DATE: Tuesday, October 28, 1997             TAG: 9710280214

SECTION: FRONT                   PAGE: A4   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Update 

SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS 

DATELINE: PORTLAND, MAINE                   LENGTH:   32 lines

ACTIVIST GETS TWO YEARS FOR DAMAGING NAVY SHIP

Anti-war activist Philip Berrigan was sentenced Monday to two years in prison for vandalizing a Navy guided-missile destroyer in an Ash Wednesday protest at Bath Iron Works.

The 74-year-old former Roman Catholic priest from Baltimore also was given two years' probation after his release and was ordered to pay $4,703.89, his share of the damage to the warship.

In sentencing Berrigan, one of six activists convicted in the Feb. 12 protest, U.S. District Judge Gene Carter said he was not passing judgment on the morality, propriety or wisdom of Berrigan's action and was not questioning his sincerity.

But the judge said Berrigan's views about the nuclear weapons threat could not justify his violation of the law.

During the sentencing hearing, dozens of Berrigan's supporters chanted outside the courtroom.

Berrigan has been arrested for civil disobedience more than 100 times and has spent about seven years in prison. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

Philip Berrigan KEYWORDS: DEMONSTRATION SENTENCING VANDALISM U.S. NAVY

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu