Statement Before Sentencing

Sister Jackie Hudson, OP, July 25, 2003

Well, today is the day. It holds many unknowns as regards the judgments/decisions of Judge Blackburn.

Yet it holds many knowns…..the continued presence of nuclear weapons - latest figures list the U.S. ownership at 10,455

….a president in office who has stated publicly that he would use these weapons - in violation of multiple treaties, charters, conventions and protocols

….a national budget that would allow these weapons of mass extermination to be multiplied and present ones upgraded

….millions of people world-wide who do not have sufficient food - shelter - education and health care who lead lives of survival

….U.S. cities legislating against the homeless

….a country where 1 in every 32 of its adults is in prison, on parole or probation - basically a warehousing of its poor

and we three are threatened that we will raise the numbers of incarcerated today - for 6 - 7 -and 8 years.

In speaking around the country people often asked..."How can the U.S. court system prosecute and manipulate a jury, to find the three of us guilty of a crime we never committed and that the prosecution states he is not charging us?" We truthfully testified on the stand during the trial exactly what we did at Minuteman III missile silo site labeled N - 8.

We went to that specific silo to Inspect, Expose and Symbolically Disarm one of our 10,455 nuclear weapons and to declare it a crime scene. We went to this site to uphold the law of the United States of America as stated in the U.S. Constitution, Article 6, section 2 which states that any and all treaties signed by the U.S. government become the supreme law of the land, superceding any and all local, state or national laws.

We went to the silo site because of a burden of knowledge. We have studied the various treaties declaring the threat to use or the use of nuclear weapons as illegal. I refer today to the Nuremburg Principles and the Tokyo Tribunal which our government was principally responsible for writing after WW II. They declare that:

"Individuals have international duties which transcend the national obligations of obedience….Therefore [individual citizens] have the duty to violate domestic laws to prevent crimes against peace and humanity from occurring" - Nuremberg War Crime Tribunal, 1950

We brought the evidence to prove that our action was legal. Two eminent International Law Professors testified on the stand at our motions hearing that what we had done was legal and that we should be released from our jail cells in Clear Creek County.

Judge Blackburn has been given ample opportunities including a post-trial motion to acquit us of both charges and has refused to do so to this point. What he will do this morning….who knows???

We will enter the courtroom in silence praying for Peace on this Earth and silently repeating our mantra: "O God teach us how to be peacemakers in a hostile world."

We are living in a period of History which will see a BAN ON WAR FOREVER….What gives me such hope? Earth's inhabitants have come to realize the barbarity of war as it is waged today. Millions in the streets of the planet stated this loudly and strongly prior to the U.S. invasion of Iraq. Leadership will have to begin to listen….and as the quote says….."at some point governments will get out of the way and let the people have peace, a just economic system and an equally just judicial system."

The hope of the world rests on each of our shoulders….I promise to do my share….How about you?!?!?