Biography
Nancy was convicted in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Georgia under 18 U.S.C. § 1382 (entering a military reservation) for participating in the School of the Americas Watch (SOA Watch) annual nonviolent civil-disobedience action at Fort Benning, Georgia on September 2002. The action targeted the U.S. Army Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC) — formerly the School of the Americas — which had trained Latin American military officers later linked to assassinations, torture, and massacres including Romero, the four U.S. churchwomen, the Jesuits in El Salvador, El Mozote, and Plan Cóndor. Defendants typically received 3 to 6 months in federal custody plus a fine.
Photo: Style Weekly, The Protester (January 1, 2003); photographer not separately credited. Original-image crop; identified by the source article (sole subject of the featured portrait). Source: https://www.styleweekly.com/the-protester/ . Non-free image used at low resolution under this site's educational/memorial fair-use rationale; not an open-license or permission claim.
Art Laffin’s account individually names this participant among eleven people arrested on the Pentagon sidewalk during the 2012 Good Friday witness after three warnings to leave. It reports a failure-to-comply-with-a-lawful-order charge and a then-future May 18 court date. The Holy Thursday Israeli Embassy witness and the later White House witness are described separately. Contemporary source.
The September 26, 2016 Pentagon account names this activist among twenty-one people arrested for violating a lawful order while demanding accountability for war crimes. All were reported released with a future November 3 court date. That scheduled hearing does not establish a later verdict or an additional custody interval. Contemporary report, The Nuclear Resister.
The Good Friday report names Nancy Gowen among seven people arrested at the Pentagon on April 3, 2015 and processed and released several hours later. The reported charge was failure to comply with a lawful order, with a June 4 court appearance still prospective. The symbolic crucifixion script and its named historical victims are separate from the seven-person arrest roster.
Sources: Contemporary report.
Art Laffin’s participant account names Bill Frankel Streit, Art Laffin and Nancy Gowen as arrested at the Pentagon on August 6, 2013 after kneeling outside the designated protest area. They were charged with disobeying a lawful order, processed and released several hours later. The announced October 4 trial was still prospective. The Nuclear Resister, contemporary source report 632.
