I wish you well. I'm sure most everyone here does (with the obvious exception of New Labour (New Reich) members, but then they are mostly here to discourage and disrupt). However, given the NY reception given to Cindy Sheehan, I don't hold out much hope for a happy outcome.

As for these guys being an anti-war focus, well are they helped by overstating and wishful thinking? Just because something happens in NY does not automatically make it important for people in other areas.

Better to focus on just how bad the bad guys (US and NY state authorities) are. And they are very very bad indeed. I mean, wasn't NY where all those innocent people locked up after 911 had the living sh*t kicked out of them by their captors, proudly captured on close circuit TV, with NO action taken to punish the horrific acts of brutality???

Anyway, aren't there Nuns serving several years in US prison for the terrible crime of walking on grass in front of the 'School of the Americas', you know that great US government facility where they teach South American torturers in the fine art of using dogs to rape female political prisoners.

Time to understand just how wicked the US government is, my friend, and cease acting surprised when it gives US citizens a teeny weeny taste of what it so happily dishes out to humans across the globe. Indeed, if only US citizens were subject on a regular and continuous basis to the same acts that your government and armed forces commit against the people of so many other nations, then they might just find a way of putting their house in order, curing the profound sickness that has always existed at the heart of American society.

I suppose from that point of view, I hope the court throws the book at the four protestors. Only then perhaps will the opposition movements in the US understand that this is NOT a genteel game were no one important gets hurt. America has caused the pain, so it is about time that American people start to feel some of this pain themselves, to give them an incentive to try a damn sight harder than they have been to make some real and lasting political changes! After all, if you protest, you must surely desire that change in whose name you make your protest. Going to prison for 6 years may well allow these protesters to become a powerful enduring symbol of resistance, and really help meet their objectives.

(September 23 – BINGHAMTON, NY) The first federal
conspiracy trial of civilian war resisters nears a
close today, and twelve jurors—eight women and four
men—will be asked to determine the new landscape of
dissent and democracy.

"The US government has charged the defendants with
crimes based on a rarely used statute," said Bill
Quigley, acting legal advisor to the defendants. “The
government has taken what would have been considered a
State level misdemeanor offense that would result in 6
months local jail time and literally crafted federal
law to fit, that, if convicted, will now result in 6
years incarceration in Federal prison. The effect this
will have on the public's right to dissent, a
cornerstone of our democracy, is absolutely chilling."

Having rested their defense yesterday, the four
parents, better known as the St. Patrick's Four, trust
that the jury will deliberate thoughtfully, vote their
conscience, and reject the charges brought against
them in acknowledgement of the real crime, the
invasion and continued occupation of Iraq.

The week long trial has been a constant negotiation of
what the defendants could explain as to what was in
their hearts and minds as they entered the military
recruiting center. Senior U.S. District Judge Hon.
Thomas J. McAvoy overwhelmingly sustained the objections
of Miroslav Lovric, the federal prosecutor, when the
parents attempted to speak of the illegality of the
Iraq war, international law and its relevance to their
actions, facts or statistics about the Iraq war,
descriptions of the damages or deaths caused by war,
and descriptions of what defendants had seen when they
traveled to Iraq.
"The closer we get to the truth of violence and war",
said Peter DeMott, one of the codefendants, "the more
the government tries to suppress the truth. It's up to
all of us to nonviolently push the envelope and apply
pressure on our government to halt its insane march
towards destruction.

Refusing to answer the question as to who drew their
blood, both Daniel Burns and Peter DeMott were held in
contempt of court. Teresa Grady was also charged with
contempt when she mentioned their previous trial, held
in Tompkins County Court in April 2004, in which nine
of twelve jurors voted to acquit. Judge McAvoy has
stated he will withhold decision as to the penalty
until after the trial concludes.

On St. Patrick's Day 2003, two days before the US
military invasion of Iraq began, the four members of the
Ithaca Catholic Worker movement - Daniel Burns,
Peter DeMott, Teresa and Clare Grady entered their local
military recruiting station and carefully poured a small amount
of their blood on recruiting center posters, walls and
flag to symbolize the violence of war and the sanctity
of life. They knelt, prayed, and were later charged
with criminal mischief and trespassing.

The first federal conspiracy trial against war
protesters since the Vietnam war, resumes Friday 9:30
am in the Binghamton Federal Courthouse Building.

For more information see
 http://www.stpatricksfour.org.

To view indictment
 http://www.stpatricksfour.org/documents/StPatsIndictment2005.pdf.

Outreach Coordinator
SP4 Support Team
 http://www.stpatricksfour.org
O: 607.651.9109

(September 23 – BINGHAMTON, NY) The first federal
conspiracy trial of civilian war resisters nears a
close today, and twelve jurors—eight women and four
men—will be asked to determine the new landscape of
dissent and democracy.

