Father
Jim Murphy Sentenced to Five Days in Jail in Wisconsin for Anti-drone action
Father
Jim Murphy of Highland, WI was found guilty of trespass during a bench trial on
January 4, 2016. With Judge Paul Curran presiding over the Juneau County
proceedings we saw another miscarriage of justice in our continuing struggle to
end drone warfare. Jim will be spending five days in the Juneau County
jail after stating he would not pay a $232 fine.
Jim
was arrested on August 25, 2015 along with eight other activists, for stepping
onto the base at Volk Field, an Air National Guard Base in Wisconsin where they
train pilots to operate the Shadow Drones. This action was at the end of
an eight-day 90 mile walk from Madison, WI to Volk Field organized by Voices
for Creative Nonviolence.
The
prosecutor, DA Solovey, called three witnesses - the chief of security at Volk
Field, the Juneau County Sheriff, and a deputy sheriff - to establish Jim’s
identity, that he did walk onto the base, and that he was not authorized to do
so. Jim declined to cross-examine the county’s witnesses.
Jim
took the stand in his defense and stated his name as Jim Murphy. Curran
wanted it noted for the record that Jim was a Catholic priest and was
officially Father James Murphy. Jim began to read a prepared statement
condemning drone warfare. He was interrupted by Curran who said that this
is only about the trespass charge, nonetheless he allowed Jim to continue with
his statement. However, Solovey quickly objected and the judge said Jim
could not finish his statement. The judge also commented that Obama does
not care what his court has to say about drone warfare.
Jim
was persistent and asked for the court’s indulgence to complete his statement,
and finally Curran decided to allow him to finish.
Jim
eloquently reminded us that, “We cannot remain silent without becoming
complicit.” I hope the judge heard that and thought about what his
silence means. Jim finished by saying, “You view this as a trespass
charge. I view it as a long tradition of opposition to war.”
Judge
Curran ruled that Jim was guilty of trespass and said he would have to pay a
$232 fine. Jim said he was not able to pay the fine and would do the jail
time instead. Curran seemed very uncomfortable with this prospect
(because he was a priest?) and finally Curran responded that he knew Jim really
couldn’t pay the fine and so he would sentence him to five days in jail and
spare him the lecture about Juneau County’s financial difficulties.
This
was in reference to the lecture given by Judge Curran when two activists from
earlier trials took the jail time rather than pay the fine. The judge
told them that Juneau County is one of the poorest counties in the state and
admonished the activists for using county money to put them in jail in lieu of
paying the fine. I guess Judge Curran must have some kind of insider
knowledge – or more likely some deep-seated prejudice – so that he can
determine that it is ok for some of us to choose jail time, but not for all of
us.
The
judge could have saved the county a lot of money by granting our motion for consolidation,
but he refused to do so. There will be seven more trials, with Bonnie
Block coming next on January 8. In the meantime, keep up the resistance
and join us in DC on January 12 for the Real State of the Union action.
Peace,
Joy
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