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    Bunkerville Trial News

    February 9, 2017 - 10:46am

    Las Vegas jury hears opening statements in first Bunkerville standoff trial

    Cattle rancher Cliven Bundy’s armed stand against the federal government was either an assault on law enforcement by self-described militiamen or a freedom festival led by cowboys at home on the range, depending on who was addressing jurors Thursday in a crowded Las Vegas courtroom.

    The April 2014 standoff in Bunkerville followed a five-word order the 70-year-old rancher gave to hundreds of protesters at a morning rally: “Cowboys, go get ‘er done.”

    What happened after those remarks was the subject of much contention when the trial of six people charged as Bundy’s co-conspirators opened Thursday in federal court.

    In a dramatic opening statement, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Myhre gave the jury a vivid description of how the six people on trial complied with Bundy’s request. He said the gunmen assumed tactical positions — on a highway overpass or the high banks of a dried-up wash — in preparation for battle against Bureau of Land Management agents stationed in the sandy ditch below them.


    The terrain acted like a funnel, and federal officers who were executing a court order to seize Bundy’s cattle were at the bottom of it, Myrhe said. He showed jurors pictures of the six defendants, armed and wearing tactical gear.

    ‘TOO MANY GUNS’

    He described the BLM agents as cornered and afraid, with nothing but a flimsy metal gate separating them from an angry mob of hundreds of people, dozens of horses and “too many guns to count.”

    Protesters did not listen to verbal instructions, and authorities could not use pepper spray for fear of starting a gunfight, Myhre told jurors. Outgunned and outnumbered, the federal officers had no choice but to release the cattle and head home, he said.

    Bundy for decades let his cattle roam on hundreds of thousands of acres of federal land. He refused to pay grazing fees or to acknowledge court orders to remove the animals, Myhre said. When BLM agents started cattle impoundment operations, the rancher vowed to stop them at any cost.

    “He got what he wanted, and he got it at the end of a rifle barrel,” Myrhe said. “These defendants knowingly and willingly supplied the barrel.”

    Defense attorneys countered the government’s description of a planned assault with claims that the standoff resulted from a miscommunication and excessively forceful federal agents.

    Bundy’s instructions to protesters — to go retrieve his cattle and “get ‘er done” — came after the local sheriff announced that BLM agents had left town, defense teams argued. They said protesters traveled 5 miles from the rally site to the impoundment site for a ceremonious release of the cattle.

    ‘FLAGS AND COWBOYS’


    “It was festive. It was flags and cowboys,” defendant Todd Engel, an Idaho resident who is representing himself, said in his opening statement. “It doesn’t get more down home than that.”

    Jurors’ attention was locked on Engel, who was dressed in a plaid, button-down shirt and spoke in a calm, even tone. Engel said he and others arrived on the Interstate 15 overpass and realized federal authorities were not only still assembled in the ditch, but had their rifles raised and aimed at protesters.

    Engel was photographed in a prone position, pointing a rifle through a crack in the jersey barrier. He said he was down in that position for about 10 minutes to rest his back following a recent surgery.

    Defense attorney Terrence Jackson, representing Gregory Burleson, said authorities shouted a “mumble jumble” of inaudible instructions at protesters when they arrived. Protesters filled the bridge and also streamed into the low-lying wash near the impoundment site.

    “If you ever think of how ants communicated, that’s what happened at this point,” said defense attorney Todd Leventhal, who represents Idaho resident Scott Drexler. “There was no conspiracy. There was no planning. There was no organization at all.”

    Defense attorneys showed the jury a photo and two videos that were widely shared online in the days before the standoff. They said online postings, rather than a call from Bundy for militiamen, were the reason their clients traveled to Bunkerville.

    The first was a “First Amendment corral in the middle of the desert,” Leventhal said, pointing to a photo of the plastic orange fencing that cordoned off the area limiting where people could protest. Defense attorneys also showed videos of BLM authorities using a stun gun on Bundy’s son and knocking a middle-aged grandmother to the ground.

    ‘NOTHING TO GAIN’

    “At that point, I knew something had to be done,” Engel said. “I had nothing to gain … but I knew somehow I just had to go there.”

    Engel said he knew nothing about the Bundy family or the BLM when he and two friends drove 12 hours to Bunkerville.

    “I didn’t conspire with anybody because I didn’t know anybody,” he said.

    Attorneys for Eric Parker and Richard Lovelin chose not to give opening statements Thursday, but Parker’s lawyer, Jess Marchese, sent a bold statement to jurors by coming to court dressed in a cobalt blue suit with a flashy Uncle Sam tie. Defense attorneys are expected to reference constitutional rights to freely assemble and to bear arms throughout the duration of the trial. The government plans to call its first witness Monday.

    Prosecutors characterize the six men standing trial as the “least culpable” among 17 co-conspirators facing trial on extortion, assault, threats and other charges. Engel, Lovelin, Burleson, Parker, Drexler and Steven Stewart have tried to distance themselves from the Bundy family in an effort to convince jurors that they were not part of a conspiracy.

    The remaining defendants, including Bundy, will be tried in two subsequent trials.
    http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/bu...standoff-trial

    FEB 13 2017 - 5:54PM

    Testimony begins in Bunkerville standoff trial in Las Vegas

    Defiant cattle rancher Cliven Bundy tossed a court order out the window of his truck and tried to pay grazing fees to Clark County instead of the federal government, a Justice Department lawyer testified Monday as prosecutors began to establish the chain of events that led to an armed standoff in Bunkerville in 2014.

    Justice Department lawyer Terry Petrie took the witness stand Monday in the federal trial of six people accused of conspiring with Bundy to block the Bureau of Land Management from impounding the rancher’s cattle.

    Petrie testified that several months before the cattle roundup, Bundy told him that “if the federal government showed up to impound his cattle … he would then physically respond.”

    “He said he would be soliciting the assistance of his neighbors, his friends and his supporters,” Petrie said.


    Petrie read from court documents dating to the early ‘90s that detail Bundy’s various attempts to flout federal court orders regarding his livestock. The testimony provided jurors a snapshot of the legal saga that resulted in the politically charged, armed confrontation.

    In response to a mid-1990s court ruling, Bundy accused the BLM of harassing him, threw the court order out the window of his truck and drove away, Petrie testified. He said Bundy’s son then picked up the order, tore it into pieces and threw it on the ground.

    Petrie testified that the rancher mailed a check for nearly $2,000 to Clark County in 1995. The amount, if paid to the proper agency, would have covered one year of grazing fees. But Bundy, who previously has said that the county sheriff has jurisdiction over the federal lands, refused to pay the federal government. Clark County returned the check to Bundy, Petrie said.

    ETHICS ACCUSATIONS

    Earlier in the day, a defense attorney representing one of the men on trial announced he recently received an unredacted version of a report that accuses a BLM agent of several conduct violations, including using his position to obtain sold-out Burning Man tickets in 2015.

    Todd Leventhal, who represents defendant Scott Drexler, previously had cited suspicions that the federal agent targeted in the report is the same person who oversaw the cattle impoundment in Bunkerville.

    “The unredacted version is quite scary, your honor,” Leventhal said.

    The attorney said five or six other government witnesses were mentioned in the report, in addition to the special agent who is targeted. That agent was not named in open court Monday, but court filings suggest that defense attorneys believe it is Special Agent in Charge Dan Love.

    U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro did not immediately rule on the issue. BLM Agent Rand Stover, who testified Monday, is among the people whom Leventhal indicated he would like to ask about the report, but court adjourned before defense lawyers had a chance to cross-examine the witness.


    In questioning Stover Monday, First Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Myhre tried to chip away at defense contentions that federal authorities restricted protesters’ First Amendment rights to freely assemble when they created a designated First Amendment area near the cattle roundup.

    Stover testified under direct examination that the public lands were closed during the impoundment operation to ensure safety.

    He said the “First Amendment area,” which was marked with orange cattle tape, was intended to create a safe place for the public “where they could see what was going on.”
    http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/bu...rial-las-vegas

    February 14, 2017 - 1:43pm

    BLM agent tells Las Vegas jury that Bundy supporters posed threat

    Supporters of Cliven Bundy posed a significant threat to federal authorities who tried to impound the rancher’s cattle, a Bureau of Land Management agent testified Tuesday in the trial of six men charged in the 2014 armed standoff in Bunkerville.

    “In my opinion, their emotions were high, and they were using strong language to challenge our authority,” BLM special agent Rand Stover testified.

    The agent was answering a question about the threat of violence in the hours leading up to the standoff.

    First Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Myhre on Tuesday drew hours of testimony from Stover about the menacing nature of Bundy’s supporters. Myhre asked him about specific details, such as the presence of a gas mask attached to one protester’s belt, in an effort to convince the jury that law enforcement officers felt threatened and feared for their lives.


    The six men on trial are accused of conspiring with Bundy to block the BLM from seizing the cattle from a federal grazing allotment near Bundy’s ranch in Bunkerville.

    Defense lawyers portrayed the interactions between protesters and the government in a different light when it was their turn to cross-examine Stover on Tuesday.

    In questioning the witness, they played videos to support their claims that law enforcement authorities were the aggressors against a peaceful group of protesters exercising their constitutional rights. One of the videos depicted law enforcement officers using a stun gun and a police dog in detaining one of Bundy’s sons several days before the standoff.

    Defense attorney Todd Leventhal, who represents O. Scott Drexler, grilled Stover with a pointed line of questioning in an apparent attempt to reveal misconduct by the witness’ supervisor, special agent in charge Dan Love, who oversaw the impoundment operation at Bundy’s ranch in 2014.

    Previous court filings have revealed that defense attorneys suspect him to be the same person who was accused of misconduct in a recent report from the Office of the Inspector General. The report slammed an unnamed BLM agent for bullying his subordinates and for using his position to obtain sold-out Burning Man tickets.

    Leventhal recently obtained an unredacted version of the investigative report and said this week that it references up to six government witnesses who are involved in the Bunkerville case. The defense attorney’s cross-examination Tuesday suggested that Stover was one of them.

    “If you ever saw SAC Dan Love do something illegal, would you file a complaint?”

    “Yes,” Stover said.

    “If you ever saw SAC Love do something unethical, would you file an internal complaint?”


    A long pause followed. Stover bowed his head and nodded slowly.

    “I’d like to think that I would,” he said.

    “It’s a yes or a no,” the attorney said.

    “Well, I had other problems,” Stover said.

    After prosecutors objected, U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro did not allow the witness to elaborate.

    The redacted version of the report included allegations that the unnamed agent intimidated employees who may have reported his wrongdoing. Some employees said they did not come forward with allegations sooner for fear of retaliation.
    http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/bu...s-posed-threat


    February 15, 2017 - 2:37pm

    Las Vegas jury views video of April 2014 rally led by Cliven Bundy

    n response to news that federal agents decided to stop rounding up his cattle, rancher Cliven Bundy grabbed a microphone and delivered an ultimatum to the local sheriff.

    “Disarm the park service,” he bellowed at a morning rally on April 12, 2014, after Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie announced that the Bureau of Land Management would cease a cattle impoundment operation that resulted from decades of unpaid grazing fees.

    “We want those arms delivered … in one hour,” Bundy declared, with the open range behind him and scores of supporters, some of them armed, before him. He also called on the sheriff to “take your county bulldozers and tear down those entry places … where they make us pay the fees” to national parks.

