The “Harrisburg Seven,” as they came to be known, were indicted on charges of conspiring to kidnap presidential adviser Henry Kissinger and of plotting to blow up the heating tunnels under federal buildings in Washington.
Six of the seven were Irish Catholic nuns or priests, including the Rev. Philip F. Berrigan, who was serving a six-year prison term on charges of destroying draft records. The “Harrisburg Seven” denied the charges and denounced them as a government effort to destroy the Vietnam War peace movement.
Former Attorney General Ramsey Clark led the defense team for their trial during the spring of 1972. Prosecutors relied heavily on a jailhouse informer who claimed he transcribed letters describing the plot between Berrigan and Sister Elizabeth McAlister.
After a long deliberation, the jury remained hung and the defendants were freed. Berrigan died of cancer at the age of 79 in Baltimore.
