A Montpelier college student has been convicted of protesting the death penalty on the steps of U.S. Supreme Court in Washington.
Rachel Lawlor and seven others were tried last week in Washington on charges they held a 30-foot banner on the steps of the court on January 30 that said Stop Executions.
Lawlor and the others were held for about 32 hours after their arrests. They were sentenced to time served.
It is against the law to demonstrate on the steps of the court.
Lawlor is a founding member of Vermonters Against the Death Penalty, which was formed two years ago at the start of the federal death penalty trial of Donald Fell, the man convicted of abducting and killing a North Clarendon woman in 2000.