    A video of the speech was played in federal court Wednesday during the trial of six men accused of conspiring with Bundy. Prosecutors played several video clips from that day as they tried to piece together for jurors the events that led to the armed standoff in Bunkerville in April 2014. The videos were shot by members of the public who attended the protests.


    After an hour passed, Bundy formulated a plan.

    “Let’s go get those cattle back,” he told supporters. “All we gotta do is open the gate and let them run out, and they’ll be home.”

    Some protesters would block the freeway overpass for safety. Dozens of cowboys on horseback would travel up Power Line road. They would meet under the Toquop Bridge, adjacent to the impoundment site where the BLM had corralled the cattle.

    “Get ‘er done, cowboys,” Bundy said. “Let’s go get ‘er done.”



    Federal authorities had been watching Bundy closely in the days leading up to the standoff. Undercover BLM agents had posed as Bundy supporters to “continually assess the threat,” BLM Agent Adam Sully testified Wednesday. State and federal law enforcement officers were surveilling the scene from planes and helicopters.

    Video shot from the highway overpass shows protesters arriving under the bridge carrying flags, with women, dogs and children in tow. The horsemen lined up in front of the crowd. Ahead of them was the gate to the impoundment site. Behind the gate were roughly 20 armed BLM agents, weapons ready.

    Some people — such as the six men standing trial — stayed on high ground, guns in hand. The crowd was raucous and vocal.

    Most of the videos were played during testimony from Alex Ellis, a teenager who learned of the protests online and drove from Utah the day before to see the events live. Court adjourned Wednesday before defense attorneys had the chance to cross-examine Ellis.


    Sully, who was one of the undercover agents, testified that the day before the standoff, Bundy said: “The range war starts tomorrow.”

    In cross-examination of Sully, defense attorneys were quick to point out that no shots were fired. They attacked law enforcement actions in the days preceding the confrontation to support their claims that federal agents were the aggressors.

    “Would it be safe to say that the only thing hurt out there was the BLM agents’ feelings?” defendant Todd Engel, who is representing himself, asked. U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro did not let the witness answer.
    http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/bu...d-cliven-bundy

    February 18, 2017 - 7:53pm

    Letter names BLM agent in charge of Bundy case as target of federal ethics probe

    Bureau of Land Management agent Dan Love, a central figure in the government’s case against rancher Cliven Bundy, has been identified as the target of a federal ethics probe in a letter two congressional lawmakers sent to the Office of the Inspector General.

    The Feb. 14 letter, sent by U.S. Reps. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, and Blake Farenthold, R-Texas, accuses Love of scrubbing emails, influencing witnesses and deleting hundreds of documents the day before a congressional investigative committee issued a records request. Chaffetz and Farenthold sit on the U.S. House Committee for Oversight and Government Reform.

    The letter asks the Office of the Inspector General to further investigate Love following its release last month of an investigative report that slammed the agent for numerous ethics violations. The report found Love used his position to obtain tickets to a sold-out Burning Man festival, improperly intervened in the hiring process of a friend and bullied employees who could have reported his wrongdoing.

    The latest allegations are likely to fuel defense arguments in the trial against six men charged as Bundy’s co-conspirators in a 2014 armed standoff in Bunkerville. The incident occurred when the BLM, supervised by Love, tried to seize Bundy’s cattle.


    Defense lawyers previously have suggested that Love is the target of the inspector general’s report, and have tried to introduce evidence related to the ethics accusations. They argue the standoff occurred because law enforcement officers acted improperly and aggressively.

    In the letter, Chaffetz and Farenthold accuse Love of destroying federal records, tampering with witnesses and obstructing a congressional investigation. They cite unreleased records, including interviews with other BLM employees who were questioned during the inspector general’s investigation.

    “After receiving a congressional request for documents, the witness heard Dan Love ‘say to (another BLM employee] that [said BLM employee) needed to make sure that he scrubbed the emails before he sent them, you know, flagging anything that looked inappropriate so that (Dan Love) could remove them if he needed,” the letter says.

    The letter also accuses Love of trying to influence the investigation’s outcome by giving another employee “talking points” before an interview with investigators.

    The letter does not identify the other employees interviewed about Love’s alleged misconduct. But defense attorney Todd Leventhal said last week that the investigative report named as many as five or six BLM employees who are on the government’s witness list in the Bunkerville standoff trial. Leventhal has said the other employees “aided and abetted” Love; First U.S. Attorney Steven Myhre maintains they were simply questioned as part of the investigation.

    Myhre’s opening statement to jurors included references to Love’s efforts to de-escalate the standoff. The prosecutor since has said he does not plan to call Love, who was the special agent in charge, as a witness.

    Chaffetz and Farenthold did not disclose what prompted them to investigate Love. But Chaffetz, who leads the House Oversight Committee, has introduced legislation to strip the BLM of its law enforcement functions. During the 2014 standoff with the BLM, Bundy called for participants to “disarm the National Park Service.”
    http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/bu...l-ethics-probe

    February 28, 2017 - 3:42pm

    BLM ranger testifies that he turned off body cam as Bunkerville standoff escalated

    As the 2014 standoff in Bunkerville escalated and authorities started to fear a gunfight, Bureau of Land Management Ranger Patrick Apley turned off his body camera.

    “I was mad,” Apley testified Tuesday in the trial against six men accused of conspiring with rancher Cliven Bundy to block federal authorities from seizing cattle. “I felt like we were going to be in a firefight, and I really didn’t want to record that.”

    Apley’s body camera recorded the events of April 12, 2014, until the situation reached a boiling point, with armed protesters on one side and armed law enforcement officers on the other. Testimony at the trial has revealed that both sides feared a spray of gunfire on the open range.

    “It’s gonna get Western,” Apley said before he stopped recording. Federal prosecutors played the body camera footage in court Tuesday.


    First Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Myhre asked Apley why he didn’t want to record a gunfight.

    “I didn’t want to record any mayhem,” Apley replied.

    Defense attorney Jess Marchese, who represents defendant Eric Parker, hammered the ranger for that decision.

    “What’s the purpose of having a body camera?” Marchese asked.

    “The purpose of a body camera is to record the incident, however, I was under a lot of stress at that point and I just didn’t want to continue with all that,” Apley said.

    In direct examination Tuesday, Myhre, the lead prosecutor, extracted testimony from Apley about the nature and severity of the threat protesters posed to federal law enforcement. As the situation grew increasingly tense — but before federal agents decided to abandon the operation and head home — Apley spent 10 to 15 minutes standing with several other agents behind the bed of a pickup truck, their weapons drawn.

    When asked to rate the threat level on a scale of one to 10, Apley said it was “about a 7” — which he said compared only to his combat days.

    BLM agents eventually left the site, passing by protesters who Apley said were “flipping us off, telling us to go home.”

    Myhre asked Apley how the events in Bunkerville had affected his ability to carry on with his duties.


    “I’m more aware of my surroundings now,” the ranger said. “I’m a little bit more leery of people carrying guns, and how they’re carrying guns.”

    The six men are standing trial on charges of conspiracy, extortion, threats, and assault for their role in the 2014 armed standoff that occurred after federal authorities tried to seize Bundy’s cattle. They represent the first of three groups of people who will be tried in the case, after federal prosecutors divided the 17 defendants into groups of culpability for trial.

    None of the defendants in the first trial is a Nevada resident. Federal prosecutors characterize them as “gunmen” because they drove to Bunkerville and joined armed protests after learning of the clashes through online postings.
    http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/bu...doff-escalated

    March 2, 2017 - 3:20pm

    Ryan Bundy asks judge to dismiss his charges in Bunkerville standoff case

    Ryan Bundy, who previously accused federal authorities of violating the Constitution when they seized his father’s cattle, now claims he has been denied his right to a speedy trial.

    In a motion filed late Wednesday, Bundy asks a federal judge to dismiss his 16-count indictment on threats, extortion and related charges stemming from the 2014 armed standoff near his family ranch in Bunkerville. Prosecutors are trying the first of three groups of people charged in the case, and Bundy is in the second trial group.

    “The speedy trial right trumps any countervailing problems with courthouse facilities, overburdened court staff, or caseload,” wrote Bundy, who is representing himself. “The very purpose of the speedy trial right is to disincentivize the filing of onerous, vexatious and unnecessarily complex cases (like this case).”

    Bundy accuses the government of tactically delaying the case by structuring it “in a repetitive style with multiplicitous counts to give an appearance of complexity.”


    The standoff occurred in April 2014, but prosecutors did not announce charges until February of last year. In the intervening period, federal investigators staged an undercover operation in which they posed as documentary filmmakers to gain access to the people involved.

    Bundy asserts that the undercover FBI operation was the “real reason” federal prosecutors did not bring charges until two years after the standoff occurred. He accuses undercover FBI agents of using “attractive women” and “alcohol” to trick his supporters into giving incriminating statements.

    “The government spent more than half a million dollars on the creation of a fake film company designed to trick defendants into making boastful, false and incriminating statements that could be used against Defendants,” Bundy wrote in his filing.

    Defense attorneys previously argued that evidence gathered during the undercover operation should not be admitted at trial, but a judge sided with the government and ruled the statements were admissible.

    Bundy further argues that several key defense witnesses have died in the three years that have passed since the standoff.

    “Evidence and witnesses have gone missing and evaporated,” he wrote in his filing.

    Among the witnesses who died was LaVoy Finicum, who participated in the Bunkerville standoff and later was shot by law enforcement during protesters’ occupation of an Oregon wildlife refuge in early 2016.

    “Finicum was also the most important first-hand witness to the distressed and deteriorated condition of the cattle while in BLM custody,” Bundy wrote.

    The people charged in the case accuse federal authorities of mistreating the cattle during the impoundment operation, but the judge has limited defense attorneys in what evidence they can introduce at trial related to cattle mistreatment.


    Bundy and his brother, Ammon, who likewise is being held without bail pending trial, recently were acquitted on charges related to the 41-day standoff in Oregon.

    In Wednesday’s filing, Ryan Bundy wrote that he has been held “in solitary confinement or in distant holding cells without legal materials or focused on other false federal charges in the U.S. District of Oregon.”

    He is being held at Nevada Southern Detention Center in Pahrump.

    The U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment on Bundy’s filing.
    http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/bu...-standoff-case


    March 2, 2017 - 6:17pm

    Judge dismisses juror for nodding off during Bunkerville standoff trial

    A federal judge Thursday dismissed one of the jurors seated for the trial against six men accused of conspiring with rancher Cliven Bundy.

    The woman, identified only as “juror 12,” was dismissed late Thursday after U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro noticed her falling asleep on several occasions during testimony. The jury includes four alternates, so the case will not be affected by the juror’s dismissal.

    “We appreciate so much you being here, and … all the things you had to do to rearrange your life,” Navarro said in dismissing the juror. “I can’t thank you enough for your time.”

    The government is in its second week of calling witnesses to testify against six people charged as “gunmen” in the 2014 armed standoff near Bundy’s ranch in Bunkerville.


    Most of the witnesses have been federal law enforcement officers who have given similar accounts of the events of April 12, 2014. The trial is expected to last weeks due to the voluminous government evidence and the number of defendants — each of whom have the opportunity, through their attorneys, to cross-examine every witness.

    Earlier this week, Navarro called juror 12 into the courtroom and raised concerns that she was “nodding off” too much. The juror assured the judge that she was awake, and said sometimes she was just closing her eyes to take in information or to look at visual evidence displayed on the screen positioned directly in front of her knees.

