judge also declined to reduce or drop the demand for $52,000 in restitution to the taxpayer.
The three have until Friday, September 18, to report to their local probation office.
[Sr. Megan, Michael and Greg had been released from prison in May after their sabotage conviction was overturned on appeal, and today’s resentencing took place for the remaining depredation of property charge.]