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After less than a day of deliberation, a jury of nine men and three women found FBI special agent Joseph Astarita not guilty of lying about a high-profile police shooting during the 2016 Malheur National Wildlife Refuge occupation. Astarita faced two counts of making false statements and one count of obstruction of justice. The charges stemmed from a critical moment during the occupation when spokesman Robert ‘LaVoy’ Finicum was shot and killed by Oregon State Police after he fled a traffic stop along a remote stretch of highway in eastern Oregon.

Defense Attorney Rob Cary: "Do you recall hearing any shots at the roadblock that day" Accused FBI Agent W. Joseph Astarita: "No, I do not" "His favorite things to say were 'I just don't recall',"I don't know', "I don't remember','I don't know where or when that happened'....." LaVoy Finicum's widow Jeanette Finicum reports on FBI Agent W. Joseph Astarita's testimony 8/8/2018 FBI Hostage Rescue Team Agent W. Joseph Astarita went on the stand for the second day at his trial in Portland today on charges of lying about firing two shots at a roadblock. The report from Maxine Bernstein of...

"Today, Jake Ryan was charged and sentenced to One year and one day in prison and 30 days for each misdemeanor. This news breaks our hearts. Our thoughts and prayers are with Jake and his family...In defense of the Hammonds the Ryan family stood. We now stand with them all. #freejakeryan" Post on Ammon Bundy Facebook page 1043pm Pacific Time 1/24/2018 "I'm sui juris. I'm a man capable of handling my own affairs." Jake Ryan speaks at his sentencing at US District Court-Portland, Oregon 1/24/2018 Jake Ryan had a good reputation in his community, the support of his sheriff and...

Prosecutors say witness testimony, audio and video evidence, plus bullet trajectory analysis yielded one conclusion: FBI agent W. Joseph Astarita lied about firing two shots at the truck of refuge occupation spokesman Robert "LaVoy" Finicum in 2016 after he swerved into a snowbank. The information is detailed in a 32 page government response to Astarita's motion to dismiss the federal indictment against him. He's pleaded not guilty to three counts of obstruction of making false statements and two counts of obstruction of justice. Astarita's lawyer claimed the indictment was based on "junk science". The government response also reveals that Oregon...

"I've should have been a cowboy, I shoulda have learned to rope and ride"-Toby Keith-Sould've Been A Cowboy (1993) "It's time we stop, hey what's that sound everybody look what's going down"-Buffalo Springfield-For What Its Worth (1966) It's been one year (January 26, 2016) since the FBI executed a 'felony traffic stop' against non violent protestors along Route 395 in Harney County, Oregon that led to the death of Robert "LaVoy" Finicum. Finicum was a rancher, a cowboy, a defender of Constitutional rights and a believer in the Constitution of the United States. He was a husband and father, including...

"I'm a big fan of America, but I'm not a fan of plea bargaining..... ......it's basically impossible in America now, today, to plead innocent, it's impossible because...if you go to a court its going to cost X million in legal fees and your sentence will be 750 years but of course if you want to plead guilty that's fine you'll serve five months and be out..... America is five percent of the world's population but has 20 percent of the world's prisoners...." Nigel Farage on "The Nigel Farage Show"-LBC Radio 2/6/2018 BREAKING NEWS: TODD ENGEL, WHO WAS CONVICTED IN THE...

"we have withdrawn from the lawsuit placed in the federal court and are relying upon We the People of America to convene a 7th Amendment Grand Jury to examine the crimes and the criminals who have done us harm" Shawna Cox Statement February 8, 2018 There's word from Gary Hunt's "Outpost of Freedom" blog this week (February 21st) that Shawna Cox, who rode in the truck shot at by the FBI right before driver LaVoy Finicum's murder, is withdrawing the lawsuit filed in federal court in Portland last month. Cox said that she and Ryan Bundy have decided to withdraw...