    Before she dismissed juror 12, Navarro questioned two other jurors who had noticed the woman sleeping.

    Juror 13, who was seated next to juror 12 for the trial, told the judge, “We all know to wake her up.”

    “Sometimes I get tapped by the guys in the back,” he said. He also said sometimes fellow jurors who sit behind him “make some kind of comment, as low as they can.”

    When Navarro asked him how many times he saw juror 12 fall asleep, he replied, “More than five.”

    “I’m going to go ahead and excuse her,” Navarro said after all jurors had left the courtroom. “I don’t see how I can allow her to stay.”

    Navarro ordered juror 12 not to have any conversations about the case until the trial is over, and threatened to slap her with a civil contempt charge if she disobeys that order.
    http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/bu...standoff-trial

    March 3, 2017 - 8:20pm

    Bunkerville standoff video captures agent conversations

    Prosecutors trying the case against six of rancher Cliven Bundy’s supporters played hours of video footage this week that gave the public a peek into the minds of federal law enforcement officers as the 2014 confrontation with armed protesters unfolded in Bunkerville.

    When Bureau of Land Management Agent Mark Brunk testified early in the week, prosecutors played dash cam footage that recorded him uttering an expletive, followed by, “You come find me and you’re gonna have hell to pay.”

    Another agent laughed, and replied, “Pretty much a shoot first, ask questions later kind of thing.”

    The statements were made after a crowd of hundreds of cowboys and supporters arrived at Toquop Wash, a sandy ditch that served as the headquarters for the court-ordered cattle roundup that sparked the protests. The protesters had traveled 5 miles, by horse and by car, from a morning rally where Bundy — upon learning the government was ceasing its operation — ordered supporters to go get his cows.


    The conversations among law enforcement grew more serious as officers scanned the crowd for guns, and the footage captured their frantic conversations. First they didn’t notice any long guns. Then they saw two. Then at least five. Then 10.

    “If we get any more guns, we’re gonna be outgunned,” a law enforcement officer remarked at one point.

    The footage captured expressions of fear and humor, and some of the government’s witnesses testified that their jokes and laughter reflected coping mechanisms, or expressions of nervous energy. Prosecutors have asked nearly every law enforcement witness to rank their fear on a scale of 1 to 10. None of them has rated it below a 5, and one officer gave it a 10.

    Defense lawyers, meanwhile, highlighted portions of the video that recorded agents mocking protesters. The line of questioning reflected an attempt to prove that the government witnesses’ fear is overstated.

    “There’s no gun there … He’s just holding his back, he’s standing like a sissy,” one agent said of a protester as authorities assessed the scene about 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas.

    As one woman in the crowd screamed angrily, two law enforcement officers chuckled.

    “She must not be married,” one said.

    The videos captured protesters yelling things like, “Get the hell out of here.” Throughout the footage, a BLM agent makes the same statement repeatedly over a megaphone: “This area is closed for the enforcement of a United States District Court order. Please leave the area.”

    United States Park Police Officer Brandon Novotny testified Thursday that law enforcement officials attended a briefing the day before the standoff. He said officials were alerted to numerous people on “domestic terrorist watch lists in and among the protesters at the Bundy campground.”


    Novotny was photographed in a military-style “stacking formation” with other federal agents, armed and wearing SWAT gear.

    “I took a moment to think about my family,” he said, his voice cracking. “I made my peace with God … I expected to die that day.”

    The six men standing trial are charged as “gunmen,” accused of conspiring with Bundy to thwart the government’s efforts to carry out a court order. Prosecutors describe them as the least culpable of the 17 people they eventually plan to try in the case.
    http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/bu...-conversations

    March 6, 2017 - 8:54pm

    Tempers flare, nerves fray in trial against Bundy supporters

    A downtown Las Vegas courtroom provided scenes as wild as a Western movie Monday when federal prosecutors and defense attorneys battled over nearly every piece of evidence presented in the trial against six of rancher Cliven Bundy’s supporters.

    Defense attorneys tried to block a government witness from testifying. A prosecutor invoked an evidence rule that led even the judge to flip open a legal handbook. A juror made a wisecrack that caused one lawyer to raise concerns of potential bias.

    By 4 p.m., U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro had sent the jury home early and told them not to return until Wednesday.

    The day’s most hotly disputed footage was played outside the presence of the jury when defense lawyer Todd Leventhal tried to bring into evidence a video from the April 2014 standoff in Bunkerville. The video was captured by a Fox News cameraman, and Leventhal, who represents Bundy supporter O. Scott Drexler, wanted the judge to let him play it when he cross-examined Bureau of Land Management Ranger Gregory Johnson.


    Johnson testified as a government witness Monday. On April 12, 2014, he was recorded on dashboard camera footage using a megaphone to repeatedly order protesters to disperse.

    The protesters, who were gathered near the site where federal authorities had been impounding Bundy’s cattle, screamed angrily. At one point on the footage, authorities referenced a man walking towards them — “blue shirt, looks like press.”

    The cameraman was identified in court only by his surname, Lynch. Defense lawyers tried to use the footage he captured to bolster their arguments that protesters could not understand law enforcement’s instructions from 200 yards away on a windy day.

    On the video, Lynch walks toward the cattle impoundment site where federal authorities were headquartered.

    “I do not have a weapon — I am shooting for Fox News,” he yelled. “May I approach so this doesn’t end in bloodshed … the people don’t want to get hurt.”

    “You are in violation of a U.S. District Court order,” Johnson’s voice boomed over the megaphone.

    “I am the press!” Lynch shouted.

    “Go back.”

    “Why? Why can’t you talk to me?!”


    “You are in violation …”

    “I have no weapon! Are you really gonna shoot these people?” Lynch exclaimed. “We can’t hear your announcement that far away.”

    Navarro would not allow the video into evidence Monday, but she told Leventhal he could play it for jurors if he calls Lynch as a defense witness.

    The drama intensified Monday when Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas Dickinson, questioning the witness for the second time, declared that he was invoking an evidence rule to publish notes from an FBI interview with Johnson. The interview first was referenced by defense attorney Jess Marchese, who tried to suggest that the witness exaggerated in about the threat level in his trial testimony.

    Dickinson asked Johnson to read directly from a line in the April 2014 FBI report.

    “When asked if he felt threatened or intimidated, Johnson responded with, ‘Yes. Most definitely. We were f——d.”

    When Johnson finished testifying and prosecutors called their next witness, defense attorneys responded furiously because Sgt. Tom Jenkins of Las Vegas’ Metropolitan Police Department was not on the original government witness list.

    Judge Navarro allowed Jenkins to testify under direct examination, but she canceled testimony in the trial Tuesday to give defense attorneys an extra day to prepare for cross-examination.

    The jury was shuttled in and out of the courtroom during Monday’s legal wrangling. Their expressions displayed both laserlike focus and utter confusion as they watched the heated but legally dense disputes unfold.

    Before Jenkins testified, the judge asked jurors whether they recognized him.

    One juror replied, “Only from the TV show ‘Cops.’”

    His joke drew chuckles, but also a challenge from Leventhal, who asked the judge to bring the juror in for questioning Thursday.
    http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/bu...ndy-supporters

    March 8, 2017 - 8:05pm

    Cameraman testifies during Bunkerville standoff trial

    A media cameraman who tried, unsuccessfully, to mediate the Bunkerville standoff gave hours of testimony Wednesday while federal prosecutors played shaky, handheld footage that provided a more dynamic view of the protests than anything previously disclosed on dashcam recordings.

    The government called Dennis Michael Lynch as a witness after fighting ferociously earlier in the week to keep the footage he captured out of court.

    Defense attorneys Monday had tried to use some of the videos to rebut a federal agent’s testimony, and prosecutors’ decision to call Lynch reflected a strategic attempt to control the narrative as they continue to present their case against six men accused of conspiring with rancher Cliven Bundy.

    Lynch traveled to Bunkerville on assignment for Fox News, and he embedded himself with the protesters demonstrating against authorities who were seizing Bundy’s cattle from federally managed land. He gave emotionally level — but at times antagonistic — responses to lawyers’ questions about the events of April 12, 2014.


    His camera rolled as rancher son Ammon Bundy’s pickup truck bounced along the desert highway, passing SWAT vehicles along the way, and stopped at an Interstate 15 rest area above the Toquop Wash, where federal authorities for days had been impounding cattle. Passengers in the back seat of the truck gleefully hooted after learning at a morning rally that the Bureau of Land Management had decided to cease the operation.

    When they arrived at the wash, some of the protesters knelt down in prayer. Roughly 100 yards away, law enforcement authorities were behind a metal farm gate. A BLM ranger ordered the boisterous crowd over a megaphone to disperse. Lynch approached him, yelling, to ask what he was saying.

    “At this point, Mr. Lynch, could you hear the commands of law enforcement officers to peacefully disperse?” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Myhre asked.

    “The video doesn’t depict what could be heard. … There are two microphones attached to the camera,” said Lynch, whose testimony was consistent with a defense script that protesters could not understand the instructions.

    At one point during his testimony, Lynch blew into the microphone to demonstrate the muffle of wind, and the pink noise that ricocheted through the courtroom caused several people in the audience to wince.

    During the standoff, Lynch returned to the protesters and told them if they moved forward, they would be shot. Myhre, in careful questioning, pointed out that nowhere on the recordings did a federal agent make that threat.

    “I was repeating what I thought I heard,” Lynch said.

    Myhre also highlighted the fact that Lynch continued to approach after federal agents instructed him to “go back.”

    The crowd grew angry and boisterous after Lynch returned, but paused to cheer when dozens of men arrived on horseback. Federal agents previously have testified that many of the protesters had guns.


    Lynch and several other protesters later walked back to the barrier separating them from law enforcement. Federal authorities, local police, and the handful of protesters stood, like bulls in separate pens, on three different sides of the metal cattle fencing and began to negotiate.

    “Hold those people so we can talk,” BLM Special Agent in Charge Dan Love said, as the crowd chanted “let the cows go” and “BLM, go home.”

    One of the protesters replied: “It’s pretty hard to de-escalate when you’ve got helmets and M16s aimed at us.”

    “Yes, I understand,” Love said. “Get me Ammon.”

    After a tense conversation with Love, some of Bundy’s other sons walked back to the cattle impoundment site with law enforcement, while Ammon Bundy tried to control protesters.

    Eventually, Ryan Bundy returned. He climbed onto a sandy bank, took the cowboy hat off his head and waved it against a backdrop of crystal blue sky.

    “The West has now been won,” he declared.
    http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/bu...standoff-trial

    March 13, 2017 - 8:51pm

    Nevada Highway Patrol sergeant testifies in Bundy trial


    A Nevada Highway Patrol sergeant who responded to the 2014 protests in Bunkerville testified Monday that he was “jealous” of one of Cliven Bundy’s supporters because the man carried a radio that broadcast police scanner activity better than a state-issued device.

    “Our radios weren’t that clear. I was kind of jealous because his was better than ours,” Sgt. Shannon Selena told jurors Monday.

    He was referring to Gregory Burleson <FBI informant:http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthr...s-FBI-informer p4p>, one of six men in the first group of a three-part federal trial against Bundy and 16 others accused of conspiring to block federal agents from rounding up the rancher’s cows. The jury seated for the first trial has heard hours of testimony about law enforcement’s assessment of the general threat level during the April 2014 standoff, but Monday marked the first time a government witness singled out a defendant for his role in the protests.

