Prosecution Rests In Refuge Occupation Trial - #BundyTeaParty

[struggle4progress]

By EDITOR • 2 HOURS AGO
Originally published on September 28, 2016 6:32 am

Prosecutors rested their case Tuesday in the trial of seven occupiers of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, turning it over to the defense who will begin laying out its case Wednesday.

The prosecution began the day with a gun show, presenting to the jury 22 long guns and 12 handguns found on the refuge along with copious amounts of ammunition ...

Defendant Kenneth Medenbach’s attorney, Matt Schindler, objected to the prosecution’s attempt to present ammunition as evidence. He argued everyone in the courtroom could agree ammunition was at the refuge without testimony. Judge Anna Brown overruled the objection, allowing the prosecution to continue ...

Prosecutors have argued throughout their case the Oregon occupation was not a peaceful protest. With Tuesday’s presentation, the government seemed to hope the volume of weapons and ammunition, as well as the types of guns recovered, would illustrate that to the jury ...

http://klcc.org/post/prosecution-rests-refuge-occupation-trial

[struggle4progress]

1. Tuesday highlights

By The Oregonian/OregonLive
on September 28, 2016 at 7:00 AM

... Once the firearms were removed from the courtroom, FBI agents hauled in 14 large black bins, topped with bright yellow lids. The bins contained evidence bags holding tens of thousands of rounds of ammunition recovered.

While defense lawyers were quick to point out through cross-examination of FBI agents that none of the firearms located or ammunition found was illegal, prosecutors intend to show that the mere volume, presence and use of some of the firearms for target practice at the refuge boat launch reveal the defendants' intent to intimidate refuge employees from returning to work at the federal property.

During cross-examination, defense lawyers tried to distance their clients from the guns. They also revealed that the federal government didn't pursue with indictments everyone identified as the owners, or last purchasers, of the firearms they collected from the refuge.

Once the government rested its case at 3:25 p.m., the judge heard legal motions about jury instructions, and denied a motion for acquittal offered by the defense ...

http://www.oregonlive.com/oregon-standoff/2016/09/oregon_standoff_trial_tuesday_2.html

[struggle4progress]

2. Feds present dramatic display of 22 long guns, 12 handguns

By Maxine Bernstein, The Oregonian, Portland, Ore. (TNS)
Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2016 | 2 a.m.

... Vanicelli held up the rifles and handguns that authorities found on the front seats of cars or the beds of trucks, stuffed under a cot or resting on top of a stump, left on the grass or inside a cooler in the west encampment of the refuge after the 41-day occupation of the bird sanctuary ...

Next, a cart that usually holds bound volumes of trial notebooks was wheeled in and the agents presented the handguns — 11 found at the encampment and one found in a green truck parked outside the old fire shop near the refuge headquarters ...

Federal agents bagged 18,331 separate pieces of ammunition at the refuge — including 16,636 live rounds, 1,627 spent casings at the refuge boat launch and 68 spent casings from the headquarters area, Walker testified.

As Walker was about to identify what was in each of the bags, U.S. District Judge Anna J. Brown directed prosecutors to speed up their presentation. "Can't we just do a summary, please," she said. "Let's get on with it" ...

https://lasvegassun.com/news/2016/sep/28/feds-present-dramatic-display-of-22-long-guns-12-h/

[struggle4progress]

3. Malheur Defense Attorneys Say It’s Their Turn

By RYAN HAAS • 2 HOURS AGO

Defense attorneys for Ammon Bundy and six other people who occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge earlier this year begin presenting their case to jurors today.

Bundy and others are charged with using threats and intimidation to keep federal workers from doing their jobs.

Matthew Schindler is representing defendant Kenneth Medenbach in the case ...

Schindler .. defense witnesses will testify that the refuge takeover was nothing more than a political protest over land use issues.

http://nwpr.org/post/malheur-defense-attorneys-say-now-it-s-their-turn

[struggle4progress]

4. Defense in Oregon standoff trial plans to recall government witnesses

By Maxine Bernstein | The Oregonian/OregonLive
on September 27, 2016 at 7:40 PM, updated September 27, 2016 at 9:41 PM

Defense lawyers .. plan to start their case Wednesday by recalling several of the law enforcement officers who testified for the government ...

They'll be seeking to delve into testimony that they weren't allowed to during their cross-examination of these witnesses ...

... each defense lawyer or defendant is expected to call a witness, which will allow the other defense lawyers or defendants to cross-examine the same witness ...

http://www.oregonlive.com/oregon-standoff/2016/09/defense_in_oregon_standoff_tri.html

[Ohio Dem]

5. Thank you for following this so closely and keeping us up to date.

I am sure I speak for many when I say that.

[pinboy3niner]

6. I see the judge has a new outfit for this phase

Think circus ringmaster.

[haele]

7. It makes sense to admit a large amount of ammunition as evidence.

That amount of ammunition present indicates that the plan was to hold the site at all costs, including a siege or pitched battle. The fact that they weren't logistically capable enough that they had to call out for food and snacks aside, the primary focus of all their planning was on battle with the Federal Government.

This isn't just a "land use" protest, this was an attempt at forcibly claim federal property for sovereign citizens. I'd be interested to find out which locals were going to profit from this Bundy bunch venture if the feds had just let it all go...which ones had been in touch with Clivon during his Nevada debacle.

Haele

[yellowcanine]

8. Yep. Exposes the Bundy lies about their "peaceful protest."