US appeals court orders release of nuclear-activist nun

Reuters

The three were convicted of cutting fences to get into the Y-12 Plant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, on the night of July 28, 2012.

 

A US appellate court on Friday ordered the immediate release of an elderly nun and two other peace activists a week after overturning their sabotage convictions for breaking into a Tennessee nuclear defense facility in 2012, their lawyer said.

 
Reuters

In a 2-1 decision last Friday, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed sabotage convictions against Megan Rice, 85, and US Army veterans, Michael Walli, 66, and Greg Boertje-Obed, 59.

 

The panel majority found that the three lacked the necessary intent for a violation of the federal Sabotage Act for the break-in at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, an incident that embarrassed US officials and prompted security changes.

 

Attorney Bill Quigley said their legal team asked the court on Thursday for their immediate release, arguing that the two years they had already spent in prison was longer than what they would be sentenced for on the remaining charges.

 

Quigley, who is also a law professor at Loyola University in New Orleans, said the court ordered their immediate release on Friday until a formal resentencing.

 

"There wasn't any dispute that if they are not guilty of sabotage, they should be out of jail," Quigley said.

 

He added, however, that while federal prosecutors did not necessarily oppose their release, they still had time to appeal the court's reversal.