Biography
Al Zook was a father and grandfather active in the Denver Catholic Worker community in Colorado at the time of the Martin Marietta MX Witness action.
Photograph: Al Zook at a Kansas City nuclear-weapons protest in April 2026. Credit: Tom Fox. Source: The Nuclear Resister / PeaceWorks Kansas City, April 29, 2026. The original named event photograph is retained unchanged; this is a later-life image, not an image from his 1980s case.
Actual November 1985 release distinguished from later prosecution
The Martin Marietta update explicitly states Al Zook and Mary Sprunger-Froese were released from jail on November 1, 1985 on their own recognizance, following the September 27 MX-facility action. This corrects the old October-month endpoint for the initial stay; it is not a final case disposition or a later sentence-release date. Al’s separately sourced September 27 admission is retained, and the old rough one-month duration is cleared so the exact endpoints can be used. Marie Nord’s transfer to El Paso for another case is not assigned to either of them.
The Nuclear Resister No.36, December 9, 1985, original PDF pages 6.
March 1986 conviction after earlier release
The Martin MX report individually names Al Zook, Mary Sprunger-Froese and Marie Nord as found guilty March 5, 1986 of criminal mischief exceeding $300 after a two-day trial before Judge Henry Nieto. Burglary was dropped at the February pretrial hearing. The report explicitly says they were released following the verdict pending an April 28 sentencing date that was still in the future. This is not a new confirmed jail admission or final sentence date; earlier actual custody and separately verified later May proceedings remain distinct. The phrase over a month of earlier detention is not converted to an exact served-day count.
The Nuclear Resister No.38, March 10, 1986, original PDF pages 5,6.
The Palm Sunday report individually names seven Rocky Flats protesters arrested April 15, 1984 and taken to Denver County Jail. Monday April 16 bond was set. Haines and Zook refused to pay and were physically released on recognizance at their April 26 arraignment. Eleven elapsed days are established. No other earlier or later custody period is combined into this stay.