    Selena said he came into contact with Burleson when he responded to the growing crowd of protesters on the Interstate 15 overpass bridge that overlooked a sandy ditch where federal authorities for days had been impounding cattle from Bureau of Land Management land.


    BROADCASTING INFORMATION

    Police scanner activity broadcasts conversations between dispatch and responding officers. The conversations are public record, but Selena said the protester’s monitoring of Metropolitan Police Department air traffic concerned him.

    “If there are things that we needed to discuss … we didn’t necessarily want published for everyone to hear,” Selena said. “To just have a citizen with it or a militia member … that’s concerning.”

    Burleson’s health has declined rapidly since 2014. He now is blind and requires the use of a wheelchair. He suffers from seizures, which halted the trial for a few hours last week when he fell ill in the middle of testimony. He sat in the back of the courtroom while Selena was on the stand Monday, hidden behind his co-defendants and their lawyers at the two defense tables in front of him.

    Selena is one of several local law enforcement officers prosecutors have called in the past week to testify. The agencies’ responses have been an undertone of the trial, especially after Burleson’s attorney implied in opening statements that the Bureau of Land Management agents who handled the impoundment operation were not “real” law enforcement officers.

    “The funny thing is the Metro police officers, who are real law enforcement officers who carry guns and deal with hard-core criminals — murderers, rapists … they weren’t scared to death,” Terrence Jackson said in his opening statement to jurors. “Highway Patrol and Metro didn’t think these guys were a super danger, like they were about to go crazy and start pulling the trigger.”

    THREAT ASSESSMENT

    Prosecutors, in presenting their case against the six defendants, have challenged that narrative by calling members of local law enforcement to testify that they perceived a high degree of danger.

    Last week, a Metro officer told jurors that he noticed every officer in his skirmish line crying the day of the standoff. Another, when asked about the threat level, gave the protests the highest rating on a 1 to 10 scale.


    Selena followed suit Monday and told jurors he texted his then-wife to tell her he loved her, because he was afraid he would not survive the day’s events. He said he still has flashbacks about the day.

    Selena highlighted a number of protesters who were armed and wearing military fatigues to emphasize the perceived threat. As he testified, prosecutors played dashboard camera footage from his police cruiser, which was parked on the side of the highway overpass.

    Jackson, in animated cross-examination, suggested that Selena exaggerated the threat level. He pointed out that the sergeant did not try to apprehend Burleson the day of the standoff.

    “If you were in great fear … you’re not going to turn your back on him like this and just let him have a weapon that’s loaded so they can shoot you?” Jackson asked.

    He turned his back on the witness while asking the question to demonstrate his point.

    “I was about as apprehensive as I could be that day, sir,” Selena said after Jackson posed several similar questions.

    Other defense attorneys made the same argument in a variety of ways. Defense attorney Todd Leventhal highlighted a portion of the dashcam video that recorded Selena’s voice as he tossed a Gatorade bottle into the front passenger seat of his cruiser.

    “Everything is peaceful,” the sergeant said, apparently speaking over his radio as protesters started to gather. “All good.”
    http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/bu...es-bundy-trial

    March 22, 2017 - 7:53pm

    Bundy defendants interviewed in undercover FBI operation

    Undercover FBI agents posed as documentary filmmakers for a production titled “America Reloaded” to draw statements from the men who rushed to support rancher Cliven Bundy in his 2014 stand against the federal government.

    The undercover operation has been alluded to in previous court filings, but it was detailed in federal court Wednesday when FBI Special Agent Charles Johnson testified as a government witness in the trial against six men accused of conspiring to block Bureau of Land Management agents from impounding Bundy’s cattle.

    Agents videotaped undercover interviews with, among other people, Scott Drexler and Eric Parker — two of the defendants in the first trial. Federal prosecutors played the videos in court Wednesday during Johnson’s testimony, and in doing so, gave jurors a window into the defendants’ minds.

    Drexler told the undercover agent he drove to the Bundy family ranch after reading about the protests online.


    “What I was looking for was just a show of support … it seems as if when there are armed people around a situation, then the authorities have to be a little more civil, have to treat you like a person,” he said. “If nobody is facing any kind of consequences for their actions, they can just do whatever they want.”

    When asked what protesters’ objective was on April 12, 2014, when they arrived en masse to the Gold Butte area where federal agents were impounding cattle, Drexler replied: “Basically the objective that I think there was was just a show of force.”

    Drexler said he carried his rifle and his pistol. He assumed a position on the Interstate 15 overpass, overlooking the impoundment site. Federal prosecutors have introduced photos of Drexler pointing his rifle through a crack in the jersey barrier.

    “We had the cowboys and Cliven all down below us, and BLM on the other side of the gate,” Drexler said on the footage. He said that when BLM “started moving to the gate with weapons and full combat gear, it started to get a little bit tense.”

    The standoff occurred after protesters were told at a morning rally that authorities decided to cease the cattle roundup.

    The undercover agent asked what would have happened if “somebody just farted.”

    “I don’t think a loud fart woulda put anyone off, but a gunshot sure would have,” Drexler said.

    Parker provided a similar narrative. He and Drexler, who are friends from Idaho, drove to the Bundy ranch together.

    “I want to stand for the Constitution … I don’t think you have to be in the militia for that,” Parker said on the video. “The goal was peaceful end.”


    Parker said he raised his rifle from the bridge to get a clear vantage point.

    “If they started shooting at people in the crowd, I would have been able to lay down cover fire,” Parker said, which he later explained was shots used to distract anyone who might have fired at the unarmed men, women and children in the sandy ditch below him.

    Johnson had not finished testifying when court adjourned Wednesday. The government is expected to call one more witness before resting its case.
    http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/bu...-fbi-operation



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  3. #2
    FBI POSED AS FILMMAKERS TO INFILTRATE BUNDY SUPPORTERS

    https://www.infowars.com/fbi-posed-a...dy-supporters/

    Undercover FBI agents disguised as documentary filmmakers went to Nevada in 2014 to interview supporters of Cliven Bundy during their armed standoff with the government, says FBI Special Agent Charles Johnson.
    Testifying on the government’s behalf in its case against two supporters, Johnson told jurors Wednesday how the bureau used a fake film crew to gather statements during the standoff, reported the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
    The videos were then played in court during Johnson’s testimony, showing jurors the defendant’s mindset during the standoff.
    Scott Drexler, one of Bundy’s supporters standing trial, told the bogus filmmakers that he traveled from Idaho to Bunkerville ranch when he learned about protests being waged against the Bureau of Land Management after its agents tried to seize cattle from Mr. Bundy following a legal land dispute.
    “What I was looking for was just a show of support…it seems as if when there are armed people around a situation, then the authorities have to be a little more civil, have to treat you like a person,” Drexler said on camera. “If nobody is facing any kind of consequences for their actions, they can just do whatever they want.”
    When asked by prosecutors what the protesters’ objective was, Drexler replied that “it was just a show of force.”
    Eric Parker, the other Bundy supporter on trial who traveled with Drexler to the ranch, made similar comments in the bogus FBI sting “documentary.”
    “I want to stand for the Constitution…I don’t think you have to be in a militia for that,” Parker said. “The goal was peaceful end.”
    The government is expected to call one more witness before resting its case against these two defendants.
    The situation began in April 2014 when the BLM began impounding rancher Cliven Bundy’s cattle following a government order that Bundy pay $1 million in withheld grazing fees for use of federal lands near his Nevada ranch.
    An armed standoff between Bundy and his supporters and the BLM followed, ending with the BLM finally releasing Bundy’s cattle.

  4. #3
    March 24, 2017 - 5:47pm


    Government done calling witnesses in Bunkerville standoff trial

    By Jenny Wilson
    Las Vegas Review-Journal
    The government has finished calling witnesses in the trial of six men charged as armed followers of Bunkerville rancher Cliven Bundy in his 2014 stand against federal authorities who tried to seize his cattle from public lands.

    Federal prosecutors on Thursday called their last witness. Acting U.S. Attorney Steven Myhre signaled the government intends to formally rest its case when the trial resumes April 3 after a weeklong break.

    Since early February, prosecutors have called dozens of witnesses to testify against the six alleged gunmen. They say the defendants assumed tactical positions on a highway bridge overlooking a sandy ditch where Bureau of Land Management authorities had been impounding cattle. The men were armed, and some of them were photographed pointing long guns at federal agents in the dried-up wash below them.

    Dozens of law enforcement witnesses have testified about the threat level the hundreds of protesters posed when they arrived at the impoundment site on April 12, 2014, after they were told at a morning rally that the BLM planned to cease its operations.


    What happened after that represents the core dispute in the trial.

    Federal prosecutors say the agents were outnumbered, and outgunned — and that they were forced to don body armor and assume military formation in order to defend themselves against a raucous, armed crowd. Defense attorneys, meanwhile, have suggested through cross-examination that their clients only raised their guns to protect women and children protesters against a militant police presence.

    What is agreed upon, however, is the tense nature of the standoff situation that ensued. The situation ended when BLM agents aborted their operation and left Bunkerville. That marked the start of a two-year federal investigation that resulted last year in an indictment against Bundy and other people the government describes as his “followers.”

    The ongoing trial represents the first of three in a sweeping case against 17 men accused of staging a mass assault on law enforcement. The government presented heaping digital evidence — dash and body cam footage, television reporters’ b-roll, and even interviews that undercover FBI agents conducted with some of the defendants months after the standoff.

    Federal investigators posed as documentary filmmakers in order to draw statements from some of the protesters as they were building their case.

    Testimony at the trial revealed that one of the men, defendant Gregory Burleson, was a paid FBI informant from 2012 until an undisclosed date. What sort of information he provided was not disclosed, but he was known to be an active member of Arizona militia groups.

    The men are standing trial on charges of conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States, aiding and abetting, interference with interstate commerce by extortion, and other counts.
    http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/bu...standoff-trial

  5. #4
    Judge Navarro Says Defendants Have Only 3 Rights – Bunkerville Standoff Trial

    Todd Engel, of Boundary County, Idaho, is among those fighting for his life in a Federal Courtroom in Nevada.

    Engel has been representing himself, and do very well by all accounts, in the Bunkerville Standoff Trial being held in Las Vegas. He is well spoken, articulate, and personable. His arguments are well thought out and relevant.

    In describing the events on April 12, 2014, he told of how everyone thought it was over, and the cows were to be released. “It was festive. It was flags and cowboys,” said Engel in his opening statement. “It doesn’t get more down home than that.” But, they soon learned that it was not true. The FBI and The BLM were still there, threatening all the protesters.

    Engel had decided to represent himself after his attorney, John George, showed less-than-professional representation. There are reports of this attorney actually falling asleep during court and walking out in the middle of proceedings.

    During this week’s court proceedings, Engel cross examined an FBI agent. The prosecution objected to Engel’s questions over 50 times, yet, Todd did not allow himself to get flustered. Towards the end of his questioning, Engel asked, “Is it true that [Special Agent In Charge] Dan Love is under criminal investigation?”

    The prosecution blew a gasket. All four prosecutors stood up yelling objections. They claim that Engel violated rules that prohibit the defense from discussing the criminal investigation of Love. All of this was stated in front of the jury.

    Judge Gloria Navarro not only sustained their objections, but she took it a step further. Navarro told Engel that he had lost his privilege to self-representation and must now allow his standby attorney to handle all court business. Engel was no longer allowed to talk in her courtroom.


    If this wasn’t bad enough, Navarro went even further on Thursday.

