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Fr. Louis Vitale, Fr. Stephen Kelly, Frances Elizabeth (Betsy) Lamb, Fr. Jerome Zawada, Mary Burton Riseley, Sr. Megan Rice, Dennis DuVall
LEGAL TEAM
William Quigley, Dan Gregor, Rachel Wilson, Meredith Little
Fr. Louis Vitale, OFM
With a background in sociology and a focus on the Sociology of Religion and social movements, Louie is a long time social activist.
A Franciscan priest who served as the provincial of the California Franciscan Friars from 1979 to 1988, he co-founded the Nevada Desert Experience and its enduring movement to
end nuclear testing. He recently completed twelve years as the pastor of St. Boniface Catholic Church in a low-income neighborhood in San Francisco, California.
He earned his Ph.D. in Sociology at the University of California, Los Angeles.
Louie finished serving a six month sentence for his nonviolent action in trying to draw attention to and to close the School of the Americas/Whinsec at Ft. Bennning, GA
in 2006. He is currently the "Action Advocate" for Pace e Bene and is involved in trying to raise awareness about issues of torture and US involvement in it.
Fr. Stephen Kelly, SJ
Fr. Kelly is a Jesuit priest who worked with the Jesuit Refugee service in Central America for many years. He has spent time in federal prison for
nonviolent direct disarmament actions. These Plowshares actions have brought him into contact with many in prisons who have suffered under U.S. hegemonic
policies. In an attempt to dedicate himself to conversion of nuclear weapons in the Isaiah biblical prophetic vision, he sees a connection between the rationale
to torture alleged enemies and the blatant incineration of civilians. In December, 2005, Kelly served as chaplain for Witness to Torture, a delegation of over
two dozen U.S. anti-torture activists who defied the U.S. embargo of Cuba with a peaceful march through that nation to the gates of the Guantanamo Bay naval base
and prison camp.
Frances Elizabeth (Betsy) Lamb
Extensive travel in Latin America
made Betsy aware of the violence--including torture--being perpetrated on the people there
in support of U.S. interests. In 1989, Betsy first risked arrest in nonviolent direct action when
six Jesuits, their housekeeper and her daughter were ruthlessly massacred in El Salvador by soldiers
trained at the School of the Americas.
With a M.A. in Theology, Betsy then worked for many years developing small parish-based Catholic
communities for putting faith into action. In 2004, she completed a six-month prison sentence
for her nonviolent action to close the School of the Americas/WHINSEC at Ft. Benning, Georgia.
"Retired," she is currently involved in the peace community in Bend, Oregon, serves on the Witness
for Peace Northwest board of directors, and is a war tax resister.
Fr. Jerome Zawada, OFM
Jerry is a Franciscan priest currently living in Las Vegas, Nevada. His first years in the priesthood were spent
in the Philippine Islands. From the 1980's through to the present, he has joined others in acting
to end torture, the nuclear threat and the wars in the Middle East and other forms of violence both
locally and abroad. Among his involvements were the sanctuary movement, joining Voices in the
Wilderness for several months in Iraq, and working to close the U.S. Army's School of the Americas.
His activities have earned him 4 and 1/2 years in federal and county prisons and jails.
Mary Burton Riseley
Mary is a fourth generation New Mexican, a Quaker and a war tax resister. She has been active in peace
and anti-nuclear issues since 1970. She was the co-founder of the Los Alamos Study Group in 1990,
and spent five weeks in Iraq with Voices in the Wilderness in the winter of 2003. She's a member
of an agricultural land trust community on the Gila River in Cliff, New Mexico. She has one wonderful
daughter who does community garden support work in New York City.
Sr. Megan Rice
Megan is a Sister of the Holy Child who worked as a missionary in Nigeria and Ghana for 34 years. She currently lives in Las Vegas, Nevada. Megan is actively involved in anti-nuclear and peace
efforts, and works with Nevada Desert Experience, an organization that was formed to stop nuclear weapons testing in the Nevada desert.
She has spent time in prison for her nonviolent actions to close the School of the Americas/WHINSEC at Ft. Benning, Georgia.
Dennis DuVall
Dennis is a long-time peace and anti-nuclear activist who lives in Prescott, Arizona. He has been involved in the no nukes movement (Crabshell Alliance, Live Without Trident), citizen action (Seattle Light Brigade - VISTA, director of Citizens for Improvement of Nursing Homes), Native American rights (Leonard Peltier Defense Committee, prison sponsor of Indians of All Tribes, Big Mountain Resistance Camp) and the peace movement (Prescott Peace Action, Palestinian Support).
William P. Quigley
Meredith has had a law office in Tucson since 1991, practicing in criminal
appeals and estate planning/probate. A graduate of the University of Arizona
law school, she served as law clerk to Hon. James D. Hathaway, AZ Court of
Appeals, Div. II. She received a PhD in musicology from Stanford University in
1967, has been a faculty member at several universities and is the author of two
books and numerous articles on baroque music and dance. She also plays the
harpsichord and teaches classes and workshops in nonviolence.
Bill Quigley is a law professor and Director of the Law Clinic and the Gillis Long Poverty
Law Center at Loyola University New Orleans. Bill has been an active public interest lawyer since 1977. Bill has served as counsel with a wide range of public interest organizations on issues
including Katrina social justice issues, public housing, voting rights, death penalty, living wage, civil liberties, educational reform, constitutional rights and civil disobedience. Bill has
litigated numerous cases with the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., the Advancement Project, and with the ACLU of Louisiana, for which he served as General Counsel for over 15
years.
Bill teaches in the Law Clinic and teaches courses in Law and Poverty and Catholic Social Teaching and Law. His research and writing has focused on living wage, the right to a job, legal services, community
organizing as part of effective lawyering, civil disobedience, high stakes testing, international human rights, revolutionary lawyering and a continuing history of how the laws have regulated the poor since
colonial times. He has served as an advisor on human and civil rights to Human Rights Watch USA, Amnesty International USA, and served as the Chair of the Louisiana Advisory Committee to the US Commission on
Civil Rights. Bill received the 2006 Camille Gravel Civil Pro Bono Award from the Federal Bar Association New Orleans Chapter. Bill received the 2006 Stanford Law School National Public Service Award and the
2006 National Lawyers Guild Ernie Goodman award. He has also been an active volunteer lawyer with School of the Americas Watch and the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti.
Bill is the author of Ending Poverty As We Know It: Guaranteeing A Right to A Job At A Living Wage (Temple University Press, 2003). In 2003, he was named the Pope Paul VI National Teacher of Peace by Pax
Christi USA and is the recipient of the 2004 SALT Teaching Award presented by the Society of American Law Teachers.
Dan is an activist attorney whose practice includes protest defense, criminal
defense, immigration, and human and civil rights law. This has included assisting
and representing activists involved with the annual School of the Americas Watch
vigil, the Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride, people being harassed by Green Scare
grand juries, and many other activist causes. Dan is a graduate of Northeastern
University School of Law and Hampshire College. He is an active member of the
National Lawyers Guild, and was recently elected National Vice President of the
Guild.
Rachel is an attorney for a Tucson, Arizona non-profit that represents torture victims.
She has a PhD in Psychology and is fluent in Spanish and Russian. She believes that
torture only happens in situations where people are allowed to feel that they are not
responsible for their actions. The way to end torture, then, is for
all of us to take responsibility for stopping it.
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