Concord, N.H. » A New Hampshire woman, sentenced to 35 years in prison Friday for plotting to kill federal agents during a nine-month standoff at her fortress-like home, said she will continue to fight government corruption from behind bars.

At her sentencing hearing, Elaine Brown said the judge's decision mattered little to her given her age and beliefs.

"I'm 68 years old. I don't have much time left on this Earth. But I have no doubt I will spend eternity with my husband and a myriad of others who have fought tyranny and oppression," she said, pausing several times to clear her throat but maintaining a defiant tone.

She and her husband, Ed, were holed up in their 110-acre compound in Plainfield in early 2007 after being sentenced to five years in prison for tax evasion. They were arrested nine months later by federal agents posing as supporters, and were convicted in July on a variety of weapons and conspiracy charges.

Brown insisted that she and her husband were being punished for nothing more than civil disobedience and "daring to challenge and question this massive government."

"Our state motto is 'Live free or Die,' which is what we proclaimed over and over during our resistance," she said. "I will always resist."

During the couple's second trial, Ed Brown testified that the weapons were for self-defense and that explosives in the woods around the home were to scare intruders, not harm them. But in a radio interview during the standoff, he said if authorities came in to kill him or arrest him "the chief of police in this town, the sheriff, the sheriff himself will die. This is war now, folks."

His sentencing has been delayed while he undergoes a psychiatric evaluation to determine his competency.

Elaine Brown's sentence fell between the 30 years plus one month the defense requested and the 41 to 44 years the prosecution sought.

Judge George Singal rejected Brown's civil disobedience argument, saying she was not engaged in principled dissent to laws she believed to be unjust.

"Let's not be fooled," he said. "The conduct engaged in by Mrs. Brown was purely criminal conduct. It was a threat to kill without a trial, without a hearing."