"The US government has charged the defendants with
crimes based on a rarely used statute," said Bill
Quigley, acting legal advisor to the defendants. “The
government has taken what would have been considered a
State level misdemeanor offense that would result in 6
months local jail time and literally crafted federal
law to fit, that, if convicted, will now result in 6
years incarceration in Federal prison. The effect this
will have on the public's right to dissent, a
cornerstone of our democracy, is absolutely chilling."

Having rested their defense yesterday, the four
parents, better known as the St. Patrick's Four, trust
that the jury will deliberate thoughtfully, vote their
conscience, and reject the charges brought against
them in acknowledgement of the real crime, the
invasion and continued occupation of Iraq.

The week long trial has been a constant negotiation of
what the defendants could explain as to what was in
their hearts and minds as they entered the military
recruiting center. Senior U.S. District Judge Hon.
Thomas J. McAvoy overwhelmingly sustained the objections
of Miroslav Lovric, the federal prosecutor, when the
parents attempted to speak of the illegality of the
Iraq war, international law and its relevance to their
actions, facts or statistics about the Iraq war,
descriptions of the damages or deaths caused by war,
and descriptions of what defendants had seen when they
traveled to Iraq.
"The closer we get to the truth of violence and war",
said Peter DeMott, one of the codefendants, "the more
the government tries to suppress the truth. It's up to
all of us to nonviolently push the envelope and apply
pressure on our government to halt its insane march
towards destruction.

Refusing to answer the question as to who drew their
blood, both Daniel Burns and Peter DeMott were held in
contempt of court. Teresa Grady was also charged with
contempt when she mentioned their previous trial, held
in Tompkins County Court in April 2004, in which nine
of twelve jurors voted to acquit. Judge McAvoy has
stated he will withhold decision as to the penalty
until after the trial concludes.

On St. Patrick's Day 2003, two days before the US
military invasion of Iraq began, the four members of the
Ithaca Catholic Worker movement - Daniel Burns,
Peter DeMott, Teresa and Clare Grady entered their local
military recruiting station and carefully poured a small amount
of their blood on recruiting center posters, walls and
flag to symbolize the violence of war and the sanctity
of life. They knelt, prayed, and were later charged
with criminal mischief and trespassing.

The first federal conspiracy trial against war
protesters since the Vietnam war, resumes Friday 9:30
am in the Binghamton Federal Courthouse Building.

For more information see
 http://www.stpatricksfour.org.

To view indictment
 http://www.stpatricksfour.org/documents/StPatsIndictment2005.pdf.

Outreach Coordinator
SP4 Support Team
 http://www.stpatricksfour.org
O01 607.651.9109

What do you mean by 'the jury will be charged'? Is this a mistake, an Americanism or did I miss something?

Unless I've got it wrong...the term means that the jury are told by the judge what their job is, what he considers the legal issues are etc eg. ignore the war....and then sent out to deliberate. The day ended yesterday with the last defence witness. So I guess they've got closing statements this morning and then the judge charges the jury with their task!??!

The Pit Stop Ploughshares, a group of Catholic Workers, are to be retried at Dublin's Four Courts on October 24th. The $2.5million criminal damage charge arises out of their disarmament of a U.S. Navy war plane at Shannon Airport en route to Iraq on Feb 3rd. 2003. Shannon Airport presently facilitates refueling for 25,000 U.S. troops a month.

The Ploughshares were put on trial in March 2005. The trial collapsed on the 6th. day when the judge acted illegally. Three of the St. Patricks Four attended the March trial and were questioned by both Prosecutor & Judge to their atendance at the their New York trial this week.

More info and background
www.peaceontrial.com

Peter De Mott, Closing Statement, Friday, September 23, 2003
We, all four of us, want to thank you jurors who are the conscience of the community. We trust you to use your heads and also your hearts. We also trust you to read between the lines. Before we began our testimonies we raised our hands and swore to "tell the truth,the whole truth and nothing but the truth." You all know that again and again we have told you in PART of our concerns about our government's actions and behaviors that have moved us to in turn take the lawful actions which we did in December of 2002 and in March of 2003.

The United States went to war influenced by the lies, forgeries and deceptions put forth by the Bush Administration to justify the war. You, the jury, are now being asked by the prosecutor to render a verdict in this case based on half truths and falsehoods. You also know that our explanations were often interrupted, and I am sorry that we have not been able to tell you the whole truth which prompted us to act as we did. I wish we could have explained more to you about our understanding regarding the constitution and international law and how those beliefs informed, shaped and guided us in the actions that we took.

