DATE: Wednesday, May 7, 1997                TAG: 9705070483

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B12  EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS

DATELINE: PORTLAND, MAINE                   LENGTH:   96 lines

6 PEACE ACTIVISTS ON TRIAL FOR DAMAGING NAVY DESTROYER A NORFOLK MAN IS AMONG THE DEFENDANTS SERVING AS THEIR OWN LAWYERS IN MAINE.

One of six peace activists accused of vandalizing a Navy destroyer urged jurors Tuesday to peel away layers of evidence and reach the underlying truth.

Mark P. Colville presented opening arguments as he, Philip Berrigan and four other members of Baltimore-based Prince of Peace Plowshares went on trial in U.S. District Court. One member, Steven J. Baggarly, is from Norfolk.

The defendants, who are serving as their own lawyers, suffered a setback at the outset when Judge Gene Carter barred their use of international law or moral imperatives as a basis for their case.

In her brief opening statement, Assistant U.S. Attorney Helene Kazanjian told jurors that the defendants' religious beliefs did not give them the right to board and damage The Sullivans on Feb. 12 while it was docked at Bath Iron Works.

``The government is not challenging those beliefs, but no one has the right to damage government property in the name of those beliefs,'' she said.

``Simply put, this is a case about breaking the law.''

Colville, a minister from New Haven, Conn., said the truth of the case has layers, ``like an artichoke.''

``I'm using the artichoke defense. If you're going to do your job, you have to peel back some of those layers,'' he told the jury.

Colville drew laughs when he said he was nervous because the case was the first he had ever tried. Wearing orange jail garb, he explained that his suit was at the cleaners.

Both Colville and co-defendant Susan Crane, a former high school teacher from Ukiah, Calif., argued in their opening statements that their actions at the shipyard were legal, responsible and required.

Both the judge and prosecutor cut them off at various times, questioning the relevance of their appeal to a higher morality.

If found guilty of destruction of federal property and a related conspiracy count, the six each face up to 15 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.

``None of us are lawbreakers,'' Berrigan told Carter Monday. ``We only break illegal laws.''

Jurors chosen Monday morning waited outside the courtroom while Berrigan and co-defendant Baggarly outlined to the judge the case they want to present while serving as their own lawyers.

Outside the courthouse, dozens of supporters carried placards and banners in support of the defendants. Members of a New York-based Japanese Buddhist order clad in saffron-colored robes drummed a steady prayer for peace.

Baggarly told the judge that the six Prince of Peace Plowshares members smashed control panels on The Sullivans and spilled blood on its bridge because of the dangers posed by nuclear weapons.

The Navy said the action, timed to coincide with Ash Wednesday, caused about $80,000 in damage to the ship.

Baggarly read from literary descriptions of the 1945 bombing of Hiroshima and presented statistics on nuclear weapons. ``This gives us a picture of the harm we meant to prevent,'' he said.

Carter said the literature ``was a compelling force, but it's not evidence.''

Kazanjian argued that motive does not constitute a defense.

Baggarly's statements were not relevant to the damage to The Sullivans, the prosecutor said, ``but has to do with their general feelings about the dangers of nuclear war.''

``There are a lot of things out there that are inherently dangerous, but that does not mean that anyone has the right to destroy them at any time,'' she said.

Berrigan then claimed that the United Nations World Court ruled in July that the use or threat of nuclear weapons is illegal. Therefore, said the World War II veteran and former Roman Catholic priest, the U.S. government was acting illegally by building destroyers and nuclear weapons.

``God's law and international law requires our action,'' he said. ``We had both a right and a duty.''

The World Court refused to declare nuclear weapons illegal, but said they can be used legally only in self-defense.

Berrigan's daughter, Kate, 15, and his wife, Elizabeth McKalister, a former nun, smiled as they saw Berrigan and the five others led into the courtroom in handcuffs.

``I hope some people are able to listen and hear the message that he has,'' Kate Berrigan said.

Others on trial are Baggarly, 31; Colville, 36; Crane, 53; Stephen M. Kelly, 48, of New York, and Thomas P. Lewis-Borbely, 56, of Worcester, Mass.

Dozens of protesters, chanting and beating drums, demonstrated outside the courthouse and at Bath Iron Works for much of the day.

Members of Prince of Peace Plowshares carried placards and passed out leaflets advocating that money spent on the military be diverted to peaceful purposes.

``The real action is out here,'' said Father Daniel Berrigan, 75, Philip Berrigan's brother and a peace activist who has been arrested more than 100 times for anti-nuclear demonstrations and has spent years in jail.

``We don't expect any justice,'' Father Berrigan said. ``The main thing is that people have gathered'' and the message is getting out.

Prince of Peace Plowshares claims to have taken part in more than 50 peace demonstrations that have resulted in sentences of up to 18 years.

Philip Berrigan was sent to prison for destroying Selective Service files in Maryland in the late 1960s and has taken part in a prior protest at the Bath yard. KEYWORDS: PLOWSHARES TRIAL VANDALISM

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