Nun says missile silo protest worthwhile
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By Colleen Slevin
April 1, 2003 | DENVER (AP) -- A Roman Catholic nun representing herself against charges she and two other sisters allegedly defaced a missile silo tearfully told jurors on Tuesday that the peace protest was worthwhile, even if the nuns are jailed.
Sisters Ardeth Platte, 66, Jackie Hudson, 68 and Carol Gilbert, 55, are accused of breaking into a Minuteman III missile silo site on Colorado's northeastern plains Oct. 6, swinging hammers at it and painting a cross in their own blood on the structure.
All three have been charged with interfering with the nation's defense _ a crime could put them behind bars for 30 years if they are convicted. Platte said serving a sentence would be worth it if people think more about the weapons.
"If we have to spend the rest of our lives in prison we will," she said, fighting tears. "We have friends who are in the war zone. We must do more for peace." She left the lectern and embraced her legal adviser Anabel Dwyer, a law professor from Michigan.
Hudson's attorney, Walker Gerash, said the nuns may be guilty of trespassing, but never jeopardized national security.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Brown said the sisters refused to leave the missile site when officers ordered them to do so through a bullhorn. He said the Minuteman and other nuclear missiles have been vital to the nation's defense and have deterred other nations from using their nuclear weapons.
"It would have been nice if they never were invented. But they were," Brown said.
The sisters entered the N-8 site as part of a symbolic disarmament, reading Bible verses about pounding swords into plowshares and singing hymns, Gerash said.
The sisters, who also pounded on the 110-ton concrete lid with hammers, said they were compelled to act as war with Iraq moved closer and because the United States has never promised not to use nuclear weapons.
Gilbert and Platte both lived at Jonah House, a communal residence for pacifists founded by Philip Berrigan in Baltimore. Hudson belongs to a similar group in Poulsbo, Wash. All joined the Dominican order in Grand Rapids, Mich.