The passengers riding in the truck of Oregon refuge occupation spokesman Robert "LaVoy" Finicum on Jan. 26, 2016 have filed their own civil rights lawsuit against the FBI, Harney County sheriff and others, including a federal informant. It's the second civil suit stemming from the day when FBI and police arrested leaders of the armed takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife refuge...... Cox, Ryan Bundy and singer Victoria Sharp were crouched in the back seat of the truck at the roadblock. Ryan Payne had earlier gotten out of the front passenger seat of the truck when police first stopped it...

They implored him to think about the Holy Spirit. They explained that the First Amendment is about freedom of speech and the Second is about the right to bear arms, and said that they were in that order for a reason. They asked him what he thought Jesus would have done in his situation. He, in turn, asked for pizza and marijuana. In the final moments, it all came down to one troubled young man and the exhaustive attempts by two of his ideological sympathizers to get him to surrender peacefully and end the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife...

A jury returned guilty verdicts Friday on at least one felony charge against each of the four defendants...... Defense lawyers immediately decried the convictions of the more minor players as a miscarriage of justice when the ringleaders got off last fall..... "So who's getting Tased?" blurted Matthew Schindler, adefense lawyer from the first trial who sat in the back of the courtroom, referencing the bizzare end to last fall's trial when marshals tackled and used a Taser stun gun on Ammon Bundy's lawyer.,,,, Oregon's U.S. Attorney Billy Williams declared "justice has been served"....... "Just about everybody would agree if you...

Mainstream media organizations in Oregon have obtained transcripts of the grand jury testimony that led to charges against FBI agent W. Joseph Astarita for lying about shots he fired just before Oregon State Police troopers killed LaVoy Finicum on January 26, 2016. It turns out that the FBI sent out its own Shooting Incident Review Team in February 2016 that was unable to determine if Astarita or the other FBI agents at the scene fired any shots. But the Oregon shooting team led by the Deschutes County Sheriff's Office along with the Department of Justice's Office of Inspector General and...

"Gov't experts found that the 2nd shot-as LaVoy Finicum is stepping from his truck-'the defendant is the only person in the core of probability where that shot could have been taken'........." "Oregon Live" reporter Maxine Bernstein Tweet 3/6/2018 Federal prosecutors think that FBI Hostage Rescue Team agent W. Joseph Astarita fired his second shot as LaVoy Finicum was leaving his truck moments before being gunned down by Oregon State Police. Assistant US Attorney Paul Maloney said that government experts have determined Astarita was the only person in the "core of probability" where the shot could have been taken. Agent Astarita...

PDF of the complete autopsy here:

An indictment accusing an FBI agent of lying to hide the he fired two shots at Robert "LaVoy" Finicum and missed caps an 18-month investigation.... Deschutes County Sheriff Shane Nelson credited his investigators for their tenaciousness..... The sheriff also revealed that FBI leaders, told of his department's findings more than a year ago, didn't put the agent or four of his colleagues on leave..... all members of the Hostage Rescue Team..... The indictment of W. Joseph Astarita, 40, of New York casts a shadow on the highly trained team...... "I'm encouraged. I'm thrilled that the grand jury came back with...

Other members of the FBI's Hostage Rescue Team involved in the stop of refuge occupation Robert "LaVoy" Finicum testified before a federal grand jury that returned an indictment against their colleague, Agent W. Joseph Astarita. Proescutors have asked the court for permission to share transcripts of the agents' testimony with a nationally recognized ballistics and trajectory expert who they may call as a witness at trial. Astarita is accused of firing two shots at Finicum or his truck and then lying about it. The shots didn't hurt Finicum. State police fatally shot Finicum a short time later. Finicum appeared to...

"I feel it's possible somebody is lying. I don't know which side, or who, or it could be both. There's still two unattributed shots, and I feel like we're never going to know for sure who took them." The lead juror in the trial of FBI Agent W. Joseph Astarita It was back and forth like a "pendulum" for the man who led the jurors who came up with the not guilty verdicts at the trial of FBI Agent W. Joseph Astarita. Astarita was accused of lying about firing two shots at LaVoy Finicum as his truck went into the...