On June 20, Tempo reported that Philip Berrigan, the former Josephite priest and patriarch of anti-war protestors, and three others were in a North Carolina jail cell awaiting sentencing for hammering on the nose of an F-15 fighter-bomber.
More Top Picks Best Litter Genies For Odor Control
They declared they were following the prophet Isaiah’s words and hastening the day people would be beating swords into plowshares. The government called it vandalism.
Berrigan and the others were anticipating a harsh sentence, possibly up to the maximum 10 years. U.S. District Judge Terrence Boyle, who has a reputation as a conservative Catholic, never seemed sympathetic during their trial.
The dark-wood-paneled courtroom took on the feel of a dramatist’s stage July 6 as the cast of this modern morality play assembled. Federal marshals took up positions along the wall, while the prosecution team huddled around its mahogany table. Berrigan’s wife, Elizabeth, and his three children sat in one of the pew-like visitor rows, just behind a row of reporters, most too young to remember that war protests were once quite fashionable.
All were hushed when Ramsey Clark, the former U.S. attorney general who authorized Berrigan’s first federal prosecution 27 years ago, described his friend’s life as a “constant, unexcelled inspiration” and compared him to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. To sentence such a man, Clark said as he and the judge locked eyes, is to take on “a terrible responsibility.”
Still, it was a surprise when Boyle dismissed the urging of U.S. Atty. William Webb to throw the book at the ’60s-style protesters. Instead he heeded the probation report and ordered Berrigan, 70, to minimum prison time-8 months-which will include the seven months he has already served. The others received similarly light sentences.
Berrigan’s next court date is in Alexandria, Va., for sentencing on an annual rite: throwing blood on the Pentagon.