Closing argument in 1st Bunkerville standoff trial

[struggle4progress]

By Jenny Wilson Las Vegas Review-Journal
April 12, 2017 - 1:55 pm
Updated April 12, 2017 - 4:35 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 ...

https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/bundy-blm/prosecutor-gives-closing-argument-in-1st-bunkerville-standoff-trial/

[struggle4progress]

1. Standoff Trial In Las Vegas Comes To An End

Posted On Wed. Apr 12th, 2017

... Prosecutors characterize the defendants — Gregory Burleson of Arizona, Richard Lovelien of Oklahoma, and Idaho residents Todd Engel, Scott Drexler, Eric Parker and Steven Stewart — as followers of a Bundy plan to prevent the agents from removing Bundy cattle from scenic and environmentally sensitive rangeland northeast of Las Vegas.

A second federal court trial could start June 5 in for Cliven Bundy, his sons Ammon and Ryan Bundy, and two other defendants characterized by prosecutors as leaders of a conspiracy to defy court orders to corral the cows. Trial for another six defendants would follow in the fall.

Defense attorneys have said the trial is not about cattle, and that the government has not proved conspiracy, weapon, assault on a federal agent and other charges. If convicted of all the charges, the six defendants could each face more than 100 years in federal prison.

Jurors have seen photos of each defendant wielding a weapon during the tense noontime April 12, 2014, confrontation outside the small town of Bunkerville ...

http://thecourier.com/ohio-news/2017/04/12/bundy-ranching-standoff-trial-in-las-vegas-comes-to-an-end/

[struggle4progress]

2. Chief federal judge moves to prevent Marcus Mumford from practicing

By Maxine Bernstein | The Oregonian/OregonLive
on April 12, 2017 at 12:04 PM, updated April 12, 2017 at 12:57 PM

Attorney Marcus Mumford, who last month had criminal charges dismissed against him stemming from his arrest on the day his client Ammon Bundy was acquitted of conspiracy in federal court in Portland, now faces more legal challenges.

Oregon's Chief U.S. District Judge Michael W. Mosman is seeking to revoke Mumford's ability to practice law in any federal court in the District of Oregon, a rare move.

The judge has given Mumford until May 4 to argue in writing why he should not impose such a sanction.

In a court filing Wednesday, Mosman cited Mumford's repeated failures or refusals to observe court rulings in the Bundy trial last fall, repeated instances of Mumford arguing with the judge with a raised voice and sometimes in the jury's presence, inappropriate commentary on a witness in the presence of a jury, his arguing for Bundy's release from trial after his acquittal "without a good-faith basis to believe that the pre-existing custody order'' from Nevada was not still in effect and his yelling at the court when he objected to the trial judge's rulings ...

http://www.oregonlive.com/oregon-standoff/2017/04/chief_federal_judge_threatens.html

[Leith]

3. Lock the Whole Bunch of Them Up

There are pictures and videos of them pointing guns at federal officers.

Those yahoos are posse comitatus nutjobs, rebel militia, and white supremacists. If they go free, we can expect a lot more park building takeovers, belligerent grandstanding, and probably a couple dead park rangers.

[panader0]

4. "peaceful protesters" eh?

The evidence against then seems solid enough. Go to jail.