Posted on 02/10/2017 3:55:07 AM PST by Nextrush
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...
The April 2014 standoff in Bunkerville followed a five-word 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...
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 overpasss 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........
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......
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 protestors--to go retrieve his cattle and "get'er done"--came after the local sheriff announced the BLM agents had left town, defense teams argued.....
"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."....
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 protestors....
Defense attorney Terrence Jackson, representing Gregory Burleson said authorities shouted a "mumble jumble" of inaudible instructions at protestors when they arrived....
(Excerpt) Read more at reviewjournal.com ...
The dramatic video the media sent out on that Saturday back in April 2014 along with their dramatic characterization of events that day would contribute to the drama generated in January 2016 when the Oregon Standoff protest began.
There are different stories being presented at this trial about what happened at Bunkerville and the jury will have the final say about whose story they believe.
Was there some sort of set up going on from the federal side to provoke the protesters that day, sort of like the Oregon Standoff ambush 'felony traffic stop' that killed LaVoy Finicum and injured Ryan Bundy?
LaVoy Finicum’s murder was suspicious.
Send the attorney who defended the President’s EO in San Francisco, to prosecute Bundy.
My YHVH’s right hand provide justice for those who stand against unlawful government.
Good morning.
“LaVoy Finicums murder was suspicious.”
Murder is an accurate description. So is execution.
Reminds me of Lon Hourcchi.
5.56mm
I watched a couple of you tube videos that LaVoy Finicum
made a couple of weeks before he was killed. - He
sounded sane & sensible & explained why he did not owe the
BLM any fees for watering his stock.
The FEDS showed up at Bundy’s ranch declaring that they were there to round up his cows.
They had the biggest BACKHOE I have ever seen, and Nevada is a mining state...We do have big backhoes here.
I would like an exact explanation from the FEDS what use they thought a large backhoe would be in rounding up cattle? The cows could walk faster than that backhoe.
Also- the FEDS shot Bundy’s cows from a helicopter and shot a bull which was in a corral claiming it was ‘dangerous.
A good breeding bull is worth as least $100,000, & is often owned by a number of ranchers & shared by them.
The loss to the Bundy’s—along with the losses to the Hammonds need to be repaid plus penalties & interest by the FEDS.
SOME of that payback needs to come directly out of the bank accounts of the leaders of both attacks. All the Fed participants need to be fired, never to hod another public service job again. Some prison time would make me very happy.
The Bundy ranchers should forge some documents that that they have American Indian blood - then they will be media heroes.
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