On May 31, 2021, Henry Stoever and four other men crossed the property line at the Kansas City (MO) National Security Campus, where some 85 percent of the non-nuclear parts of US nuclear weapons are made or procured. A Municipal Court prosecutor asked for Stoever to be “bifurcated” from the other four defendants, which the judge allowed because Stoever is an attorney, albeit retired. The other four—Jim Hannah, Tom Mountenay, Brother Louis Rodemann, and Brian Terrell—on Feb. 18 were found guilty by Judge Ardie Bland. He issued only a 180-day jail-time suspended sentence (“suspended execution of sentence”) with one year of probation. Bland encouraged the defendants: “Continue to fight for what you believe is right!” Supporters in the courtroom cheered.
On Feb. 23, a judge found Stoever guilty, and a prosecutor recommended that the judge issue the same sentence to Stoever that Bland had given the other defendants. The judge went beyond that, sentencing him to two years’ probation, with court costs and probation fees. Stoever appealed the case, requesting a jury trial.
On Sept. 1, at a pretrial conference in Jackson County Courthouse, Judge Sarah Castle postponed the expected Sept. 6 jury trial to Feb. 21, 2023, saying other cases “take precedence.” Prosecutor Kendrea White offered Stoever a guilty plea with a suspended sentence—similar to what Bland had given the other four defendants. However, not willing to accept the guilty plea to avoid the jury trial, Stoever sent the following statement to Prosecutor White Sept. 11. Stoever says he is now waiting to hear the prosecutor’s reply, or go to trial.
Dear Associate City Prosecutor Kendrea White:
In City of Kansas City v. Henry M. Stoever, Case No. 2216MU-00057:
Respectfully, I must decline your offer to enter a plea of guilty to the Trespass City charge of 5-31-2021, in my pending City Appeal before Judge Castle.
In a criminal case, there are the elements of a voluntary act, and a culpable mental state. I have no problem saying I took five steps across the purple line, but I cannot in good faith say that I had the culpable criminal mental state of mind. As a matter of conscience, I must protest these weapons of mass destruction being built at our Kansas City National Security Campus.
A judge would have asked me if I had pled guilty because I am in fact guilty, and I would have to say NO in regard to my mental state of mind.
We are all intertwined in a shared fate that all life on earth could be extinguished by even a limited use of nuclear weapons. In an upcoming Sept. 18, 2022, documentary series by Ken Burns on PBS, “Exploring Inaction During the Holocaust,” he connects past tragedies and current struggles. The Anne Frank family had sought sanctuary in the USA, and they were denied entry, and the family perished in the Holocaust. The possibility of a Nuclear Holocaust is a real fact, and I must take some respectful limited action as I took on 5-31-2021 and in the statement I brought to the site and read from.
If you wish to speak with Kansas City Missouri Police Office Sgt. Craig Hope, head of the South Patrol, he can confirm the character of my communications, cooperation and acts.
Sincerely,
Henry (Henry M. Stoever), (913) 375-0045 (cell), henrystoever@sbcglobal.net
© 2022, Henry Stoever, Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike 4.0 International License.