The prosecution wants to portray us as people who have no regard for law. Meanwhile roughly two thousand of our military personnel have been killed and over a hundred thousand Iraqis. The national treasury has been robbed of over $260 Billion to wage this war, while the infrastructure of our cities continues to erode as we saw so devastatingly in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

I would submit to you that the prosecutor, Mr. Lovric , has failed to prove us guilty. He has failed to show that we used "force, intimidation or threat to impede an officer of the United States in the performance of his duties" or in any other way. We certainly had a specific intent when we went to the recruiting station but it was not, most emphatically not, the government's version.

Our intent in protesting was to warn young recruits, the recruiters themselves and the broader community that the war about to ensue would claim the lives of tens of thousands. We knew that the war could not be waged without a wholesale waste of blood, of human life, of valuable resources. We knew that the war would contaminate the environment with fallout from depleted uranium munitions and would poison our own troops even as it annihilated the Iraqis. We knew that the war on Iraq, just like all modern wars, would murder mothers and their children, the elderly and other noncombatants in the greatest numbers.

Sadly, and you know this, the warning we, and millions of others around the world tried to give did not prevent the war. But the predictions that frightened us, that were described by all codefendants, have come to pass. You do not have to believe what we believe in order to find that the government has not proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt. The government claims that we conspired in one way or another to damage government property and officials. But there is certainly reasonable doubt about whether what the government says we did, was, in fact, WHAT we did.

Protesting rather than conspiring. Causing a mess rather than damaging property. Being friendly, as Sergeant Rachon Montgomery testified to and non-threatening rather than intimidating. These are all reasonable, sensible conclusions compelled by the evidence and consistent with our legal innocence.

In sum and substance, this trial is about the government's attempt to stop peaceful protest against the war on Iraq, to silence dissent and our voices on this issue.

WE ASK YOU TO DO THE RIGHT THING! WE ASK YOU TO DO JUSTICE! WE ASK YOU TO SAY "NO!" TO DEATH AND WAR! WE ASK YOU TO SAY "YES!" TO LIFE!

Thank You!

Danny Burns, Closing Statement, Friday, September 23, 2003

Members of the jury,

We have come before you in the last few days and tried to share with you about ourselves and our reasons for going to the recruiting center and pouring our own blood.

There is a lot we wanted to tell you, but we weren't allowed to.

We are peaceful, nonviolent people who went to the recruiting center because we did not want to see our troops blood spilled for a war that was wrong and based on lies.

As I shared earlier in the trial, one of the things that has brought me here is my recovery from alcohol addiction. I am hopeful that just as I have been able, with the help of community, family and higher power, to recover from addiction, that together we can all help our country recover from addiction to war and violence.

I don't know you, but I imagine that each of you is working, in the ways that are right for you, for what is right in your communities and in our world. I believe that there are many ways to work for a better world. As you go into deliberations, I am asking you to trust that going to the recruiting center to plead for the lives of our young troops was the right way for me to work for justice in our country.

We admit that the four of us met together and planned to go the recruiting center and pour our own blood. We don't deny that there was a mess, that some posters had to be replaced. We don't deny that Sgt. Montgomery was inconvenienced.

We submit that causing a mess and inconvenience to try to prevent a war that is wrong and has taken the lives of, one thousand eight hundred and ninety five US service people and one hundred thousand Iraqi people, is justified.

We live in a great nation. There are many people in our history we can be very proud of: like local juries who refused to convict people for aiding escaping slaves, like Susan B Anthony who was arrested in Rochester for voting when women were not allowed to vote, working people who risked their lives so that we could have weekends and a forty hour work week.

Ours is a country with a government "for the people, of the people, by the people". That is a great gift to us, but it is also a great responsibility that you and I and all citizens have.

For our troops who have been killed in Iraq

For our country's future

For our young children who we hope and pray will never be called to fight in an illegal, unjust and unnecessary war such as this one

I ask you to use your conscience, your heart, and the law to return a verdict of not guilty on all four counts.

 http://www.stpatricksfour.org

Verdict: Not Guilty of Conspiracy
Federal prosecutor unable to convince jury of conspiracy charges. This is a significant victory for the future of non-violent protest.

News is just coming in. This notice will be updated as information becomes available. What we know at this point: The defendants are not in custody; sentencing will be in January; penalties for the contempt of court charges are undetermined.

Main Charge

Count 1, Conspiracy to impede a federal officer of the USA:
NOT GUILTY
Lesser Charges
Count 2, Injured and damaged government property:
GUILTY
Count 3, Entered military station for unlawful purpose:
GUILTY
Count 4, Entered military station after removal:
DROPPED