NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - An 85-year-old nun and two fellow Catholic peace activists will likely remain free after government prosecutors told defense attorneys they will not seek to have a sabotage charge reconsidered.
Sister Megan Rice was originally sentenced to three years and Michael Walli and Greg Boertje-Obed were each sentenced to nearly five years for vandalizing the outside of a Tennessee bunker storing bomb-grade uranium. They painted the walls with slogans and splattered them with blood.
Last month, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a sabotage conviction.
The activists were ordered resentenced on a remaining, lesser charge. However, they were released from prison on the grounds that their new sentences would likely be shorter than the two years they'd already served.
The deadline for the government to appeal was Monday. Defense attorney Marc Shapiro says government prosecutors called him to say they would not ask for a rehearing. Prosecutors didn't immediately return a call.
