Three Dominican Catholic nuns will be sentenced later today for interfering with the nation's defense system by defacing a missile silo site in northeastern Colorado, near Greeley.
Ardeth Platte, 67; Carol Gilbert, 55; and Jackie Marie Hudson, 68, face up to 30 years in prison for obstructing national defense and damaging government property. Most experts predict a more likely sentence of six to eight years in prison.
On Oct. 6, the three nuns cut a fence, smeared crosses on the Minuteman silo in their own blood, tapped on its concrete cover with ball-peen hammers, and then sat down to await arrest, singing, praying and chanting.
The three women call it a symbolic act to protest war and the use of nuclear weapons. The nuns argued they committed the acts out of conscience, but didn't actually damage the site or the nation's defense system.
A jury and judge felt differently and convicted them in April.
The nuns are asking for leniency. Their attorney pointed to a 1998 case where two men convicted of the same two crimes, plus conspiracy, were given lesser sentences.
Prosecutors, citing the nuns' history of similar offenses, oppose their request.
"Even though they refuse to admit it, this is serious to the United States, even if September 11 had never occurred," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert Brown in a legal brief.
Supporters of the nuns said the crime was a symbolic act and didn't hurt anybody. They also said it was not particularly effective as sabotage.
At their sentencing today, the three nuns won't testify in court. They will instead bring their message to the public and make a statement in front of the federal courthouse at 8 a.m.
The nuns said that they are prepared to be imprisoned. They have traveled back home to Baltimore and Bremerton, Wash. to say goodbye to elderly friends and to collect and give away some of their belongings.
A massive protest named "Adopt-A-Missile-Silo" day is planned on Saturday in support of the nuns and to protest Colorado's 49 missle silos.