A Day in Court

The proceedings began with the bailiffs proclamation: "Oh yea, oh yea. God save the commonwealth and this honorable court." That's the point, I thought to myself.

The scene was a Norristown, Pennsylvania courtroom where, almost a decade earlier, the Plowshares Eight had been convicted for entering the General Electric complex in nearby King of Prussia on September 9, 1980, and hammering two nose cones for Mark 12A nuclear warheads--in faithfulness, the defendants said, to Isaiah's admonition to "beat swords into plowshares." This day, April 10, 1990, was to be the final sentencing after numerous appeals of the original trial verdict, which found all eight guilty of criminal conspiracy and burglary.

Daniel Berrigan, Philip Berrigan, Dean Hammer, Carl Rabat, Elmer Maas, Anne Montgomery, Molly Rush, and John Schuchardt had been given prison sentences ranging from one-and-a-half to 10 years, which were nullified during the course of years of appeals. Their convictions had been upheld, however; today new sentences would be imposed by Judge James E. Buckingham.

The small Montgomery County courthouse was packed with nearly 100 people -- mostly family, friends, and press -- and many more people waited outside. Ten years had passed, and lives had gone on. There had been other actions, new children and grandchildren, and dramatically changing world events that had, if anything, vindicated the prophetic witness at King of Prussia. A decade of anti-nuclear activity and the collapse of the Cold War framework had instilled a hope for peace. But as the Plowshares Eight pointed out, the weapons are still in place and the arms race continues to kill the poor.

For the first time in the 10-year judicial process, the defendants were allowed to call witnesses and testify in their own defense. Their chief counsel, Ramsey Clark, began by addressing the judge about the defendants: "I represent them to you as the most principled people I've ever known or expect to know. "

Robert Jay Lifton, professor of psychiatry and psychology at the City College of New York, said, "I see the behavior of the defendants as giving their lives for the undoing and overcoming of our psychic numbing; in helping people to feel ... [they have] contributed to the survival and well-being of us all."

Richard Falk, professor of international law at Princeton University, testified, "The defendants have helped to provide the legal foundation of the politics of conscience in a nuclear age."

Howard Zinn, professor of history at Boston University, concluded that when we come to the end of the nuclear threat, "It will be a great moment of history, and these people will have made a great contribution to that moment."

THEN EACH DEFENDANT SPOKE, each offering a testimony that was moving and eloquent. Speaking first, Sister Anne Montgomery -- who like Carl Rabat and Elmer Maas is presently serving a prison sentence for another Plowshares action -- read from the prophet Isaiah the passage that had inspired their action, concluding, "The Word of God has called me and convicted us all."

As only he can, Daniel Berrigan offered a poetic homily to put the events of the day in the context of Holy Week (see "Time Waiting, Time Served," page 6). Upon examining Daniel Berrigan's arrest record over the past 10 years -- as he had reviewed each of the other defendants' -- the judge commented that Dan's were "relatively minor offenses," to which Dan quickly replied, "Your honor, that doesn't mean I don't have a criminal mentality!" When asked whether he intended to do such things again, Dan answered, "If I might step back from the question just a bit and ask a prior question of President Bush -- 'Are you prepared to obey international law and commit no more war crimes?' If the answer is yes, your honor, I will obey the law. Hallelujah! And you and I can go fishing. "

Philip Berrigan testified, "As for the Plowshares Eight, we will try to keep the faith" -- as he and Elizabeth McAlister and the Jonah House community have over these many years. Dean Hammer reminded the court, "You not only sentence us, but our families and wider communities." Dean said the first question his 3-and-a-half-year-old son Jonathan asks in the morning is, "Daddy, have you gone to court yet and said 'peace' and gone to jail?" He then adds, "Daddy, don't go to jail!"

The Pittsburgh City Council sent a unanimous resolution to the court, declaring that "Molly Rush, a Pittsburgh mother of six, and grandmother of five ... is recognized as one of the pioneers and heroes of our modern age ... resisting nonviolently the onslaught of nuclearism, accepting prison as an expression of love for her children and her country." Molly testified to the agonizing choice "between being with my children or acting on behalf of their future."

A lawyer himself, John Schuchardt spoke directly to the judge: "I am going to ask you to make your gavel a hammer of justice ... I hope it's not too much of a burden to ask you to give hope to our children, to give hope to our world, and to vindicate the law."

Finally, Ramsey Clark said, "The defendants are ready to be sentenced." We all held our breath.

The prosecuting attorney responded, "The commonwealth has heard compelling and eloquent statements and won't try to match them. We have no recommendation to make, your honor." Before the day's proceedings began, she had passed a volume of Berrigan's poetry to him, with a note asking him to sign it for her.

While making clear that he did not condone their actions, Judge James Buckingham said he believed the defendants "acted honestly and in good faith" [and] were attempting to make a statement out of their deep-felt convictions. " He continued, "I agree with many of those convictions. We are all concerned about nuclear war; it is a frightening thing ... My feeling is that further incarceration in this case wouldn't do much good."

Amazement and relief swept through the courtroom. Each defendant was sentenced to the time they had already served for this action plus 23 months of probation.

I had never seen anything quite like it. Judge Buckingham concluded with these words, "Before I came down here, my ideas were a little different. The defendants were very persuasive." The judge then thanked their counsel for being "extraordinarily competent," and said of all those who had spoken this day, "The court owes them a debt."

That's a miracle for Holy Week.

Jim Wallis is editor-in-chief of Sojourners.