Peace activist Cindy Sheehan was found guilty, along with three other women, of trespassing at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations. In March, Sheehan and three other women, Melissa Beattie, Susan Benjamin and Patricia Ackerman, were arrested after they tried to deliver a petition to Peggy Kerry (yes, sister of Senator John Kerry), who is the liaison for NGO's. Kerry refused to meet with them, believing their tactics, which included appearing with 100 members, were a publicity stunt. At the time, the U.S. Mission said, "We invited her in to discuss her concerns with a U.S. Mission employee. She chose not to come in but to lay down in front of the building and block the entrance. It was clearly designed to be a media stunt, not aimed at rational discussion," while organizing group Women Say No to War said the mission refused to send someone to meet the women. The women read the petition aloud while sitting on the sidewalk and were then arrested.
The four women were acquitted of disorderly conduct, resisting arrest and obstructing government administration. The AP reports the judge "sentenced them immediately to a conditional discharge, which means they were not to get arrested for another six months, and ordered them to pay $95 in court surcharges." Prosecutors want the women to serve five days of community service, but Sheehan's lawyer said they "perform community service every single day of their lives."
Photograph of Cindy Sheehan during a November 21, 2006 rally in front of Seoul's Yongsan Garrison by Ahn Young-joon/AP
