KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - An 83-year-old nun and two fellow protesters were convicted Wednesday of interfering with national security when they broke into a nuclear weapons facility in Tennessee and defaced a uranium processing plant.
It took a jury about 2 1â„2 hours to find the three protesters guilty of a charge of sabotaging the plant and second charge of damaging federal property in July at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge in July.
Defense attorneys said in closing arguments that federal prosecutors had overreached in the charges because of the embarrassment caused by the break-in. "The shortcomings in security at one of the most dangerous places on the planet have embarrassed a lot of people," defense lawyer Francis Lloyd said.
"You're looking at three scapegoats behind me."
Defense attorney Bill Quigley urged jurors to "protect all of us from the government gone overboard," he said. "Sometimes they overreach."