Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Sentenced to Jail for Vieques Protest
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) -- A federal judge sentenced environmental lawyer
Robert
F. Kennedy Jr. to 30 days in prison Friday for trespassing while attempting
to thwart
U.S. Navy bombing exercises on Vieques island.
Several other protesters were convicted along with Kennedy, including New
York
labor leader Dennis Rivera and Norma Burgos, a senator in Puerto Rico's
legislature.
``You should be a lawmaker not a lawbreaker,'' Chief U.S. District Judge
Hector
Lafitte told Burgos, sentencing her to 40 days. When she said that the
Navy should
be tried instead of the protesters, Lafitte called her defiant and increased
the term to
60 days in jail. Rivera and three others were given 30-day prison terms.
He dismissed arguments that the protest was for the greater good -- to
end
contamination of the environment and save islanders' health.
Kennedy and the others were among some 180 people arrested for trespassing
during exercises with dummy bombs in late April and early May on the Puerto
Rican
island. They include actor Edward James Olmos and U.S. Rep. Luis Gutierrez,
a
Democrat from Illinois, who have yet to go on trial.
The Rev. Al Sharpton and Jacqueline Jackson, the wife of the Rev. Jesse
Jackson,
were among protesters recently jailed. Mrs. Jackson served a 10-day sentence
last
month. Sharpton was sentenced to 90 days because it was his second conviction
and is to remain behind bars in New York City until Aug. 15.
Several people gathered outside the courthouse Friday to speak in support
of the
other protesters, including Jesse Jackson and Democratic Reps. John Conyers
of
Michigan and Nydia Velazquez of New York.
Before entering the courtroom, Kennedy said he was ready to go to jail.
But
supporters said it was poor timing with his wife is expected to give birth
to their sixth
child next week.
Kennedy's lawyer, former New York Gov. Mario Cuomo, had planned to use
the
trial to argue for a political solution to end six decades of bombardments
on the
Navy's prized Atlantic firing range. But Lafitte refused to hear that line
of argument,
saying ``I'm not going to allow political views, philosophical views, none
of that.''
Assistant U.S. Attorney Peter Strasser took testimony from Navy officers
who said
that Kennedy and Rivera's incursion -- from a fishing boat onto the beachside
firing
range -- forced a halt in the exercises.
``As soon as the vessel, the boat, entered the danger zone, I had to cease
fire,'' said
Lt. Cmdr. Russell Gottfried.
He said he interrupted the ship-to-shore shelling for 2 1/2 hours while
security
officers scoured the range for Kennedy's party, which was hiding in mangroves.
Kennedy, the nephew of the late President John F. Kennedy, said he is glad
that
since he was arrested, President Bush has announced that the Navy will
stop
bombing exercises on Vieques by May 2003.
But, he said, ``That position begs the question, why are we going to continue
bombing?''
Kennedy and other opponents argue the bombing harms the environment and
the
health of the island's 9,100 residents -- charges the Navy strongly denies.