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Iowa peace activist Frank Cordaro has received 30 days in the Polk County jail after pleading guilty to criminal trespass.

Cordaro and two other defendants -- Renee Espeland and Aaron Glynn, a senior at Hoover High School -- appeared today to face charges following the Sept. 21 occupation of Sen. Chuck Grassley's office. The three adults had joined the high school student-led occupation that grew out of the student group "Students Beyond War." It was a planned act of civil disobedience in protest to the Iraq war and to demand that Grassley stop voting to fund war operations.

The judge, according to an eye witness, responded harshly in an attempt to deter further acts of civil resistance. Espeland and Glynn each received fines of over $300 and were released. Cordaro was taken into custody, his sentence beginning immediately.

Peace activists throughout the state are now considering an organized response.