Judge to sentence nun in nuke plant break-in
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) – A judge is hearing arguments over sentencing for an 84-year-old nun and two other activists who broke into a nuclear weapons complex in Tennessee.
U.S. District Judge Amul Thapar is expected to sentence Megan Rice, Greg Boertje-Obed (bohr-CHEE’ OH’-bed) and Michael Walli on Tuesday afternoon. They face between six and nine years in prison. Their attorneys say they should be sentenced to time-served, or about nine months, because of their record of goodwill throughout their lives.
The three activists cut through fences on July 28, 2012, and reached a storage bunker that holds the nation’s primary supply of bomb-grade uranium.
While officials claimed there was never any danger of the protesters reaching materials that could be detonated or used to assemble a dirty bomb, serious questions about security were raised.
