Catholic Priest, Other Protesters, Sentenced in Santa Fe
by Joline Gutierrez Krueger
There was little peace, love and understanding as a federal judge castigated a nationally known activist and Roman Catholic priest for an Iraq war protest that blocked a Santa Fe elevator in 2006.
“I’m not interested in making a martyr out of you,” U.S. District Judge Don Svet said Thursday in Albuquerque before sentencing the Rev. John Dear to 40 hours of community service and $510 in fines and fees, to be paid immediately.
Dear was the last of the group known as the Elevator Nine to be sentenced.
Six of the nine eventually went to trial on federal charges after they occupied the elevator of Sen. Pete Domenici’s Santa Fe office for more than five hours. Two others took plea deals, and one was a minor whose charges were dropped.
All six were found guilty in September. The other five have been sentenced.
Dear’s attorney, Penni Adrian, had asked the court for mercy, saying Dear had a “lifelong commitment to peace and human decency.” His action that day was “but a legal misstep,” she said.
Adrian also said she received word Wednesday that Dear had been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and the Gandhi Peace Award.
But Dear asked for no mercy, using his time before the court to condemn the Iraq war.
“This war is unjust, morally sinful and just downright impractical,” he said.
To read the full article from the Albuquerque Tribune, click on:
http://abqtrib.com/news/2008/jan/25/catholic-priest-protester-santa-fe-sentenced-and-f/
There was little peace, love and understanding as a federal judge castigated a nationally known activist and Roman Catholic priest for an Iraq war protest that blocked a Santa Fe elevator in 2006.
“I’m not interested in making a martyr out of you,” U.S. District Judge Don Svet said Thursday in Albuquerque before sentencing the Rev. John Dear to 40 hours of community service and $510 in fines and fees, to be paid immediately.
Dear was the last of the group known as the Elevator Nine to be sentenced.
Six of the nine eventually went to trial on federal charges after they occupied the elevator of Sen. Pete Domenici’s Santa Fe office for more than five hours. Two others took plea deals, and one was a minor whose charges were dropped.
All six were found guilty in September. The other five have been sentenced.
Dear’s attorney, Penni Adrian, had asked the court for mercy, saying Dear had a “lifelong commitment to peace and human decency.” His action that day was “but a legal misstep,” she said.
Adrian also said she received word Wednesday that Dear had been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize and the Gandhi Peace Award.
But Dear asked for no mercy, using his time before the court to condemn the Iraq war.
“This war is unjust, morally sinful and just downright impractical,” he said.
To read the full article from the Albuquerque Tribune, click on:
http://abqtrib.com/news/2008/jan/25/catholic-priest-protester-santa-fe-sentenced-and-f/
posted by Pax Christi @ Sunday, January 27, 2008
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