BOTH sides rested their case at the close of proceedings here on Wednesday in the federal criminal trial of seven US peace activists.

As the day began the prosecution called one final witness, then wrapped up its case before the defence team presented theirs.

Six of the defendants took the stand as witnesses for the defence. The seventh, a Catholic priest named Steven Kelly, has refused to co-operate with the court system and has remained in jail since the seven entered the Kings Bay US naval submarine base in Georgia on the night of April 4 2018.

The base houses six nuclear submarines armed with Trident missiles — enough firepower, say the defendants, to destroy all life on Earth.

The defence argued that the seven activists came without malice, caused minimal damage, posed no threat and believed that they had broken no law. As the base is funded by taxpayers it is the property of the people, the defendants claimed.

Once on the base the defendants cut a lock and a fence, spray-painted messages, hung banners, removed lighted signs and poured blood on military emblems and the ground before being arrested in the early hours of April 5.

All of the blood dispersed during the protest was provided by defendant Liz McAlister, who turns 80 next month.

The prosecution went on the offensive during cross-examination. Prosecutor Greg Gilluly suggested that defendant Mark Colville was seen during video footage of his actions, viewed in court the previous day, “laughing and having a good time.” But Mr Colville said it was “the most frightful experience of my life” and that the footage had been “hard to watch.”

Earlier, also on cross-examination, US assistant attorney Karl Knoche had drawn muffled howls from the courtroom and an objection which the judge sustained, when he told defendant Clare Grady: “You just have a superior conscience.” 

Mr Knoche had suggested Ms Grady’s spray-painted message “love one another” might have been viewed as bullying by base employees forced to see it the next day. Ms Grady demurred. “That’s why I put a heart,” she said.

Martha Hennessy, the first defence witness called, is the granddaughter of Dorothy Day — the founder of the Catholic Worker movement of which all seven defendants are members.

Ms Hennessy explained how she was compelled to come to Kings Bay having learned from her grandmother to put beliefs into action and that “just saying Mass was not enough.”

There was a rare moment of humour in the courtroom when defence lawyer Fred Kopp, acting for Carmen Trotta, asked his client: “What do you do at the Doris Day House?” Mr Trotta quickly reminded him: “Doris Day was an actress.”

Each defendant affirmed that they came in peace and that they did not believe they were breaking the law.

“We believe that Trident is the biggest crime we know of,” Ms Grady said. “It is like a cocked gun pointing at the head of the planet.”

Defendant Patrick O’Neill told the jury that, in anticipation of being discovered, they had rehearsed encountering people with guns “so they would not shoot first and ask questions later, which was a concern.” 

Mr Kelly, Ms McAlister and Mr Trotta chose to enter a “lethal force” zone where they could have been shot on sight.

But the approach worked, said Mr O’Neill, because the arresting officers did not draw their guns and quickly ascertained that the intruders posed no threat.

In his testimony Mr Trotta said he found it “stunning that we were not detected” until approximately two hours after they first entered the base.

According to their testimony, it was the defendants rather than law enforcement who were the most frightened. In earlier interviews and again in court on Wednesday they spoke of their fear from the outset.

“Going through Gate 18 was one of the most frightening things in my life,” said Mr O’Neill. When asked if any of the seven had wanted to turn back, he said: “I definitely thought about it.”

When closing arguments conclude, it will be left to the jury to deliberate and decide the guilt or innocence of the seven defendants.