THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, May 18, 1996 TAG: 9605180287
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KAREN JOLLY DAVIS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 53 lines
In August, three peace activists bluffed their way onto an unfinished nuclear submarine using name tags made with the bar codes from Snickers' candy bar wrappers.
They passed unhampered through security checkpoints at Newport News Shipbuilding, then used household hammers to pound 415 dents into the missile launch tubes of the billion-dollar fast-attack sub. Federal prosecutors charged them with sabotage.
On Friday, activists Michele Naar-Obed of Baltimore, Rick Sieber and his son Erin of Philadelphia each pleaded guilty to one charge of destruction of government property. In return, the harsher charges of sabotage were dropped.
``Their offer to plead guilty to the conspiracy adequately covered the conduct in which they were engaged,'' said Assistant U.S. Attorney Harvey Bryant.
The government agreed to limit the activists' sentences to five years in prison or less. Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 6.
Naar-Obed said the prosecutor offered them the plea bargain during a pre-trial hearing in March. That's when U.S. District Judge Rebecca B. Smith ruled that the peace activists would not be allowed to present evidence detailing their religious motivations for the protest.
``We were basically stripped of any defense,'' said Naar-Obed after Friday's hearing. She said the protesters felt it was their duty under international law to nonviolently resist weapons of mass destruction.
Bryant said the peace activists had many other options besides breaking into the shipyard and pounding on the Greeneville.
``They are free to symbolically smash a model of a nuclear submarine off shipyard premises,'' Bryant said. ``Legitimate protest and advocacy are fully protected under our laws. But criminal acts must be prosecuted.''
Special U.S. Attorney Ray Shephard compared the protest to the shooting of an abortion doctor.
Naar-Obed and the Siebers will remain free on bond until sentencing. They spent Friday afternoon filling out forms in the probation office.
Meanwhile, Bryant volunteered to have pies thrown in his face at the World Trade Center for $2 a pop, to raise money for the American Cancer Society. When she heard about it, Naar-Obed steadfastly refused to consider throwing a pie at Bryant. But 21-year-old Erin Sieber thought about it.
``Oh man, that's a temptation,'' he said.
KEYWORDS: VANDALISM PEACE ACTIVISTS PROTESTS
TRIAL VERDICT SABOTAGE by CNB