2 anti-nuclear activists released from federal prison

Michael Patrick, Knoxville News Sentinel, AP file (2013)

Activist Sister Megan Rice attends a rally by supporters before her trial with fellow anti-nuclear weapons activists Michael Walli, 64, and Greg Boertje-Obed, 56, in 2013 Knoxville, Tenn. An appeals court has overturned the sabotage convictions of Rice, Walli and and Boertje-Obed, who broke into a facility storing much of this country’s bomb-grade uranium and painted slogans and splashed blood on the walls.

Saturday, May 16, 2015 | 4:08 p.m.

Two Catholic peace activists who vandalized a uranium storage bunker were released from prison on Saturday, their lawyer said.

Attorney Marc Shapiro said 66-year-old Michael Walli and 59-year-old Greg Boertje-Obed were let out of prison after they, along with 85-year-old nun Megan Rice, were ordered released by a federal appeal court on Friday.

The order came after the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati last week overturned their 2013 sabotage convictions and ordered resentencing on their remaining conviction for injuring government property at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge.

The activists have spent two years in prison. The court said they likely already have served more time than they will receive for the lesser charge.

On Thursday, their attorneys petitioned the court for an emergency release, saying that resentencing would take weeks if normal court procedures were followed. Prosecutors on Friday afternoon responded that they would not oppose the release, if certain conditions were met.

Shapiro says he expects Rice to be released later Saturday. He said Boertje-Obed and Walli were excited to be released.

"Today, they are reunited with family and friends," said Shapiro, who represented the trio in their appeal.

Rice, Walli and Boertje-Obed are part of a loose network of activists opposed to the spread of nuclear weapons. To further their cause, in July 2012, they cut through several fences to reach the most secure area of the Y-12 complex. Before they were arrested, they spent two hours outside a bunker that stores much of the nation's bomb-grade uranium, hanging banners, praying and spray-painting slogans.

In the aftermath of the breach, federal officials implemented sweeping security changes, including a new defense security chief to oversee all of the National Nuclear Security Administration's sites.

Rice was originally sentenced to nearly three years and Walli and Boertje-Obed were each sentenced to just over five years. In overturning the sabotage conviction, the Appeals Court ruled that the trio's actions did not injure national security.