    At the end of the day, Engel stood to make a plea to Judge Navarro. Contrite and soft spoken, he begged to be allowed to defend himself in this trial.

    Attorney George was less than impressive throughout the day, spending only a few minutes on cross examination of witnesses. Engel states that George did not comply with any of his requests, and is not representing him well.

    Judge Navarro berated Engel and said that he cannot tell his attorney how to defend him. “It is up to him. It is his discretion.”

    Not only did Navarro deny his request, she laid out the only rights that she would allow him to have.

    Navarro told Engel that she would decide if he would be given the privilege of delivering his own closing arguments, and that would be based on her interpretation of his behavior and attitude through the rest of the trial.

    Then, she went on to tell him that, “You, as a defendant, have only THREE rights.”

    She said that he had the right to:

    Plead Guilty
    Testify on his own behalf
    Appeal his conviction


    That’s it. Three rights is all he is allowed, by Navarro’s royal decree.

    This same judge has banned the US Constitution in her courtroom.

    Navarro refused to let him speak after this. She said that she would not listen to anything from him again, and he was not to address her again.

    As soon as she finished chastising him, and stripping him of all of his God-given, Constitutionally-guaranteed rights, she adjourned the court. I am told that this was all said on the record.

    These men have been incarcerated for a year or more. They have been denied bail. They have been denied a speedy trial. They have been denied the right to face their accuser (Dan Love). And so much more.

    They are being denied all protections under the US Constitution by this Federal Judge.

    Where is the law of the land? It is not in Las Vegas, Nevada.
    https://www.oathkeepers.org/judge-na...tandoff-trial/

    Where is the law of the land? See sig....p4p
    Last edited by phill4paul; 03-28-2017 at 08:11 AM.

  6. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by phill4paul View Post
    https://www.oathkeepers.org/judge-na...tandoff-trial/

    Where is the law of the land? See sig....p4p
    Where are the enforcers of said law?

    and in what court are they to be tried?
    Liberty is lost through complacency and a subservient mindset. When we accept or even welcome automobile checkpoints, random searches, mandatory identification cards, and paramilitary police in our streets, we have lost a vital part of our American heritage. America was born of protest, revolution, and mistrust of government. Subservient societies neither maintain nor deserve freedom for long.
    Ron Paul 2004

    Registered Ron Paul supporter # 2202
    It's all about Freedom

  7. #6
    God help these people
    No - No - No - No
    2016

  8. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by asurfaholic View Post
    God help these people
    Sounds like they're going full internet lawyer on it, which generally does not produce good results.
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    Pinochet is the model
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    Liberty preserving authoritarianism.
    Quote Originally Posted by Swordsmyth View Post
    Enforced internal open borders was one of the worst elements of the Constitution.

  9. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by asurfaholic View Post
    God help these people
    In the case of Todd Engel I'm surprised the that he wasn't charged with "practicing law" without a license.



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  11. #9
    Last edited by Weston White; 03-31-2017 at 02:21 AM.
    The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding one’s self in the ranks of the insane.” — Marcus Aurelius

    They’re not buying it. CNN, you dumb bastards!” — President Trump 2020

    Consilio et Animis de Oppresso Liber

  12. #10
    April 3, 2017 - 8:22 pm

    Bundy supporters’ lawyers say ruling eviscerates their case

    Lawyers representing rancher Cliven Bundy’s supporters accused a judge of eviscerating their defense case Monday by effectively prohibiting several planned witnesses from testifying.

    U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro’s ruling blocks defense witnesses from testifying about federal authorities’ actions in the days before the 2014 Bunkerville standoff between protesters and Bureau of Land Management agents who tried to seize Bundy’s cattle from public land. Law enforcement officers’ actions were expected to be a cornerstone of the defense case in the conspiracy trial; the ruling so affected the strategy that defense lawyers asked for an evening to reassess before they call witnesses.

    Prosecutors formally rested their case Monday against the first six of 17 defendants in a three-part trial resulting from the April 12, 2014, standoff. The men are being tried on charges that they staged a massive armed assault on law enforcement officers.

    Previous legal filings have revealed that defense attorneys intended to argue their clients were not the aggressors, but acted in self-defense against a militant and excessively forceful police presence. In the pre-standoff days, videos showing law enforcement officers using a stun gun on two of Bundy’s sons and tackling a middle-aged woman were circulated widely on social media.

    But Navarro sided with the federal government when she ruled that testimony related to authorities’ pre-standoff behavior was “irrelevant to whether there’s excessive force or reasonable force” on the day of the standoff. A self-defense argument is permissible only if there is evidence that police’s actions were not “objectively reasonable,” Navarro ruled.

    Defense attorney Todd Leventhal said the case against his client, Idaho resident Scott Drexler, hinged on “whether or not it was reasonable to go over there and think that he’d get shot.”
    Drexler – who on the day of the standoff was photographed pointing a long gun through a jersey barrier on a highway bridge – argues that the officers’ excessive force made his actions defensible.
    “The testimony of our witnesses would buttress that,” Leventhal said.

    Defense attorney Rich Tanasi, who is representing Drexler’s friend, Steven Stewart, told the judge that defense lawyers needed at least a night to revise their strategy after Monday’s ruling.
    Tanasi told the judge defense lawyers must ask themselves, “Should we call any of them, given the fact that there’s now only a few?”

    Defense attorneys confirmed in court they still plan to call at least two witnesses. Closing arguments in the trial could come much sooner than anticipated — possibly by the end of this week.

    One defendant hinted in court that Navarro’s ruling led him to decide last-minute to take the witness stand in his own defense.
    “I would like to say that I feel like I have to testify,” Idaho resident Eric Parker said after the judge reminded him of his rights. “I feel like the court has left me no choice but to testify.”
    https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/b...es-their-case/

  13. #11
    April 4, 2017 - 5:55 pm

    Trial for Bundy supporters postponed after juror catches flu

    A juror in the federal trial against six of Cliven Bundy’s supporters has the flu.
    The juror’s illness led U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro to cancel testimony Tuesday in the conspiracy trial against the six men charged for their role in the 2014 armed protests in Bunkerville.

    Federal prosecutors rested their case Monday against the six men, whom they have described as the least culpable of the 17 people facing trial on charges related to the April 12, 2014, standoff between protesters and law enforcement officers. Defense attorneys were scheduled to start calling witnesses Tuesday.

    Defense witnesses now are expected to start testifying Wednesday. If the juror’s health does not improve, she could be dismissed from the case. The jury includes several alternates. One juror previously was dismissed from the case for falling asleep too much during testimony.

    The defense case is anticipated to be brief after Navarro issued a ruling Monday that forced defense attorneys to trim down their witness list. At least one defendant, Idaho resident Eric Parker, has said he intends to take the witness stand in his own defense.

    The second trial in the Bunkerville standoff case is scheduled to begin 30 days after the conclusion of the first trial. Cliven Bundy and some of his sons are in the next batch of defendants.
    https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/b...r-catches-flu/

  14. #12
    Judge Navarro Pushes Defense To Rest Case in Bunkerville Trial

    NOT YET ABLE TO CALL A SINGLE WITNESS, JUDGE NAVARRO ASKED THE DEFENSE IF THEY WERE READY TO REST THEIR CASE TOMORROW.

    It has been two days that the defense has been attempting to present their case to the jury in the Bunkerville trial being held in Las Vegas, Nevada.

    Out of these two days, the jury has been in the courtroom about 15 minutes, or so. The remaining time has been filled with frustrations from the defendants and laughter from the Judge and prosecutors.

    Yes, Judge Gloria Navarro continued to laugh at the distress of the defendants every time she slapped more evidence out of their hands.

    Eric Parker said yesterday that he would testify, as he felt he had no other options. Navarro and the prosecutors subjected him to another round of intimidation today in their attempts to make him change his mind. Navarro has already threatened him with “enhanced” perjury charges if she feels he has not told the truth.

    And the truth is very subjective in her courtroom. She spent most of the morning going over jury instructions. She intends to instruct the jury that just carrying a holstered weapon can be a criminal act. She also does not intend to allow the jury to hear that there is a “Right To Carry” law in Nevada.

    The defense asked for an instruction to be included about the missing witness, Dan Love. They have been attempting to introduce video evidence. This video includes Dan Love and Pete Santilli, yet neither one of them are allowed to testify, therefore, there is no one available to introduce this evidence. Navarro dismissed that motion and will not allow the instruction.

    The only bright spot today is that Navarro has finally agreed to allow Todd Engel to present his closing arguments. Engel is still not allowed to do anything else, including speak, in her courtroom, but he can represent himself in the closing.

    I am happy that the defense was able to discuss the Facebook evidence. It has been stressed throughout the country and the government that Facebook posts and articles are not to be considered trusted sources. Yet, the prosecution has brought in over 500 posts, memes and more to show just how evil these defendants are. The prosecution has even gone so far as to suggest that using the phrase “Whatever it takes” is an implied threat.

    They have suggested very warped definitions of ‘threats to the government’. Navarro has made it clear from the very first day that she makes law in that courtroom, therefore, if she wants to distort the truth to the jury, then we must accept that.

    The prosecution continues to stress their “ongoing criminal investigation” into UN-indicted Co-conspirators. They have suggested that they can prosecute people just for showing up to watch the protesters. They have even implied that if someone “Likes” a post on Facebook, that is evidence for conspiracy. Based on their definitions, just by reading this article you can be considered a conspirator. I guess I will continue to be on their list, as I will continue to write these articles and expose their corruption.

    Navarro was not concerned with the defense arguments, yet it did get on the record. That made it worthwhile at least.

    The defense also argued for “limited immunity” for select witnesses so they may testify to the events. The prosecution refused and the Judge agreed. They do not want the defense to have any witnesses, though the defense will likely present one or two witnesses.

    After the prosecution had extended time, over five weeks, and the defense has yet to be allowed to call any witnesses, the Judge asked the defense if they were ready to rest their case tomorrow.
    http://redoubtnews.com/2017/04/04/na...nse-rest-case/

  15. #13
    Judge Openly LAUGHS At Defendants Rights

    Judge Gloria Navarro made a mockery of the judicial system today.

    The first Bunkerville trial is underway in Las Vegas, Nevada. The prosecution has had over five weeks to present their case. Now that the defense is ready to put on their case, Judge Gloria Navarro has shut them down.

    Out of the entire witness list, there is one witness, other than the defendants, that she will allow to testify. Garrett Frenner was a witness to the slaughter of the Bundy cattle. However, Judge Navarro will not allow him to testify to those events. The prosecutors and the FBI spent a couple of hours harassing this man, threatening him with prosecution if he dared to testify. She has made it clear that he can ONLY testify to which of the defendants he saw with guns.

    Every witness that the defense tried to proffer today was questioned by the Judge. She stressed to each one of them that she was ready to have them removed from the courtroom in handcuffs, if she thinks they are committing perjury.

    Judge Navarro then backed up the prosecution when they threatened witnesses by naming them as “UNindicted Co-conspirators”. Navarro allowed this bullying, and took part in it herself.

    After the intimidation of their witness, the defense believes he has been compromised and stated they are unsure of calling him as a witness. This made Eric Parker so distraught and upset that they have no witnesses for their defense that he broke down and cried in the courtroom. This, of course, made his wife and supporters cry as well.

    Judge Navarro showed no sympathy. Reports are that she actually laughed out loud at their distress. The prosecutors also laughed and joked at the defense. She continued to reiterate that they have no rights as defendants.

