21st Century Wire
Yesterday, Judge Anna Brown handed out “not guilty” verdicts to both Ammon and Ryan Bundy, leaders of the 41 day occupation of Malheur National Wildlife refuge near Burns, Oregon earlier this year.
The Bundys along with five other defendants, were acquitted of all major charges relating to the Oregon protest event, including ‘conspiring to impede refuge employees’ and possession of firearms at a federal facility.
Ammon Bundy led the protest in Oregon in January 2016.
Ammon and Ryan Bundy are still being held in custody however, awaiting a second trial will they will face federal charges in the state of Nevada over the high-profile Bundy Ranch Standoff with the employees of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) near Bunkerville in April 2014.
The Burns standoff came to an abrupt end after one protest spokesman and Arizona resident, Robert LaVoy Finicum (photo, left), died after police fired on protester vehicles, before a special federal tactical team tracked, shot and killed the rancher at a pre-planned ambush along a remote rural road outside of Burns.
Not surprisingly, the surprise acquittal has sent Democratic Party-linked media outlets into a tail spin. The New York Times still labelled the the Bundy brothers as “Armed antigovernment protesters” indicating a hyperbolic editorial bias against the defendants which was visible through the trajectory of this story.
Similarly, both Oregon Gov. Kate Brown and Harney County Sheriff David Ward are on record saying that were not happy with Friday’s verdict, not surprisingly, as both these officials played a crucial role in the state’s escalation of violence which colminated in Finicum’s death. Brown even issued a public statement saying she was ‘disappointed’ the jury’s decision.
Despite a campaign of highly coordinated ‘trial by media’ propaganda, led by the Oregonian Newspaper and other federal-leaning media outlets like the Washington Post, and ultra-liberal websites like Salon.com – the jury was still able to judge the facts, and eventually ruled on the side of the protesters.
“I knew that what my husband was doing was right, but I was nervous because the judge was controlling the narrative,” said Angela Bundy, 39, wife of Ryan to a Times reporter.
According to one juror, the verdict was “a statement regarding the various failures of the prosecution” to prove that there was a conspiracy – indicating that the federal government’s botched affair might have been down to over-zealous political atmosphere in Washington that led to proscecutors going for a completely over-the-top set of charges in order to make a political statment – instead of just sticking to the facts and Constiutional law.
Police Tase Bundy Lawyer in Courtroom
Right after the verdict was rendered, a bizarre courtroom scene erupted which ended in one of the Bundy’s defense lawyers was tased and taken into custody after he asked the court to produce paperwork showing the order to ‘rearrest’ his client. Attorney Marcus Mumford was visibly shaken after the incident.
Watch the video testimony of Mumford here:
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A federal magistrate judge in Las Vegas has set the Nevada trial date for Feb. 6, 2017, which will include rancher Cliven Bundy, and the 18 other defendants in the case regarding the 2014 BLM standoff.
READ MORE OREGON STANDOFF NEWS AT: 21st Century Wire Oregon Files