Written by Christine Gaunt   

It is rare that a peacemaker walks out of a U.S. courtroom with an acquittal nowadays, ... so I decided to write about my recent experience.

I spent my winter break, January 9-23, in Washington, DC fasting and acting with a group of about fifty peacemakers, organized by Witness Against Torture. [www.witnesstorture.org] Many of us slept on the floor of St. Stephens Church.

On January 20, following our overnight vigil at the Department of Justice to END TORTURE, I broke away from the group to take an END WAR message directly to my two Iong-serving, hard-working Iowa senators (Grassley & Harkin).

This was to be Die-In #37, part of my year-long effort to get my elected officials to do the right thing and stop funding these wars.

I was asked by Capitol police to leave the Hart Senate building because I displayed my NO MORE $$$ FOR WAR sign in the atrium. I was doing walking meditations before going to my senator's office to die. I had been fasting for ten days and I was sleep deprived from vigiling almost all night long outside the Department of Justice. I honestly forgot the rule about not displaying political signs in the Hart building.

But I came back in with the sign concealed and headed to Senator Harkin's office. To my surprise the officer boldly confronted me when I was in the seventh floor restroom. As he searched the restroom, I walked the ten steps to Harkin's office. They were expecting me, complete with my orange jumpsuit, signs, and chalk. They know my business is peace, and they welcomed me.

But the officer called me out to the hallway and lectured me about disobeying his orders. Then he escorted me out of the Hart Senate building, confiscated my sign, and told me not to return for twenty-four hours. I told him I might be back because I had a 5:15 appointment with Senator Grassley's staff.

I decided to do what I do in Iowa when I am ordered to stay out of my Federal building. I staged a Die-Out on the public sidewalk. I wrote END WAR / END TORTURE on the curb with sidewalk chalk, drew the outline of a victim's body, and laid down with a copy of the First Amendment under my heart. In Iowa, after an hour or so, I go home.

In DC, Capitol police came to ask what I was doing. I said, "My actions point to our elected officials who have the power to end these wars. Yet they keep voting more new money to continue them instead. That is criminal."

When I told the officers about my 5:15 appointment with Grassley's staff, they set about getting me back in the Hart building.

A few moments later one of those officers apologized as he handcuffed and arrested me. As my story went up the ladder back at Capitol police headquarters, someone demanded my arrest. So they took me to the station and charged me with the misdemeanor crimes of 1) defacing government property and 2) laying on an improved surface.

A DC attorney pled not guilty for me at the arraignment several weeks later. We conveniently set my trial for April 7. Since my goal at trial was to develop personal relationships with everyone involved, I decided to defend myself.

A friend and I drove the eighteen hours to DC for my trial. We arrived on time for my 9 am trial, but had to wait until 3 pm to begin. I used the time to talk with all four Capitol police officers who came to testify. When our eyes first met, I sensed the mutual joy and respect in seeing my friends again. I told them I drove all the way from my hog farm in Iowa just to see them.

The prosecutor said in her opening statement that I came with the intention of protesting. I told the judge that was an incorrect assumption. I came to the Hart building that day because I had serious business with my senators.

After the officers testified I explained to the judge that I had requested one staff person from each senate office come to testify in my defense. They refused, claiming their testimony was not relevant to my case. They have refused subpoenas at my Iowa trials also, claiming that their participation would require authorization by a resolution of the Senate.

The judge asked if I wanted to take the stand to testify. That's when I remembered to make a motion for judgment of acquittal.

The judge took it from there. From what he heard in testimony, every time I was asked to leave, I left. My charge on the paperwork in front of the judge and the prosecutor was 'failure to obey.' I came prepared to defend myself against the two original charges. No one had informed me of the change. The judge said the charge impeded my ability to do First Amendment activities and granted my motion for acquittal.

I asked if I needed to stay for paperwork. He replied, "No, go home to your hogs."

Whereupon I was arrested at the Pentagon the next day with a group of my friends in a peaceful act of civil defiance. We tried to deliver a letter to Secretary Gates demanding an end to the wars and the destruction of our environment.

The Pentagon police stormed us and whisked twenty-five of us away in a matter of minutes. Some of us were charged with disorderly conduct. We have excellent video, so it should be easy to prove in court that it was the police who were disorderly and violent.

Two days later I was arrested with another group of twenty-seven friends when we staged a Die-In in front of the White House. We sought President Obama's attention in requesting an executive order to close and investigate the notorious School of the Americas / WHINSEC. [www.soaw.org]

Two days after that we arrived back in Des Moines. I spent the day in my senator's offices in the Federal building doing Die-In #48. The result? Another $125 citation from Federal Protective Services. This time they charged me with loitering in the hallway before entering my senator's office to die. Sounds like another acquittal in the making.

Chris Gaunt is a third generation farmer and a nonviolent peacemaker from Grinnell, Iowa. She recently returned from an international peace delegation to Afghanistan. Contact her at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it