Free Republic

A scathing memo from the lead investigator who assessed how federal officers handled the 2014 armed standoff with Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy accuses agents of far-reaching misconduct, recklessness and unrestrained antipathy towards the family. Prosecutors shared it last week with defense lawyers for Bundy, his two sons and co-defendant Ryan Payne as they were in the midst of their conspiracy trial, but it's not part of the public court record. The memo prompted Cliven Bundy's lawyer to file a motion early Monday to dismiss the case, already in disarray over concerns raised previously about the government's failure to promptly share...

US District Judge Gloria M. Navarro has relaxed the home detention pre-trial release of three defendants in the third Bunkerville Standoff trial. In response to a request from Ryan Bundy, Judge Navarro agreed that Ryan, his brother Ammon Bundy and Ryan Payne will be free subject to a 9pm to 5m curfew. Ryan Bundy has also notified the court that he and the other two defendants out on pre-trial release will freely communicate with each other.......

US District Judge Gloria M. Navarro decided that the third Bunkerville Standoff trial could not continue today. She said the prosecution had displayed "coyness" about evidence and cited 14 pieces of evidence including emails from the fired Bureau of Land Management agent Dan Love, who led their operations around Bundy Ranch in early 2014. Also in the evidence under question is a map detailing the position of government agents in and around Bundy Ranch that would reinforce the defense case and rebut the prosecution's contention that defendants saying they were surrounded by snipers was false. There's also in the evidence...

Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas once told a group of Washington DC high school students that his toughest cases were those where "his heart said one thing and the law said something else". US District Judge Gloria Navarro's "heart" was revealed in her blind acceptance of prosecution pronouncements at the first two Bunkerville Standoff trials, only to be blindsided by the sudden release of torrents of evidence as the third trial got underway. Navarro went through the first two trials accepting there was no evidence justifying self-defense (the Second Amendment) as a defense for the six defendants..... She has seen...

The last of those held in connection with the April 2014 Bunkerville Standoff near Bundy Rach, Joe O'Shaugnessy, was given pretrial home release after a decision from the judge presiding in the Oregon Standoff case, US District Judge Anna J. Brown in Portland. US District Judge Gloria M. Navarro in Las Vegas, the Bunkerville judge, granted release but Judge Brown in Portland needed to sign off. The stipulation is that once O'Shaugnessy's trial in Las Vegas is done he is back in custody within 48 hours for another detention hearing. His trial is supposed to happen 30 days after the...

A packed courtroom in Las Vegas today heard that four men being held ahead of trial without bail will be released (Dave Bundy, Mel Bundy, Jason Woods and Joe O'Shaughnessy). They have spent some 21 months locked up as if they were murderers or terrorists. These four men were considered the Tier 3 defendants facing the "least serious" charges. Their trial is set to begin 30 days after the current trial is finished. The men began leaving the courthouse late today with Dave Bundy first, then Jason Woods. Joe O'Shaughnessy's release is contingent on agreement from the Oregon Standoff judge,...

There's plenty of news coming out of Las Vegas about the home detention release of those currently on trial and still facing trial in the Bunkerville Standoff case, but Cliven Bundy has decided to stay behind bars noting that home detention is not freedom. His wife, Carol Bundy, spoke to the news media Friday afternoon outside the federal courthouse in Las Vegas as defendant Ryan Payne left the building going to his home detention. Here is an excerpt of what she had to say: "My family made a stand in 2014, made a peaceful protest and we exercised our First...

Cliven Bundy, the 71-year-old rancher who sparked a national debate over states’ rights, refused a federal judge’s offer to be released from jail during his ongoing trial on Wednesday. Bundy, who engaged in an armed standoff with government agents over a cattle round-up in 2014, turned down the judge’s option of house arrest while others involved in the standoff are still in jail awaiting trial. A federal grand jury in Nevada indicted Cliven and four others on 16 charges related to the armed standoff near his ranch over unpaid grazing fees last year. U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro, meantime, said...

It was a surprise move in and of itself when US District Judge Gloria Navarro reversed herself on November 13th (one day before the trial began) and released Ryan Bundy from jail. But now word that Judge Navarro is releasing the other defendants Cliven Bundy, Ammon Bundy and Ryan Payne as well. Cliven Bundy and Ammon Bundy have been consistently wearing their jail clothing to court and perhaps that helped Judge Navarro make her decision to help influence the jury away from sympathy for the defendants.....

Tuesday's activities at the third Bunkerville Standoff trial in Las Vegas started with US District Judge Gloria Navarro and the prosecution and defense lawyers in the courtroom. The hearing they were holding was to discuss motions related to the trial. A juror's summons to another court delayed the jury from being present for trial itself to continue. The lead prosecutor, Acting US Attorney Steven Myhre, was outraged over what Cliven Bundy's defense lawyer Bret Whipple said in court yesterday about a BLM agent trying to bribe a Bundy in-law to become an informant. Myhre spoke of "inflammatory, unfounded claims"........