    Navarro also stated in the courtroom that no one is guaranteed their first amendment rights or their second amendment rights. Additionally, she told everyone that there is Never a time when anyone is allowed to defend themselves against a Law Enforcement Officer, even if they caught him breaking into their home. If he even sees a gun near them, they are guilty of assaulting him.

    The defense had plans to call numerous witnesses, including Carole Bundy, Shawna Cox, Michele Fiore and more. Judge Navarro refused to allow them to testify because she feels their testimony might risk her jury to nullify.

    Jury Nullification is her worst fear. She continues to tell the defense that she will not allow them to put on any defense that might sway her jury to nullify. This includes any information of why these men came to Bunkerville, the abuses of the BLM agents, and more.

    Judge Navarro is quoted as saying, “The risk of jury nullification… for the jurors to hear about different defense witnesses, that can’t happen!” Navarro mentioned this at least three times during the day.

    When the defense team attempted to object, she shut them down again, saying “Don’t bother to object.” as she intendeds to side with the prosecution each time.

    And she carried through with this threat, not allowing the defense any leeway at all.


    Dan Love was the Special Agent in Charge of the operation in Bunkerville, and his testimony was the main evidence in front of the Grand Jury. However, because he is under investigation for abuses, Judge Navarro has ruled his testimony is irrelevant and will not allow him to be called to testify.

    Eric Parker has now decided that he has no choice but to testify. He may very well be the only witness in the defense case. This case could end up in the jury’s hands as early as tomorrow.

    The heavy-handed judge has ruled these men do not deserve the right to defend themselves.
    http://redoubtnews.com/2017/04/03/ju...ndants-rights/

  16. #14
    Amend VI:
    In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.
    They should all motion for the recusal or disqualification of the judge:

    Even where a judge is impartial, but appears not to be, recusal is necessary.

    Canon 3 states in part: C. Disqualification (1) A judge should [shall] disqualify himself [or herself] in a proceeding in which his [or her] impartiality might reasonably be questioned, including but not limited to instances where: … (a) he [or she] has a personal bias or prejudice concerning a party, …
    http://heinonline.org/HOL/LandingPag...v=23&id=&page=
    The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding one’s self in the ranks of the insane.” — Marcus Aurelius

    They’re not buying it. CNN, you dumb bastards!” — President Trump 2020

    Consilio et Animis de Oppresso Liber

  17. #15
    April 6, 2017 - 8:40 pm

    Bunkerville protester testifies in his own defense at Las Vegas trial

    Idaho gun enthusiast Eric Parker banked on his commitment to self-defense Thursday when he stepped to the witness stand and tried to convince jurors he played no role in a conspiracy to bully federal agents into abandoning their roundup of hundreds of rancher Cliven Bundy’s cows.
    “I didn’t care about the cows,” said Parker, 33, who is one of six people charged as “gunmen” in the 2014 armed standoff in Bunkerville. During the standoff, Parker was photographed pointing a long gun through a jersey barrier on the Interstate 15 overpass that overlooked the sandy ditch where protesters were face-to-face with federal agents.

    Parker said he arrived at the highway bridge thinking he was going to watch Bundy’s cows get released. Protesters were told at a morning rally that the Bureau of Land Management — after day’s of clashes with the rancher’s supporters — decided to abandon its operation to impound cattle from public land.

    But when he arrived at the impoundment site, Parker said, he noticed a militant and heavily armed group of law enforcement officers that looked nothing like BLM agents he previously had encountered. He said he saw protesters walking toward the authorities with their hands up and heard one of the law enforcement officers threatening to use force if they approached.

    Tearful testimony

    As his defense lawyer, Jess Marchese, displayed the photo of him pointing his gun from the highway overpass, Parker testified tearfully: “I made a decision. I didn’t want to hurt anybody, but I also didn’t want to see those people get hurt in the wash.”

    Marchese asked Parker why he brought his gun and joined the protests if he did not care about the BLM’s cattle roundup.
    “They were hurting people. I tell my kids that you have to stand up for your neighbor, and you have to be there for each other. And if I don’t do that, then I’m a hypocrite,” said Parker, a father of two who worked as an electrician before he was indicted on federal charges for his actions in Bunkerville.
    The defendant was on the witness stand for five hours Thursday, and much of his testimony focused on his decision to drive 13 hours to Bunkerville with his two friends, Scott Drexler and Steven Stewart, who are being tried on the same charges.

    Parker told jurors that in the days leading up to the standoff, as protesters were clashing with BLM agents in Bunkerville, he saw several videos and photos on social media that alarmed him.
    A middle-aged woman being tackled to the ground by law enforcement officers. The bruised face of one of Bundy’s sons who was arrested during the protests. A video of
    BLM agents using a stun gun and police dogs on another one of Bundy’s sons. A cordoned off “First Amendment” zone in the middle of the desert. An April 8, 2014, press release issued by Gov. Brian Sandoval in which he declared: “No cow justifies the atmosphere of intimidation which currently exists nor the limitation of constitutional rights that are sacred to all Nevadans.”
    Parker told jurors that above all, his perception that constitutional rights were being violated led him and his friends to drive to Bunkerville on April 11, 2014.

    Federal prosecutors argue that after Sandoval’s press release, the BLM adjusted its approach to the cattle impoundment operation and, for example, took down the First Amendment area that was erected to contain protesters. But the Bundys’ calls for support from militia groups already had spread like wildfire on social media — and led hundreds of loosely organized, self-described militiamen to set up camp in Bunkerville.

    Cross-examination

    Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas Dickinson, in cross-examination, tried to portray Parker as a member of one of those militia groups, highlighting his actions and Facebook posts to suggest he helped orchestrate a mass assault on law enforcement.
    After the morning rally on April 12, 2014, Parker posted to Facebook: “Bundy gave the sheriff one hour to disarm the BLM. He did not reply. We are now going to free the cattle by any means. The sheriff claimed that the BLM is standing down but offered no proof. This is when Mr. Bundy gave him the, ‘do it or else.’ We will not be lied to.”

    Dickinson got Parker to concede that much misinformation is spread on social media, and that his research in the days preceding the standoff may not have given him an accurate or complete picture of the events in Bunkerville.
    “You saw that there were calls for militia, and people with guns. … To match force with them you needed to bring a gun?” Dickinson asked.
    “I thought they were a lot less likely to drag my face into the ground,” Parker testified. Later, he said, “I was armed so nobody hurt me.”

    Dickinson had not finished his cross-examination when court adjourned Thursday. Parker is scheduled to take the witness stand when the trial resumes Monday.

    Prosecutor Nicholas Dickinson had not finished his cross-examination of defendant Eric Parker when court adjourned Thursday. Parker is scheduled to return to the witness stand when the trial resumes Monday in Las Vegas
    https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/b...s-vegas-trial/

  18. #16
    It's a pipe dream but I'd sure like to see the AUSA put in his place...

    Judgy Pie too........



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  20. #17
    Kangaroo Court
    I have seen through it all... the system is against us. ALL OF IT.

  21. #18
    April 10, 2017 - 5:58 pm

    Testimony wraps up in first Bunkerville standoff trial

    Two months of testimony in the first Bunkerville standoff trial concluded Monday with a defendant’s dramatic assertion that authorities sat in foxholes waiting to shoot protesters who arrived at the site where federal agents for days had been rounding up Cliven Bundy’s cattle.
    The accusation was among the last statements Idaho resident Eric Parker made to the jury before he stepped down from the witness stand late morning, after a day and a half spent testifying in his own defense. Closing arguments are scheduled for Wednesday in the case against Parker and five other men charged as “gunmen” in the 2014 armed standoff.
    Parker, a 33-year-old father of two, is the only defendant who decided to put himself in the line of courtroom crossfire by testifying on his own behalf. He controlled the narrative for hours on Friday while his defense lawyer questioned him. But on Monday, a federal prosecutor pressed him about his decisions the day of the standoff, as well as his social media postings in the lead-up to and aftermath of his trip to Bunkerville.

    Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas Dickinson’s line of questioning reflected an attempt to suggest to jurors that Parker was not truthful in testifying that he never planned to use violence and only raised his gun to defend women and children against a threatening law enforcement presence.
    On April 12, 2014, Parker was photographed in the prone position, pointing a long gun through a crack in the jersey barrier of a highway bridge that overlooked a dried-up wash where protesters were face-to-face with Bureau of Land Management agents. Protesters assembled on the bridge and in the wash that day at rancher Bundy’s behest.
    Dickinson played a video of Parker and others milling around on the highway overpass as protesters gathered. He referenced the emotion Parker displayed during his testimony last week.
    “It appeared you were getting emotional and were crying about your time on the bridge. … You’re not crying in this video,” Dickinson said.
    “I was angry,” Parker contended.
    The standoff ended when federal authorities, who were outnumbered, released the cattle and left Bunkerville. Dickinson asked Parker about an exchange that occurred after authorities left, when protesters returned to the so-called militia camp they set up near Bundy’s ranch.
    “Were you sitting next to someone who asked Siri, ‘What’s the last time the federal government backed down?’”
    “Yes sir,” Parker replied.
    “And what came up on Siri?”
    “A picture of me.”
    The photo of Parker on the bridge went viral after the standoff, and online followers dubbed him the “Bundy Sniper.”
    Dickinson referenced Parker’s social media postings after the shooting to suggest to jurors that he was proud of that title.
    The standoff occurred after the Clark County sheriff announced at a morning rally that federal authorities decided to cease their cattle impoundment operation.
    Protesters say they went to the wash to watch cows get released, not to threaten and intimidate federal agents. Parker maintained that was his intention, but he acknowledged the crowd of hundreds of protesters may have misunderstood the sheriff’s announcement.
    But, he said with an air of defiance: “What the sheriff didn’t say is, I’d like you to not go over there because there’s a lot of people wearing combat gear sitting in foxholes waiting to shoot you.”
    Contact Jenny Wilson at jenwilson@reviewjournal.com or 702-384-8710. Follow @jennydwilson on Twitter.
    The Trial

    Government witnesses: about 35

    Defense witnesses: 4

    Weeks of testimony: 7

    The Defendants

    Steven Stewart

    Eric Parker

    Scott Drexler

    Todd Engel

    Ricky Lovelin

    Gregory Burleson

    The Charges

    Conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States

    Conspiracy to impede or injure a federal officer

    Assault on a federal officer

    Use and carry of a firearm in relation to a crime of violence

    Threatening a federal law enforcement officer

    Use and carry of a firearm in relation to a crime of violence

    Obstruction of the due administration of justice

    Interference with interstate commerce by extortion

    Interstate travel in aid of extortion
    https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/b...tandoff-trial/

  22. #19
    I'll really miss the Will Grigg article exposing this trial for what it is. Godspeed Will. We'll keep abreast of police misconduct, militarization and courtroom injustice as best we can. Your voice will be missed....

    April 12, 2017 - 1:55 pm

    Updated April 12, 2017 - 4:58 pm

    The night before the 2014 standoff in Bunkerville, federal investigators’ intelligence showed a buildup of militia unlike any they previously had seen, a prosecutor told jurors Wednesday during his closing argument in the conspiracy trial of six of rancher Cliven Bundy’s supporters.

    Those six supporters, charged as “gunmen” in the standoff, were among the militia members who helped Bundy thwart the Bureau of Land Management’s operation to impound cattle, Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicholas Dickinson said. Those six defendants, he said, provided the arms that caused BLM agents to fear for their lives.

