NAVY WAR COLLEGE: Joyce and Emma Katzberg were convicted in federal court March 1 of disorderly conduct for their banner blockade last October of the Rhode Island institution. After having the planned defense under international law excluded from testimony, defense attorney David Cicilline, a Rhode Island state representative, invited Magistrate Hagopian to exercise justice with his own power to nullify an ostensibly guilty verdict. Hagopian replied simply, "guilty," then stated that he had witnessed in court the most "egregious" of crimes: that being Joyce's inciting her own daughter to acts of unlawfulness. It seemed he was about to pass summary judgment for some other criminal offense when Emma asked to address the court and forthrightly informed the magistrate of her own intents and purposes in participating in the action and that she acted fully under her own power and through her own choice. In a pre-sentencing statement, Joyce addressed the matter by thanking the magistrate for his concern for Emma. Joyce described growing up on Strategic Air Command air force bases with her father, whose job was air traffic control, landing B-52 bombers full of nuclear weapons all day. She described a nuclear "Sword of Damocles" under which she has lived her life. Emma, she explained, was born during the Three Mile Island nuclear crisis and had lived her entire life under the threat of nuclear poisoning. Joyce explained that her actions were as a mother protecting her child and the rest of the world's children and that she was proud to act with her daughter and would continue to dedicate her life to protecting the planet from global annihilation. Hagopian fined Emma Katzberg $25, and her mother Joyce, $100...

ANDREWS AIR FORCE BASE: Greg Boertje-Obed will be released from federal prison at Ft. Dix, New Jersey on April 20, after serving six months for holding a banner last May during a public air show at the Maryland base. While in prison, Boertje-Obed observed U.S. Marshall and prison policies and practices that forced prisoners to endure 30-45 minute waits, standing in t-shirts only in sub-freezing conditions while boarding and leaving airplanes. "I don't recall that treatment 10 years ago [during an earlier experience of federal prison]... Having experienced the conditions twice, I don't hesitate to call it torture and cruel and inhumane punishment." At Ft. Dix, Boertje-Obed and other prisoners were also awakened one night and ordered out to shovel snow during a blizzard. When they were given no gloves, boots or warm clothes, Boertje-Obed and two other prisoners refused and were locked in solitary for eight days. Boertje-Obed also reported more petty and excessive punishments of other prisoners as a regular occurrence...

SILO N-7: Carl Kabat's federal trial for trespass last August 6 at this Colorado nuclear missile silo has been postponed until April 30. A decision is expected on four pretrial motions, three of which were the subject of an April 9 hearing before Federal Magistrate Boyd Boland in Denver. Testimony was heard from Prof. Ved Nanda on a motion to permit a defense based on international law, and affidavits submitted from retired Admiral Eugene Carroll and International Law Professor Francis Boyle. Other motions seek dismissal on free speech grounds and challenge the fairness of the federal jury pool in Denver...

REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION: Philadelphia prosecutors continue to strike out in the courtroom, as half of the felony cases remaining from arrests at Convention protests have failed in court, resulting in felony acquittals for five activists in March and April trials. Police testimony has clearly been coached, to the point of revealing absurd inconsistencies. At the March trial of ACT-UP activist Kate Sorenson, who was initially charged with 20 crimes including ten felonies and held in jail on $1 million bail, police testified that "it was utter chaos out there" and that the crowd of 700 was "out of control" but somehow acted "in unison" under Sorenson's alleged incitement to "Take that corner!" Acquitted by the jury on the three remaining felony charges, Sorenson was convicted of misdemeanor criminal mischief. She is appealing that conviction because no testimony supported even the reduced charge. In the case of Matthew Berghs, even the surprise testimony of Police Commissioner Timoney failed to convince a jury. The self-described pacifist protester showed photos of his own bruises and scrapes suffered during his arrest, and he was acquitted of a felony and three misdemeanor charges related to the alleged assault of a police officer. Only five more defendants await trial on felony charges, two likely in July and the others, the "Timoney Three," accused of assaulting the Commissioner, must first wait until conclusion of the prosecution's appeal of the pretrial dismissal of some of their felony charges...

ALLIANT TECH: Tom Bottolene and Sr. Betty McKenzie were convicted February 1 of felony damage to property and misdemeanor trespass after a four day trial in Hennepin County Court. The two poured red tempera paint around "dead" victims during an Armed Forces Day die-in last June at the Minnesota war factory. Judge and prosecutor collaborated to prevent evidence for the claim of right defense the two had sought to present under Minnesota law...

ELECTRIC BOAT: Ten people arrested in January, 2000 at this Groton, Connecticut shipyard where the Trident and Seawolf nuclear submarines are produced had their case concluded April 3. Reduced charges precluded a jury trial, and upon conviction the group was sentenced to six hours each of community service at their respective Catholic Worker communities and the American Friends Service Committee...

SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE: After more than one year, seven Missouri war resisters are still awaiting a county judge's decision whether to accept expert witnesses in their defense for blocking the base entrance for two hours in December, 1998, to protest the Operation Desert Fox bombing of Iraq. A July 7 court date may provide the answer...

U.S. MISSION TO U.N.: Three Jesuits arrested last January during a protest of U.S. aggression and the sanc-tions against Iraq had their charges dropped before trial...

MISSOURI AIR NATIONAL GUARD: Three Catholic Workers arrested last September as they attempted to deliver humanitarian aid for suffering Iraqis to a departing Air National Guard unit at Lambert Field near St. Louis, found their charges were dismissed when they arrived for trial February 15...

PENTAGON: Scott Mathern-Jacobson waived his right to a trial in order to plead no-contest in federal court in Duluth, where he lives, to the charge of "impeding or disturbing the performance ofŠ employees" last August 4. Appearing March 21 before Magistrate Erickson, Mathern-Jacobson was able to talk about what motivated his action for peace. He was sentenced to six months in prison, suspended if one year passed without another arrest. Three people arrested on December 28, during the Atlantic Life Community's Holy Innocents' Faith and Resistance retreat, had their charges dismissed...

COOK NUCLEAR POWER PLANT: The January 30 bench trial for ten people arrested last summer at the Michigan reactor concluded with a quick conviction after the court again did not allow the necessity defense. Defendants were fined $160, and one is appealing the conviction to the Michigan Circuit Court. An eleventh defendant did not appear for trial...

SIKORSKY: Six people arrested last December attempting to leaflet employees of the military helicopter exporter in Stratford, Connecticut, have been to court six times since, and now face a charge of trespass added on to the original disorderly conduct citation. The new charge upping the ante apparently came in response to a 90-minute blockade at the factory on February 14 when Sikorsky declined to call for more arrests. Trial is not expected for six to twelve months...