Bureau of Land Management official Robert Shilaikis testified for the prosecution. Shilaikis testified about a phone conversation he had with Ryan Bundy regarding the government's plans to impound cattle near the Bundy Ranch. Bundy reminded Shilaikis that the family would oppose the federal government's seizure of their property (cattle) as they had said for the last 20 years doing "whatever it takes". Its a phrase that has sinister overtones to opponents of the Bundy's. It is important for the prosecution to create sinister notions of violence against the four defendants. US District Judge Gloria Navarro would only allow 10 minutes...

The next prosecution witness is expected to take the stand Monday in the third Bunkerville Standoff trial of Cliven Bundy, his sons Ammon and Ryan Bundy, along with Ryan Payne. Justice Department lawyer Terry Petrie wrapped up his testimony on Wednesday before the Thanksgiving break, answering questions submitted by jurors. US District Judge Gloria Navarro's decision to allow juror questions at the trial submitted in writing is seen as a way for her to see the mind of the jury and enable her to declare a mistrial if she sees a "threat" of jury nullification. Jurors asked about water rights...

Before Justice Department lawyer Terry Petrie could return to the witness stand today for cross examination by the defense, prosecutors were arguing before US District Judge Gloria Navarro over the defense's questions to Petrie yesterday. They were call the questions of Cliven Bundy's attorney Bret Whipple and those framed with the US Constitution by Ryan Bundy, acting in his own defense, an attack on the prosecution. The prosecutors are accusing the defense of attempting jury nullification. Trial observer John Lamb posted a video at the lunchtime break discussing the FBI threat assessment, a 15 page document that is redacted in...

The Tuesday trial session involved continued arguments about the "threat assessment" followed by cross- examination of government lawyer Terry Petrie. The jury was out of the courtroom for the arguments, but then was brought in for the witness. The defense is being allowed to use entrapment as an argument in the case. Many documents have been released for thi trial including some that are redacted and not allowed to be read out loud in court..... When lawyer Terry Petrie was under cross examination, Ryan Bundy held the courtroom in rapt attention. The jury, judge and spectators listened intently while Bundy...

John Lamb reports that much of the morning was occupied with arguing over what was going to be allowed in court regarding water rights and other matters mentioned in the prosecution motion filed Sunday. Judge Navarro also heard arguments about the FBI threat assessment. After a four day buildup around the ranch (April 5-8, 2014) the bureau decided that the Bundy's did not pose a high threat. But the Bureau of Land Management considered the threat level "high". Navarro will limit statements from Cliven Bundy she considers "self serving"......

"Saying he was quoting Mark Twain, Whipple said: 'Alcohol is for drinking, water is for fighting' In Cliven Bundy's mind, 'he has a right to the range because he has used it for so long'"...... "Oregon Live" story published 11/14/2017 on opening arguments from Bret Whipple, Cliven Bundy's attorney "....Evidence and arguments of water rights could easily cause the jury to be influenced by the notion that Cliven possessed an ownership interest in the land because he may have possessed water rights on the land, and that he was wronged when ordered to remove his cattle. Indeed one juror presented...

"Based upon the government's motion this morning, the court's subsequent ruling, and content of the government's opening statements (discussed in detail below)--it is apparent that the legal grounds for mistrial exist, and the remedy is essential to protect Mr. Ammon Bundy (and the other co-defendants) and their due process and other legal rights....." A second motion to dismiss charges filed by Ammon Bundy's attorneys November 14, 2017 At last week's evidence hearing Acting US Attorney Steven Myhre, who is the lead prosecutor in the Bunkeville Standoff case, insisted there was little information to provide on any surveillance or armed law...

Late in the night, "OregonLive" reporter Maxine Bernstein posted information on her Twitter feed showing the reasoning behind Ammon Bundy's lawyer, Morgan Philpot, declining to make an opening statement based on what happened during Monday's evidence hearing. The closed evidence hearing when the public was ushered out on Monday involved discussion of what was revealed by the prosecution in the case last weekend under a deadline imposed by US District Judge Gloria Navarro. "During the last nine days, from November 3 to November 12, the defense has learned that in support of one wireless camera and the related surveillance, SAC...

LAS VEGAS-Ryan Bundy, leaning his arm on a courtroom podium, told jurors Wednesday that his remark to do "whatever it takes" wasn't a threat but a statement of his determination to protect his family's rights as the government prepared to round up his father's cattle. "We own the grazing rights. We own the water rights on that area, and we don't pay rent for something we own," he said in an hourlong opening statement as the federal trial continued in the April 2014 armed standoff near his father's ranch. Ryan Bundy, his father Cliven Bundy, brother Ammon Bundy and co-defendant...

"The most amazing part is after he was done the entire audience the judge, the prosecutors, nobody said a word for two to three minutes. We were just so stunned and amazed. You could have heard a pencil drop." Bret Whipple-Cliven Bundy's attorney describes Ryan Bundy opening arguments in video with John Lamb on "JGrady" You Tube account 11/15/2017 Ryan Bundy spoke in his own defense at the third Bunkerville Standoff trial projecting an image of his family on the screen as he presented his opening arguments to the jury. He said the federal government's Bureau of Land Management was...