    Dickinson had not finished his closing argument when court broke for lunch recess Wednesday. Later in the day, defense attorneys are expected to argue that their clients were libertarian-minded, loosely organized, peaceful protesters rather than militiamen who staged an armed assault on the federal government.

    But that’s not how Dickinson told it.

    “Cliven Bundy always said he would do whatever it takes,” Dickinson said. When the BLM started impounding Bundy’s cattle from public lands in Bunkerville, “he quickly realized he needed more help.”
    The family put out a call for militiamen, Dickinson said, and “recruited gunmen to travel to Nevada to make a show of force.”
    He said hundreds of people showed up to the Bundy family ranch, including the men standing trial — Steven Stewart, Eric Parker, Scott Drexler, Todd Engel, Ricky Lovelin, and Gregory Burleson.

    “We have proven all six of these defendants guilty of all counts beyond a reasonable doubt,” Dickinson said.

    The men are accused of conspiring, with the Bundy family, to intimidate, threaten, assault and extort federal agents into releasing hundreds of cows.
    Anticipating defense arguments, Dickinson referenced the First Amendment area erected in the middle of the desert that several defendants say led them to drive to Bunkerville from out of state, to protest what they viewed as an infingement of constitutional rights.

    “The First Amendment area … didn’t prevent people from protesting or exercising their First Amendment right in any area the BLM was not operating,” Dickinson said.

    Throughout his closing argument, Dickinson repeatedly referenced defendants’ Facebook posts in the days leading up to the standoff to argue that the men had full knowledge of Bundy’s plan to thwart federal authorities carrying out a court order.

    “The Bundys realized they couldn’t do it alone,” Dickinson. “They aligned themselves with the militia, and they put out a call for people to come … stop the BLM from impounding cattle.”

    Some of the defendants have challenged the government’s assertion that they were part of the militia. Dickinson displayed Facebook posts that have come into evidence during the trial to suggest otherwise. Multiple defendants’ posts mentioned “the hallowed halls of Valhalla,” a mythological reference to Viking warriors’ final resting place.
    Dickinson acknowledged that the six men, none of whom is a Nevada resident, might not have known what they were getting themselves into when they drove to Bunkerville.

    But on the day of the standoff, Cliven Bundy ordered the masses to go get his cows. When the defendants’ heeded that request, Dickinson said, “they’re in.”
    He reminded jurors of a legal instruction the judge gave earlier in the day, framing it to support his assertion that the defendants were guilty of conspiracy.

    “Once you join, you’re in it for everything that happened before and everything that happened after,” Dickinson said.
    https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/b...tandoff-trial/

    God help these individuals. Federal prosecution cases are 99.75% in the "Win" category. And just to be clear. 3 weeks for prosecutors. 2 days for defense. Government witnesses: about 35. Defense witnesses: 4. NOT because the defense hadn't requested more witnesses, but because they were denied.
    Last edited by phill4paul; 04-12-2017 at 06:41 PM.

  23. #20
    Quote Originally Posted by phill4paul View Post
    I'll really miss the Will Grigg article exposing this trial for what it is. Godspeed Will. We'll keep abreast of police misconduct, militarization and courtroom injustice as best we can. Your voice will be missed....

    April 12, 2017 - 1:55 pm

    Updated April 12, 2017 - 4:58 pm



    https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/b...tandoff-trial/

    God help these individuals. Federal prosecution cases are 99.75% in the "Win" category. And just to be clear. 3 weeks for prosecutors. 2 days for defense. Government witnesses: about 35. Defense witnesses: 4. NOT because the defense hadn't requested more witnesses, but because they were denied.
    Holy $#@!, Will just died???! WTF

  24. #21
    Quote Originally Posted by ghengis86 View Post
    Holy $#@!, Will just died???! WTF
    http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthr...illiam-N-Grigg

  25. #22
    Updated April 13, 2017 - 6:27 pm

    A federal jury started deliberating Thursday in the conspiracy trial of six people charged as gunmen in the 2014 standoff in Bunkerville.

    Jurors received the case after a prosecutor finished his closing argument with a searing assertion that the six men on trial “put the fear of God” in law enforcement officers who were impounding rancher Cliven Bundy’s cattle.

    “For what? For some cattle? For someone who hasn’t paid grazing fees in 20 years?” bellowed Acting U.S. Attorney Steven Myhre. “Or because it made them feel like they’re somebody for a moment in time?”

    Defense attorneys, in closing arguments, insisted their clients had no knowledge of a conspiracy to threaten, intimidate and extort federal agents into abandoning roughly 400 cows seized from public land near Bundy’s ranch.

    Closing arguments lasted 11 hours and spanned two days, during which lawyers highlighted the key disputes of the trial.

    The alleged conspiracy

    The six men are accused of conspiring with Bundy to stop the Bureau of Land Management’s court-ordered cattle seizure. Prosecutors argue that the defendants supplied the firepower. Their purpose, according to prosecutors, was to use force to intimidate federal authorities into releasing the cattle. Defense attorneys argue that their clients, who live out of state, had no stake in the cattle dispute.

    •Prosecution: “The conspiracy arose when Cliven Bundy and his family members began interfering with the BLM’s impoundment operation,” Myhre said. “Each of these defendants at some point learned about Cliven Bundy’s interference. … They knew that they were here to support Cliven Bundy.”
    •Defense: “Mr. Drexler did not come for the cows,” said defense attorney Todd Leventhal. The attorney said his client, Scott Drexler, drove to Bunkerville to protest federal overreach. He blasted the government’s attempt to implicate his client in a conspiracy. “What they’ve tried to do is take this thing wide, which I understand, because they can’t get it narrow,” he said.

    BLM misconduct accusations

    A cornerstone of the defense strategy was to lodge misconduct accusations against the BLM officers. Defense attorneys played videos from days before the standoff, when authorities clashed with protesters. The videos showed law enforcement officers using stun guns, police dogs and physical force.

    •Prosecution: “There is no evidence, none … that there was any misconduct on the part of BLM agents,” Myhre said. Referencing the defendants’ decision to travel to Bunkerville, Myhre said: “If they’re coming for the purposes of revenge, that makes them vigilantes.”
    •Defense: Defense attorney Jess Marchese, who represents Eric Parker, referenced one of the videos that depicted Bundy’s son with a bruised face after he was arrested several days before the standoff. “It was Eric’s belief that a man was arrested simply for taking photos,” Marchese said. He said Parker “felt it was his obligation to go there and show force.”

    Law enforcement’s fear

    Federal prosecutors called law enforcement witnesses to testify about their intense fear on the day of the standoff. Defense attorneys countered by identifying inconsistencies between officers’ testimony in court and investigative reports they filed immediately after the incident that did not mention fear. They also played bodycam recordings of officers mocking protesters for being “fat” or a “sissy.”

    •Prosecution: “They got the cattle, but they also left those officers with a memory they may never be able to erase,” Myhre said. He said officers joked to relieve stress.
    •Defense: Attorney Terrence Jackson, who represents defendant Gregory Burleson, suggested the park rangers lacked experience identifying and responding to serious threats. Las Vegas police officers at the scene “do not seem quite as anxious or afraid,” he said.

    Constitutional Rights

    Defense attorneys repeatedly argued that their clients were lawfully exercising their First and Second Amendment rights to freely assemble and to bear arms.

    •Prosecution: “There is no Second Amendment right to threaten someone with a gun, nor is there a First Amendment right to threaten someone,” Myhre said.
    •Defense: Attorney Rich Tanasi, who represents Steven Stewart, said his client went to Bunkerville “not to commit crimes, not to assault federal officers, but to exercise his First Amendment right to protest … and he did so with his Second Amendment right.”

    The Undercover Operation

    Federal investigators posed as documentary filmmakers to draw statements from some of the defendants. The undercover interviews occurred several months after the standoff. Defense attorneys accused the government of using deceptive tactics designed to trick and manipulate their clients. The sham film’s working title was “America Reloaded.”

    •Prosecution: Myhre said defendants knew the interviews were public and could be viewed by law enforcement. “They’re boasting, they’re bragging, they’re trying to muster more support for what they view as their cause,” he said. He described the ruse as a “lawful tool.”
    •Defense: Leventhal referenced the voluminous evidence from the day of the standoff. “Over 18,500 documents, 170,000 pages, thousands of hours of video … After all that evidence, they decide to go undercover again,” he said. “Why else would FBI agents spend the time, the resources? Because they don’t have more.”

    Jurors are scheduled to resume their deliberations Monday morning.

    The trial is the first of three resulting from the April 12, 2014, standoff. The gunmen in the first trial were identified by the government as the “least culpable” of the alleged co-conspirators. Bundy and some of his sons are scheduled to stand trial later this year.

    Thursday arrest

    A man recently acquitted in the armed occupation of Oregon’s Malheur National Wildlife Refuge was arrested Thursday in Las Vegas after he showed up at federal court to watch closing arguments in the first Bunkerville standoff trial.

    Kenneth Medenbach was acquitted in the fall, along with two of rancher Cliven Bundy’s sons, of conspiracy charges resulting from the 41-day wildlife refuge takeover. But he is on probation after being convicted of illegal camping in a different case last year. In that case, Medenbach erected a cabin on public land, posted “No Trespassing” signs, and claimed legal ownership when authorities ordered him to take it down.

    The terms of Medenbach’s probation prohibit him from traveling outside the federal district where he was convicted without explicit permission from his probation officer. His lawyer, Matthew Schindler, said Medenbach asked his probation officer if he could leave to attend the trial in Bunkerville, where passionate supporters of an anti-federalist movement have packed courtroom benches for weeks. The probation officer said no.

    Medenbach decided to travel to Nevada anyway and was arrested for violating his probation.

    https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/b...tandoff-trial/
    The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding one’s self in the ranks of the insane.” — Marcus Aurelius

    They’re not buying it. CNN, you dumb bastards!” — President Trump 2020

    Consilio et Animis de Oppresso Liber

  26. #23
    “For what? For some cattle? For someone who hasn’t paid grazing fees in 20 years?” bellowed Acting U.S. Attorney Steven Myhre. “Or because it made them feel like they’re somebody for a moment in time?”
    Really, what a stupid question to pose—everybody knows why, because of blatant federal overreach and myriad claims by the federal government that contravenes the U.S. Constitution and individual state sovereignty.

    BLM employees are grown-ups and trained and vastly equipped (militarized) federal agents—so enough with the specious argument that they were a pack of helplessly trapped puppies because of the presence of the “militia”; their hurt feelings will heal over time and hopefully they learned from their experiences at Bunkerville. More to the point, not a single shot was fired and only protesters were physically harmed during the incident.

    Further still, the BLM sat on this court order for over two-decades, meanwhile they permitted the Bundy cattle continuous access to those lands for grazing, thereby, it seems only prudent that the BLM forfeited all their claims under that antiquated order--surely, the latches doctrine is applicable on this point.
    Last edited by Weston White; 04-14-2017 at 07:59 AM.
    The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding one’s self in the ranks of the insane.” — Marcus Aurelius

    They’re not buying it. CNN, you dumb bastards!” — President Trump 2020

    Consilio et Animis de Oppresso Liber

  27. #24
    Quote Originally Posted by Weston White View Post
    Really, what a stupid question to pose—everybody knows why, because of blatant federal overreach and myriad claims by the federal government that contravenes the U.S. Constitution and individual state sovereignty.

