Grady was also fined $150 for a contempt of court charge and ordered to pay a quarter of the $958 restitution.

The Tompkins County Human Rights Commission has awarded Grady and her fellow activists, Danny Burns, Peter DeMott and Clare Grady the human rights award jointly. Burns, DeMott and Clare Grady were all taken into custody earlier this week after sentencing at the federal court building in Binghamton, NY. Last September, a jury acquitted the Four of a federal conspiracy charge, but found them guilty of federal misdemeanors.

Grady addressed the court today by taking issue with Judge Thomas J. McAvoy’s pre-trial decision to ban references to international law and Article 6, Section 2 of the U.S. Constitution from the courtroom. The Four have said that Judge McAvoy’s decision prevented the jury from hearing their full defense, which was based on necessity and justification.

“This court and the jury were intended to be a check and balance to tyrannical government. You instead have sentenced our nation, its young in particular, to continue trammeling international laws which our own nation has fought for, helped to create, and upholds in the woefully neglected constitution! Leaving us a nation fearful to do anything about the Great crimes of our government, from which our souls both collectively and individually are sorely aching. Not to mention the victims of its violations,” Grady said.

In a statement reminiscent of Martin Luther King, Grady told the judge, “I will always act believing in the goodness of all people and the gravitation of people's conscience towards rightness, justice and truth. This courtroom has been no exception in this application. Please go forward with your good conscience and employ the dusty laws, which sit unused in the books. They are crying to be used in the name of justice! The victims of war will applaud you. They are the victims of torture, the victims who are our service people and their families…”

Federal prosecutor, Miroslav Lovric, recommended that the judge impose a sentence based on the high end of the federal sentencing guidelines on Grady, since she “has no intention of learning from this experience about committing these kinds of acts.”

Regarding her time in federal prison, Grady had this to say: “…no measure of punishment could change the rightness of the act of March 17th 2003 to call people to conversion of heart and mind away from a great national tragedy. My heart is at peace, in that my actions were in concert with the millions of people of our nation who protested this war.”

At the packed courthouse this morning, Grady was joined by her mother, Teresa J. Grady, and numerous supporters, including Binghamton Deputy Mayor Tarik Abdelazim. After the sentencing, the gallery honored Grady with a standing ovation and thunderous applause. Before exiting through the door into custody, she turned to the crowd, raised her hand high and made the sign of peace.

Grady’s complete statement and the statements of the other St. Patrick’s Four activists sentenced this week are posted on their website: www.stpatricksfour.org.

-- Katie Quinn-Jacobs is a freelance writer living in Ithaca, NY.

For more information on the St. Patrick's Four, see www.stpatricksfour.org

Also See:

Mother and Activist, Clare Grady, Sentenced in Federal Court

Vietnam Vet and Civil Resister, Peter DeMott, Sentenced in Federal Court

Daniel Burns Sentenced in Federal Court