Biography
Judy Bello is a peace activist from Rochester, New York and member of Upstate Drone Action, a coalition that organized sustained nonviolent resistance to U.S. drone warfare at Hancock Field Air National Guard Base near Syracuse. On October 25, 2012, Bello was among a group of activists who entered the base to protest the MQ-9 Reaper drone program, which operates lethal drone strikes in Afghanistan and other countries from Hancock. She was convicted of disorderly conduct and sentenced to 15 days in Onondaga County Jail in a later proceeding.
Initial Hancock custody, October 25, 2012
The Upstate Coalition statement dated October 25, 2012 named Judy Bello among thirteen people still held in jail late that afternoon after a blockade of Hancock Field near Syracuse. The statement reported trespass and disorderly-conduct charges and bail between $250 and $1,000. Four other named participants had already been released on their own recognizance. It does not establish the physical release day for the thirteen still held. This initial October 2012 custody must not be extended through later 2014 sentencing or conflated with other protest cases. No new release date or measured days imprisoned are inferred from this report.
The October 25, 2012 participant report individually names Judy Bello among thirteen Hancock air-base protesters still held in jail late that afternoon after DeWitt Town Court hearings. All seventeen arrestees had been charged with trespass and disorderly conduct and served with protection orders concerning Earl A. Evans; the report says four other people were released on recognizance. It gives no final release date or completed duration for Judy Bello. This is the initial pretrial custody reported that afternoon.
The sheriff’s roster reproduced with the April 22, 2011 Hancock Field protest report individually named Judy Bello among the people arrested outside the base in the anti-drone demonstration. The article reports trespassing and obstruction-of-justice charges. It describes handcuffs, a wait, and boarding a bus intended for Justice Center processing; it does not establish an individual jail-admission or release time.
Sources: The Nuclear Resister, report 893.