    BLM employees are grown-ups and trained and vastly equipped (militarized) federal agents—so enough with the specious argument that they were a pack of helplessly trapped puppies because of the presence of the “militia”; their hurt feelings will heal over time and hopefully they learned from their experiences at Bunkerville. More to the point, not a single shot was fired and only protesters were physically harmed during the incident.

    Further still, the BLM sat on this court order for over two-decades, meanwhile they permitted the Bundy cattle continuous access to those lands for grazing, thereby, it seems only prudent that the BLM forfeited all their claims under that antiquated order.
    .
    “Or because it made them feel like they’re somebody for a moment in time?”
    God forbid. To feel like somebody in a moment in time.



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  29. #25
    If you're the praying kind then send one up for these patriots. They are going to need it.

    Updated April 13, 2017 - 6:27 pm

    Jury starts deliberating in first Bunkerville standoff trial

    A federal jury started deliberating Thursday in the conspiracy trial of six people charged as gunmen in the 2014 standoff in Bunkerville.
    Jurors received the case after a prosecutor finished his closing argument with a searing assertion that the six men on trial “put the fear of God” in law enforcement officers who were impounding rancher Cliven Bundy’s cattle.
    “For what? For some cattle? For someone who hasn’t paid grazing fees in 20 years?” bellowed Acting U.S. Attorney Steven Myhre. “Or because it made them feel like they’re somebody for a moment in time?”

    Defense attorneys, in closing arguments, insisted their clients had no knowledge of a conspiracy to threaten, intimidate and extort federal agents into abandoning roughly 400 cows seized from public land near Bundy’s ranch.
    Closing arguments lasted 11 hours and spanned two days, during which lawyers highlighted the key disputes of the trial.
    The alleged conspiracy
    The six men are accused of conspiring with Bundy to stop the Bureau of Land Management’s court-ordered cattle seizure. Prosecutors argue that the defendants supplied the firepower. Their purpose, according to prosecutors, was to use force to intimidate federal authorities into releasing the cattle. Defense attorneys argue that their clients, who live out of state, had no stake in the cattle dispute.
    •Prosecution: “The conspiracy arose when Cliven Bundy and his family members began interfering with the BLM’s impoundment operation,” Myhre said. “Each of these defendants at some point learned about Cliven Bundy’s interference. … They knew that they were here to support Cliven Bundy.”
    •Defense: “Mr. Drexler did not come for the cows,” said defense attorney Todd Leventhal. The attorney said his client, Scott Drexler, drove to Bunkerville to protest federal overreach. He blasted the government’s attempt to implicate his client in a conspiracy. “What they’ve tried to do is take this thing wide, which I understand, because they can’t get it narrow,” he said.

    BLM misconduct accusations

    A cornerstone of the defense strategy was to lodge misconduct accusations against the BLM officers. Defense attorneys played videos from days before the standoff, when authorities clashed with protesters. The videos showed law enforcement officers using stun guns, police dogs and physical force.
    •Prosecution: “There is no evidence, none … that there was any misconduct on the part of BLM agents,” Myhre said. Referencing the defendants’ decision to travel to Bunkerville, Myhre said: “If they’re coming for the purposes of revenge, that makes them vigilantes.”
    •Defense: Defense attorney Jess Marchese, who represents Eric Parker, referenced one of the videos that depicted Bundy’s son with a bruised face after he was arrested several days before the standoff. “It was Eric’s belief that a man was arrested simply for taking photos,” Marchese said. He said Parker “felt it was his obligation to go there and show force.”
    Law enforcement’s fear

    Federal prosecutors called law enforcement witnesses to testify about their intense fear on the day of the standoff. Defense attorneys countered by identifying inconsistencies between officers’ testimony in court and investigative reports they filed immediately after the incident that did not mention fear. They also played bodycam recordings of officers mocking protesters for being “fat” or a “sissy.”

    •Prosecution: “They got the cattle, but they also left those officers with a memory they may never be able to erase,” Myhre said. He said officers joked to relieve stress.
    •Defense: Attorney Terrence Jackson, who represents defendant Gregory Burleson, suggested the park rangers lacked experience identifying and responding to serious threats. Las Vegas police officers at the scene “do not seem quite as anxious or afraid,” he said.
    Constitutional Rights
    Defense attorneys repeatedly argued that their clients were lawfully exercising their First and Second Amendment rights to freely assemble and to bear arms.
    •Prosecution: “There is no Second Amendment right to threaten someone with a gun, nor is there a First Amendment right to threaten someone,” Myhre said.
    •Defense: Attorney Rich Tanasi, who represents Steven Stewart, said his client went to Bunkerville “not to commit crimes, not to assault federal officers, but to exercise his First Amendment right to protest … and he did so with his Second Amendment right.”
    The Undercover Operation
    Federal investigators posed as documentary filmmakers to draw statements from some of the defendants. The undercover interviews occurred several months after the standoff. Defense attorneys accused the government of using deceptive tactics designed to trick and manipulate their clients. The sham film’s working title was “America Reloaded.”
    •Prosecution: Myhre said defendants knew the interviews were public and could be viewed by law enforcement. “They’re boasting, they’re bragging, they’re trying to muster more support for what they view as their cause,” he said. He described the ruse as a “lawful tool.”
    •Defense: Leventhal referenced the voluminous evidence from the day of the standoff. “Over 18,500 documents, 170,000 pages, thousands of hours of video … After all that evidence, they decide to go undercover again,” he said. “Why else would FBI agents spend the time, the resources? Because they don’t have more.”

    Jurors are scheduled to resume their deliberations Monday morning.

    The trial is the first of three resulting from the April 12, 2014, standoff. The gunmen in the first trial were identified by the government as the “least culpable” of the alleged co-conspirators. Bundy and some of his sons are scheduled to stand trial later this year.
    https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/b...tandoff-trial/

  30. #26
    No verdict after second day of deliberations in Bunkerville standoff trial

    Jurors in the first Bunkerville standoff trial finished their second day of deliberations Monday without reaching a verdict.

    The jury received the case Thursday, after hearing two months of testimony in the trial of six people charged as “gunmen” in the April 2014 armed standoff near Cliven Bundy’s ranch. The men are accused of conspiring with Bundy to stop federal agents from seizing his cattle from public land.

    Federal prosecutors have characterized the men standing trial as the “least culpable” of 17 people they eventually plan to try on charges of conspiracy, extortion, threats, assault and related counts.

    U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro received a note from the jury Monday asking her two hypothetical questions. The note is sealed to the public, but Navarro revealed at a late-afternoon court hearing that jurors inquired about what happens if they cannot reach a unanimous decision for each of the defendants, and what happens if they cannot reach a unanimous decision for each of the 10 counts the defendants face.

    Navarro, in response, sent a note back to the jurors telling them that they may only consider testimony and exhibits in reaching their verdict, “not what happens if.”
    https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/b...tandoff-trial/
    The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding one’s self in the ranks of the insane.” — Marcus Aurelius

    They’re not buying it. CNN, you dumb bastards!” — President Trump 2020

    Consilio et Animis de Oppresso Liber

  31. #27
    Bundy lawyer says court violated rancher’s speedy trial rights

    A lawyer representing Cliven Bundy has accused a federal judge of violating the embattled cattle rancher’s constitutional right to a speedy trial by setting a June 26 start date in the second Bunkerville standoff case.

    In a motion filed Wednesday in federal court in Las Vegas, defense attorney Bret Whipple asks the court to modify a recent order that set the late-June start date for the second of three groups of defendants in the high-profile case.

    “This court has, on its own initiative, set a trial well beyond the range suggested by the ‘thirty-day’ planned trial schedule,” Whipple wrote in the filing.

    Bundy, some of his sons, and others charged as “leaders” of a mass assault on federal agents initially were scheduled to be tried 30 days after the first trial’s completion. But federal prosecutors recently requested additional time to prepare for the second trial.

    The jury finished its fourth day of deliberations Wednesday in the first trial, against six people charged as “gunmen” in the April 2014 armed standoff between protesters and federal authorities who tried to seize Bundy’s cows. If jurors return a verdict in the next week, the June 26 date would fall 60 days or more after the first trial’s conclusion.

    “It is the United States’ obligation to provide innocent citizens accused of crimes a speedy trial,” Whipple wrote. “As such, the United States cannot extend time before trial due to alleged logistical problems it itself is creating.”
    Whipple requested a trial date of no later than June 5.

    Bundy, who turned 71 this month, has been incarcerated since his arrest last year on charges of conspiracy, assault, extortion and related counts. Federal prosecutors have said he recruited militiamen to travel to Bunkerville and block Bureau of Land Management agents from impounding his cattle from public land.
    https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/b...-trial-rights/
    The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding one’s self in the ranks of the insane.” — Marcus Aurelius

    They’re not buying it. CNN, you dumb bastards!” — President Trump 2020

    Consilio et Animis de Oppresso Liber

  32. #28
    Quote Originally Posted by Weston White View Post
    No verdict after second day of deliberations in Bunkerville standoff trial



    https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/b...tandoff-trial/
    Let us pray......
    There is no spoon.

  33. #29
    April 20, 2017

    Even Judge Navarro seemed confused by the jury’s questions.

    By Shari Dovale and John Lamb


    During the 5th day of deliberations, the jury for the first tier Bunkerville defendants have come back to the courtroom with another question.

    Though the specific questions remain sealed, the responses from the court indicate the question pertained to contradictions in the jury instructions on how to determine if there was a conspiracy.

    Judge Gloria Navarro responded that the conspiracy could have existed from people who are not in this room. She was referring to future defendants and also those that have not been indicted.


    At one point, Judge Navarro attempted a convoluted analogy involving baseball. If there was a conspiracy to play a game of baseball, did these defendants bring the tools (bat, ball, glove) to play the game?

    If the jury finds that no conspiracy existed, then several of the charges would automatically be found as not guilty. However, it does not mean that all the charges would have a blanket not guilty. There are several charges that are not tied to the conspiracy charge.

    The jury questions also indicated that they are having difficulties on unanimity. There could be a possibility of a hung jury on some of the charges.

    The jurors must decide on over 70 charges in this case. There are 15 pages of jury instructions and 11 pages of verdict sheets.

    This has become very confusing for everyone today, as even Judge Navarro seemed confused by the jury’s questions. The defense attorneys argued that, with today’s responses, their defendants are being tried for crimes possibly committed by other people.

    The jury seems to be needing a break, and they have indicated they would like to leave early today and possibly take tomorrow off as well, returning Monday morning. The jurors are setting their own schedule at this point.

    It does seem that if the jurors are have having trouble defining a conspiracy on the 5th day of deliberations, then the verdict pendulum could possibly be swinging away from the government.

    In related news, many of the defendants have been incarcerated for over 400 days now. It was determined early on that the second trial would commence 30 days after the first was completed. The third trial would then begin 30 days after the second trial completed.

    The prosecution filed a motion to delay the start date of the second tier trial until June 5th. Judge Navarro set the date back to June 26th. Cliven Bundy filed a motion contesting that ruling based on the defendants rights to a speedy trial.

    The court has continuously delayed these trials for their own convenience. Judge Navarro has cited her reasons for delay, again, as the logistics of responding to pre-trial motions. This is something that she should have planned for from the beginning.
    https://www.oathkeepers.org/bunkervi...ed-conspiracy/

  34. #30
    Quote Originally Posted by phill4paul View Post
    Thanks for the updates!

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