The Bundy gang walks
Holy shit. The case against the Bundys for that time they drew guns on the Feds has been thrown out.
A federal judge in Las Vegas dismissed charges against Cliven Bundy and his sons, Ammon and Ryan, on Monday.
Judge Gloria M. Navarro of Federal District Court, in a ruling from the bench, said that the government’s missteps in withholding evidence against the three Bundy family members and a supporter, Ryan W. Payne, were so grave that the indictment against them would be dismissed.
…
The 2014 standoff, the focus of Monday’s hearing, was set off when the Bureau of Land Management seized cattle from Cliven Bundy’s ranch in Bunkerville, Nev., in an attempt to force him to pay decades of back fees for grazing his cattle on federal land. Mr. Bundy insisted he did not have to pay the charges because, he said, he had inherited water rights on the land. At the height of the standoff, hundreds of antigovernment activists, many of them carrying guns, rallied to the Bundys cause, until the confrontation ended with the withdrawal of federal agents.
So then, emboldened, they went and stole Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Oregon and occupied it for several weeks. What will they take over next?
They did get the White House….
This is the Bundy’s country now; we just live in it…and maybe not that for long, if they decide they want the spot we live, too.
The government withheld evidence against them? Wouldn’t that, like, work in their favor? And as a result, they got off? I find all this very perplexing. It’s like either a huge screw up or total incompetence…or deliberate? Who knows?
iknklast, I haven’t read the link, but if the government withheld evidence it had against them from the defense, that would be misconduct. The defense is supposed to be informed, in a timely manner, of the evidence against their client.
From the link:
“Judge Navarro declared a mistrial last month in the case, stemming from an armed standoff at the Bundy ranch in 2014 that had arisen over land-grazing fees. She said then that prosecutors had erred in failing to turn over important evidence to the defense, including video taken surreptitiously within the ranch during the standoff, and evidence that F.B.I. agents were involved in the incident.”
Okay, if they withheld it from the defense, I can get that. My brain is still not working right from spending too many hours working this weekend…I need some sleep.
That still sounds like either gross malpractice, total incompetence, or deliberate sabotage to me. I’m hoping not the last…though it isn’t terribly comforting to think our government officials are incompetent, it is really frightening to think they would deliberately let people walk after pulling guns on federal officials.