Biography
Steve Baggarly is a Catholic Worker at the Sadako Peace House in Norfolk, Virginia, and a participant in multiple Plowshares actions targeting the U.S. naval base at Norfolk and other Atlantic-fleet nuclear infrastructure. He has served several federal prison terms for symbolic disarmament actions at the Norfolk Naval Base and at the Pentagon. The Prince of Peace Plowshares was a six-person nonviolent direct-disarmament action at Bath Iron Works in Bath, Maine on February 14, 1997. Philip Berrigan, Susan Crane, Stephen Kelly S.J., Mark Colville, Steve Baggarly, and Tom Lewis-Borbely entered the shipyard and hammered on, and poured blood on, the Tomahawk cruise-missile vertical launching system installed on the destroyer USS The Sullivans (DDG-68) under construction. They were charged in U.S. District Court for the District of Maine with conspiracy and damage to government property, with prosecutors alleging $28,000 in damage. All six were convicted; in addition to prison, each received two years of supervised release and a $4,000 restitution fine.
Separate Y-12 custody episodes: The Nuclear Resister's gathering report and subsequent legal update identify Baggarly's July 5, 2010 arrest, overnight detention and July 6 recognizance release; later remand after the May 11, 2011 trial; and January 6, 2012 actual release. DOJ's September 20, 2011 notice supplies the eight-month sentence and verdict. These are separate from the unsupported legacy aggregate. Photo: jpKERNODLE, Baggarly under arrest July 5, 2010, as expressly captioned in the participant sentencing report. That report's September 19 heading differs from DOJ and the consolidated update; the discrepancy is retained. No open-license claim is made.
Art Laffin’s March 29, 2024 report identifies this participant among four arrested after blocking a Pentagon entrance during the Good Friday witness. Pentagon police processed and released those arrested. The report gives charges of interfering with government agency functions and disobeying a lawful order. Its June 6 court date was prospective, not a documented hearing outcome. No overnight jail admission or additional imprisonment total is inferred.
Source: The Nuclear Resister, report 0075.
The Nuclear Resister individually names Steve Baggarly among eighteen people arrested on November 30, 2023 after blocking entrances to the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in New York, demanding U.S. signature of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. The report states that the eighteen were charged with disorderly conduct, processed within a couple of hours and released with a December 20 court date. The court date was prospective; no subsequent outcome, jail admission or complete day of imprisonment is inferred. The Nuclear Resister, December 1, 2023.
Art Laffin’s report individually names Steve Baggarly among eight arrested at the Pentagon’s December 27, 2019 Holy Innocents witness. Pentagon police processed them on two charges and released all within several hours. The announced February 20 court date was prospective, not a completed outcome.
Art Laffin’s account individually names Steve Baggarly among six people arrested at the Pentagon on April 19, 2019. Police took them to the Pentagon Police Center, processed them and physically released them within two hours, charging violation of a lawful order. Brief police processing is not recorded as jail admission or a full prison day. The July 18 court appearance was scheduled, not a reported trial outcome.
The Nuclear Resister’s April 20, 2014 report names Steve Baggarly among six people arrested at Langley Air Force Base at the end of a Holy Week peace walk. On Good Friday they attempted to deliver a letter challenging drone warfare and blocked the gate with peace banners. The report says Platte and Baggarly received charges of failure to walk on the left side of the street and summonses for a May 27 hearing; that hearing was prospective. No individual jail admission, exact physical release day, later outcome or custody duration is supplied. Contemporary report, April 20, 2014.
Art Laffin’s participant report individually names Steve Baggarly among seven people arrested at the Pentagon on December 28, 2017, after trying to deliver the nuclear-weapons prohibition treaty and refusing orders to leave a restricted checkpoint. They were taken to the Pentagon Police center, charged with disobeying a lawful order and released. The report does not individually establish jail admission or a precise physical release day; the announced February 1 hearing is not a verdict or imposed sentence.
The contemporary Jerry Berrigan Memorial Drone Blockade report individually names Steve Baggarly among twelve people arrested at Hancock Field on January 28, 2016. It reports one misdemeanor and two violations for each participant without naming those offenses. An individual jail admission, physical release, imposed sentence and completed custody duration are not established by this account. Contemporary report, The Nuclear Resister.
The contemporary report and John LaForge’s firsthand account individually identify Steve Baggarly among five activists taken into custody after entering Büchel Air Base to oppose deployment of U.S. B61 nuclear weapons in July 2017. The group entered after nightfall on July 17; the narrative then describes events around 1 a.m. and a meeting with the base commander at 3 a.m. They were searched, photographed and released without charges after about an hour in detention. Because the chronology crosses midnight, no exact calendar arrest or release day is assigned. The reported temporary base detention does not establish a prison admission or completed day in jail. Contemporary report, The Nuclear Resister.
Contemporary reports of the May 11, 2011 Y-12 trial describe a federal jury trespass conviction arising from the July 5, 2010 action in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. Judge Bruce Guyton presided, and Jeff Theodore and Melissa Milliken acted for the prosecution. Steve Baggarly was among seven defendants immediately taken into custody after declining continued supervised release pending sentencing. A June 3 update reports Steve Baggarly transferred to the Irwin County Detention Center in Georgia on May 28.
Sources: The Nuclear Resister, report 886; The Nuclear Resister, report 887; The Nuclear Resister, report 889.
The September 2016 report identifies Steve Williams-Baggarly as arrested for trespass during the Oceana air show, held for a couple of hours and released. The article places the event on the September 10–11 weekend; its later publication date is not the arrest date. A possible six-month penalty and the scheduled hearing were prospective. Contemporary report, The Nuclear Resister.
The December 2016 report names this activist among sixteen arrested at the Pentagon witness on December 28 for disobeying a lawful order and subsequently released from processing. Cardboard figures of Daniel Berrigan carried at the action were memorial cutouts, not an additional arrestee. The article supplies no measured jail interval. Contemporary report, The Nuclear Resister.
The prisoner list in issue 4 of the Danish peace newsletter Fred og frihed/Ikkevold for 1997 reports a 13-month imposed prison term for Steve Baggarly after the Maine Tomahawk-launcher Plowshares action. The list also reports two years of supervised release and a $4,000 financial penalty for each of the six defendants. These are the penalties reported at the time, rather than a measurement of completed imprisonment. Fred og frihed/Ikkevold, 1997 compilation, issue 4 prisoner list.
