(WBIR - KNOXVILLE) A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the three protesters who broke into the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant and defaced a building in 2012 to pay some $52,950 in damages, and spend the next two years on unsupervised probation.
Judge Amul R. Thapar said they would still be able to travel, as long as they do not enter any U.S. nuclear facilities.
He also noted that they could stand "outside the grounds and protest lawfully in any fashion they choose."
At issue were defendants Michael Walli, Megan Rice and Greg Boertje-Obed, who broke into the Y-12 grounds in Oak Ridge on July 28, 2012. They spray-painted and poured blood on a uranium storage facility before guards caught them. The break-in led to a shake-up in security at the sprawling plant.
Aug. 3, 2015: Y-12 protesters to be honored for "civil disobedience"
In 2013, a jury in Knoxville convicted them of damaging government property as well as sabotage. This spring the 6th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Cincinnati threw out the sabotage conviction.
The three were released in May, having served more than enough time -- two years -- to cover their sentence for depredation of the Highly Enriched Uranium Materials Facility.
The trio were re-sentenced Tuesday via a teleconference.
Federal prosecutors said they should face supervised release now that they're out of prison.
The defendants, though, said they've spent more than enough time under the government's thumb and it's time for them at last to be free.
Attorneys for the trio also noted that they didn't harm anyone nor did they threaten to harm anyone, and that they surrendered immediately and without incident.
Attorney Bobby Hutson Jr., who represents Boertje-Obed, told the court that his client spent his time in custody "in a very positive manner," helping inmates work on their GEDs.
"He remains humbled by these experiences," he said.
Judy Kwan, who represents, Rice, an 85-year-old Catholic nun, said her client was "a peace advocate" who poses "no danger to the peace or community."
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeff Theodore, who pushed for supervised probation, said "this is not a typical depredation government case," and that it "caused a massive disruption."
He noted that two of the defendants had similar convictions in the past "and constantly engaged in this type of unlawful activity."
He expressed concern "that they will engage in this type of conduct again."
"It's fine for them to have that agenda but when they do it through unlawful means, that obviously is a concern," Theodore said.
The judge, however, said the defendants "were not typical people to be supervised."
He added: "I think they are all good people with different agendas that the United States would like them to have, but I don't think they are in danger to the public at large."
Thapar, though, sided with prosecutors regarding restitution.
Kwan, who argued on behalf of the three defendants, said almost half of the $52,950 they were supposed to pay in damages was tied to security costs – and not actual vandalism.
She also noted that the defendants "have all dedicate their lives to serving others and have dedicated their lives to living in poverty."
Thapar, who said he suspected that they'd never be able to pay back the money, said the security was needed to patrol the outside breach of the fence. He called it "a new expense" that was picked up by taxpayers.
The three defendants are set Oct. 28 to receive the Nuclear-Free Future Award in Washington. It's given internationally to those viewed as halting the expansion of nuclear power and nuclear weaponry.
During Tuesday's hearing, Rice said she was grateful that the court proceedings gave them a chance to talk about what she said were the dangers of nuclear weapons, saying the warheads were used for "grotesque mass annihilation," and that they "violate every law and legal principal of human behavior."'
The three plan to continue to do charity work, they said.
