In “Shocking Defeat” For Prosecutors, Anti-Government Militant Leader Ammon Bundy And Six Followers Acquited

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In a shocking verdict, seven anti-government militants including Ammon Bundy, were acquitted in federal court of conspiracy charges stemming from their role in the armed takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon last winter in protest of the Bureau of Land Management’s treatment of the Hammond Family, as supporters cheered outside the courthouse.

Ammon Bundy, Shawna Cox, David Lee Fry, Jeff Wayne Banta, Neil Wampler and Kenneth Medenbach were found not guilty on all counts, however the court could not reach a verdict on Ryan Bundy regarding a theft charge.

clockwise from top left: Ryan Bundy, Ammon Bundy, Brian Cavalier, Peter Santilli,
Shawna Cox, Ryan Payne and Joseph O’Shaughnessy,

As Intellihub adds, the group’s leader Ammon Bundy will remain in custody to later stand trial for another high-profile standoff which took place at the Bundy Ranch in Nevada where members of militia and the BLM pointed loaded rifles at each other.

The outcome marked a stinging defeat for federal prosecutors and law enforcement in a trial the defendants sought to turn into a pulpit for airing their opposition to U.S. government control over millions of acres of public lands in the West. Oregon Governor Kate Brown (D), who ordered the FBI to act swiftly during the occupation, was also unhappy with the verdict, nor were other local officials, like Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward who some have accused of violating the U.S. Constitution during the occupation.

Bundy and others, including his brother and co-defendant Ryan Bundy, cast the 41-day occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge as a patriotic act of civil disobedience. Prosecutors called it a lawless scheme to seize federal property by force.

The court sided with the defendants.

Jubilant supporters of the Bundys thronged the courthouse after the verdict, hailing the trial’s outcome as vindication of a political ideology that is profoundly distrustful of federal authority and challenges its legitimacy.

“We’re so grateful to the jurors who weren’t swayed by the nonsense that was going on,” defendant Shawna Cox told reporters. “God said we weren’t guilty. We weren’t guilty of anything.”

As the seven-week-long trial in the U.S. District Court in Portland climaxed, U.S. marshals wrestled to the floor Ammon Bundy’s lawyer, Marcus Mumford, who was tased after he argued heatedly with the judge over the terms of his client’s continued detention.

The Bundys still face assault, conspiracy and other charges from a separate armed standoff in 2014 at the Nevada ranch of their father, Cliven Bundy, triggered when federal agents seized his cattle for his failure to pay grazing fees for his use of public land.

The outcome of the Oregon trial clearly shocked many in the packed courtroom. Attorneys exchanged looks of astonishment with the defendants, then hugged their clients as the not-guilty verdicts were read amid gasps from spectators according to Reuters.

Outside the courthouse, supporters celebrated by shouting “Hallelujah” and reading passages from the U.S. Constitution. One man rode his horse, named Lady Liberty, in front of the courthouse carrying an American flag.

The verdict came after four days of deliberations. One juror, a former federal employee, was dismissed over questions of bias on Wednesday and replaced by a substitute. The 12-member panel found all seven defendants – six men and a woman – not guilty of the most serious charge, conspiracy to impede federal officers through intimidation, threats or force. That charge alone carried a maximum penalty of six years in prison.

The defendants also were acquitted of illegal possession of firearms in a federal facility and theft of government property, except in the case of Ryan Bundy, for whom jurors were deadlocked on the charge of theft. The takeover of the wildlife refuge was initially sparked by outrage over the plight of two imprisoned Oregon ranchers the occupiers believed had been unfairly treated in an arson case.

The militants claimed they were also protesting larger grievances at what they saw as government tyranny.

As we reporeted at the time, the standoff led to the shooting death of one protester, Robert “LaVoy” Finicum, by police shortly after the Bundy brothers were arrested, and left parts of the refuge badly damaged.

More than two dozen people, in all, have been criminally charged in the occupation, and a second group of defendants is due to stand trial in February. Mumford told reporters he believed Ammon and Ryan Bundy would remain in custody for the time being but may be transferred to Nevada.

Four co-defendants were free on their own recognizance during the trial. A fifth, David Fry, the last of the occupiers to surrender in February, was released hours after the verdict.

As Shepard Ambellas notes, this case is a major victory for ranchers and Americans in general who surprisingly may still have rights.

Brian Cavalier, Ammon’s personal bodyguard, was sentenced earlier in the week to time served, 9 months, “but remains under a U.S. Marshals Service hold, and is expected to be transferred to Nevada, where he faces another federal indictment stemming from the 2014 armed standoff with federal agents outside controversial rancher Cliven Bundy’s ranch near Bunkerville, Nevada,” according to a report by OregonLive.com.

 

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Mark
Mark

Well another day you won’t here anything about Wili Leeks. Certainly not on NPR.

Actually this story is going to go on as top headlines up until election time.

Homer
Homer

I bet the federal judge was livid! This was suppose to be a slam-dunk for the prosecution. I bet those prosecutors looking on line for another job as their career is now toast.

Mark
Mark

It’s pretty sad that this is going to be the only White Man bites Dog that the media can come up with in all this time.

Anonymous
Anonymous

Let’s see how long the ones that have been released stay out of jail.

And if the ones that haven’t ever get out.

Government has many ways to get around a single jury verdict when they want to get someone that has opposed them, and I imagine the time, complications and expense of these charges have already destroyed their lives even if they have temporarily beaten them.

Of course, Obama might pardon them the way he has all the drug gang lords he’s been pardoning lately.

Homer
Homer

I have always held the belief that if a jury bring in an acquittal or a hung jury that the government must restore the defendant to his prior state, economically. Multiple trials depletes the defendants resources to the point where he is represented by a pimple faced public defender with 6 mo experience. The government has unlimited resources, despite their claims to the contrary.

harry p.

keep a look for these guys in the news, if history is an indicator, they might be considering “suicide” by shooting themselves in the back of the head twice.

i wonder how much of this verdict had to do with the fact that 15 fbi CI’s were used and any fishiness involved with their cooperation.

overthecliff
overthecliff

They don’t have the balls to just lock you up without a trial,YET. Jury Nullification is still a weapon for us. Yeah, JURY NULLIFICATION.

Rainman
Rainman

This is a devastating defeat for the govt. Easily the gov had their best case and best jury pool in Portland. Hell, they kicked in the door of a federal building while carrying a shit load of guns. The Portland jury pool is a radical left wing enclave who hate John Wayne.
The case in Nevada will be a shitstorm for the govt. The charge is basically stealing grass from turtles by not paying their grazing fees. The fact that the govt was trying to shut down the last rancher in Clark county will not be lost on the jury pool that is radically more conservative than the one in Portland. The last thing the govt wants is a huge public trial where the defendants lawyers get unlimited discovery on a case they have little chance of winning. Expect a plea bargain where the Bundy clan cops to a minor infraction to save the govt lots of embarrassment and the Bundys a lot of lawyer fees.
Rainman….

Jason Calley
Jason Calley

After the “not guilty” verdict was announced, the defense lawyer requested that Bundy be set free. Instead the lawyer was tased, arrested and dragged from the court by federal marshals.
http://www.oregonlive.com/oregon-standoff/2016/10/as_trial_ends_surreal_scene_le.html#incart_maj-story-1

Anonymous
Anonymous

It’s not good to piss off the Court after you’ve won a case they wanted you to lose.

Hope he doesn’t have to go before that Judge again on another case.

Back in PA Mike

A God Bless! At least we still have honest jurors.

diogenes
diogenes

Meanwhile the governmeng got away with killing an innocent man.

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