DENVER – Each of the three Dominican nuns convicted of breaking into a nuclear missile silo have been sentenced to prison for terms ranging from 30 to 41 months.
9NEWS Reporter Jinah Kim with the latest on the sentencings, 4 p.m., July 25, 2003.
Peace activists from around the country gathered outside a federal courthouse in Denver to show their support for the nuns. Inside, two courtrooms were filled with more supporters.
Before heading into the courthouse Friday, Sisters Ardeth Platte, 66, Jackie Hudson, 68, and Carol Gilbert, 55, prayed and sang with the crowd.
“We know something is very wrong with the system that can incarcerate us for years in prison for inspecting, exposing and symbolically disarming Americas weapons of mass destruction,” said Gilbert.
“The sacred moments of years of imprisonment I will walk with you in prayer and walk together with you for the good of all humanity and all of creation,” said Platte.
Gilbert was sentenced to a term of two years and nine months. Hudson's term will be two years and six months and Platte was ordered to serve three years and five months. They must also pay $3,080 in restitution and serve three years of supervisedprobation.
The women have already been in jail for seven months.
They were convicted in April of harming national defense and damaging federal property. Last fall, the threesome cut through a chain link fence surrounding a Minuteman Three Missile Silo in Weld County, hammered on the silo's manhole covers and drew crosses with their own blood.
The nuns said the actions were symbolic and not sabotage. Prosecutor Robert Brown responded to defense claims that the women aren't criminals, saying the nuns have been arrested from five to 13 times.
They could have been sentenced to as much as 30 years in jail. Prosecutors argued for a six to eight year term.
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