Henry Stoever, right, chats with KCPD Sgt. Craig Hope about reasons he will cross the National Security Campus property line (purple) on Memorial Day in 2021.--Photo by Tom Fox

Stoever refuses to plead guilty of trespass vs. nukes

"I must decline your offer to enter a plea of guilty," retired lawyer Henry Stoever says in a Sept. 11 letter to a prosecutor at Jackson County Court. Stoever, who stepped across the property line of the local nuclear weapon facility, hopes to explain to a jury next year why he was not guilty of the crime of trespass.

"In the spring of 2021, my mind told me, 'Something has to be done,'" says Henry Stoever to colleagues before his trial. "Jim (Hannah) said, 'Do you mind if I join you?' And then Tom (Mountenay) and Brother Louis (Rodemann) and Brian (Terrell) said, 'I'd like to be in on this journey, too.'"--Among supporters in the courthouse lobby before Henry's trial 2/23/22 are, from left, Sister Theresa Maly, Debora Demeter, Jane Stoever, Daniel Karam, Ron Faust, and Mary Hladky (taking notes).--Photo by Kriss Avery; "disarm" poster by Ann Suellentrop.

Trial brief of Henry Stoever re resisting nuclear weapons

Henry Stoever was tried for crossing the property line at the local nuclear weapons plant Feb. 23. The prosecutor and judge refused to allow him to have as an exhibit his trial brief. They refused to allow him to argue the intent and purposes of his action. Here is the brief!

Courtroom, from left: Prosecutor Jesse Sendejas questions Lt. Michael Clark, standing at the podium; Judge Ardie A. Bland presides; and defendants listen (from left)—Brother Louis Rodemann, Jim Hannah, Tom Mountenay, Brian Terrell.—Sketch by Pat Marrin

Judge tells nuke resisters, ‘Continue to fight for what you believe is right’

The four defendants at the Feb. 18 trial were voluntarily arrested for trespassing May 31, 2021, at the National Security Campus, operated by Honeywell for the National Nuclear Security Administration. As one of the defendants stated the day of the trial, “Why are we on trial and not those who make these weapons?”

“I speak today to provide a witness to the hope that we will save ourselves from nuclear weapons,” Jim Hannah says to supporters in the KC MO Municipal Court lobby Feb. 18. On the left is Henry Stoever; on the right is Brian Terrell; all three crossed the property line at the KC National Security Campus May 31, 2021.—Photo and video by Kriss Avery  

“The protesters are on trial while the perpetrators are protected,” Jim Hannah tells court

“I plead my case to two higher courts for recourse—the court of global humanity, and the court of Divine justice,” Jim Hannah said Feb. 18. “Neither of these courts would find me or my co-defendants guilty for witnessing against nuclear weapons. More likely, they would judge us wanting if we had done nothing.”

In detention on Memorial Day, recalling the deaths caused by contaminants from making parts for nukes in KC: from left, Henry Stoever, Brian Terrell, Brother Louis Rodemann, Jim Hannah, and Tom Mountenay.--Photo by Tom Fox

Do ‘court support’ at 1/26 and 2/18 trials of nuke protesters

Five activists opposed the US nuclear weapon build-up on Memorial Day 2021 and come to trial in KC MO on two separate dates. Come for court support!

Bennette Dibben, waving the flag of Honduras, the 50th ratifier of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, and Tom Mountenay, waving his family’s peace flag, lead the one-mile walk toward the National Security Campus entry road on May 31. Soon Tom was to cross the NSC property line.—Photo by Jane Stoever

Court hearing Aug. 11; no trial date yet set for nuke resisters

We don’t always get what we expect. We knew, well in advance, that five men in PeaceWorks would cross the property line May 31, Memorial Day, at the National Security Campus, the Kansas City, Mo., plant that makes parts for nuclear weapons. Done. We knew they’d be briefly arrested and processed. Done. An arraignment was set for July 1, via videoconference. But—surprise—Judge Martina Peterson said our five should come to court in person Aug. 11 to speak to a different judge.