The 13 people who blocked the Colesville Road exit of the Beltway for a climate demonstration on July 4 were sentenced this week to four days in jail.
The state recommended a community service sentence without jail time for the 13 members of the Declare Emergency organization, but despite that recommendation, the organization says the judge sentenced the defendants to four days in jail, explaining the ruling as a way to deter future disobedience.
The incident happened around noon on northbound I495 in Montgomery County.
Before sentencing, the defendants presented a statement to the judge, admitting to stopping traffic on the Beltway on July 4. The defendants said, “we’re ordinary citizens,” and noted their jobs include architect, computer programmer, structural engineer, furniture maker, nurse, retiree, combat Vietnam War veteran, systems engineer, mental health worker, and teacher.
The statement also included an apology from the defendants for disrupting the lives of their fellow citizens, and their fear that the disruption to everyone’s lives will be dramatically worse if the climate emergency is not addressed immediately.
“The science is clear; humanity is facing widespread famine, flooding, forest fires, heatwaves and drought. I just can’t sit idly by while our world goes down in flames,” defendant Donna Shaunesey said.