Antiwar Jesuit given probation

ALBUQUERQUE -- Jesuit Fr. John Dear was sentenced Jan. 24 to six months of probation, 40 hours of community service and $510 in times and fees for actions during an antiwar protest at the Santa Fe office of U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., in September 2006.

Dear said in a statement sent to NCR that he would not pay the fine, do the community service or cooperate with the probation. Dear was told that he could not leave the state without permission and that he will be subject to regular drug testing.

Dear received the harshest sentence of his five codefendants. U.S. Magistrate Don Svet called Dear a "renegade priest" and "a coward," according to an Associated Press report. "I'm not interested in making a martyr out of you," he said.

Dear used his time in court Jan. 24 to continue his protest against the Iraq war. "This war is unjust, morally sinful and just downright impractical," he said.

Dear writes a weekly column on NCR cafe.org. He devotes his Jan. 22 and Jan. 29 columns to his trial.

Dear told NCR that he expects a warrant for his arrest to be issued soon and he expects to do jail time.

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