83-year-old activist-nun to be sentenced for uranium sabotage

NASHVILLE, Tennessee — An 83-year-old Catholic nun convicted in a protest and break-in at the top U.S. storehouse for bomb-grade uranium will find out Tuesday whether she spends what could be the rest of her life in prison.

Sister Megan Rice is one of three peace activists convicted of sabotage last year after they broke into the nuclear weapons plant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

The government has recommended sentences of about six to nine years each for Rice, Michael Walli and Greg Boertje-Obed. The three cut through fences and painted slogans on the outside wall of the uranium processing plant. The protesters also splattered blood and hammered on the wall.

The activists are asking for leniency. They say their actions at the Y-12 National Security Complex were symbolic and meant to draw attention to America's stockpile of nuclear weapons, which they call immoral and illegal.

"These people have been committed peace and justice advocates for decades," defense attorney Bill Quigley said.

He noted that there is no minimum sentence. The activists have been in prison since they were convicted in May, and it is possible that they could be sentenced to time served.

The activists have presented the judge with thousands of support letters from around the world, which Quigley called the greatest show of support he has seen in his two decades of working with protesters.

"I think that is mostly because of Sister Rice," he said. "She's very well loved and has lots of people praying for her and supporting her."

One of the letters entered into the court record is from a nun in London, Sister Katharine Holmstrom.

"Your court faces a great challenge — making a careful distinction between persons who act in clear conscience, guided by a moral vision, and others whose actions may be self-serving or maleficent in nature," she wrote to the judge.

Quigley said he has spoken with all three defendants, and they are prepared for the possibility of longer sentences.

Rice turns 84 on Friday.