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Wednesday, July 5, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
FBI agent in court on
charge of lying
By Steve Dubois
Associated Press
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP)
— An FBI agent was set to
appear in court Wednesday
on charges that he lied about
shooting at a key figure in last
year’s armed occupation of a
national wildlife refuge just
before the man was killed by
Oregon police.
The inspector general of
the U.S. Justice Department
in March 2016 began inves-
tigating possible FBI miscon-
duct and whether there was a
cover-up. That investigation
led to the indictment against
the agent, W. Joseph Astarita.
Robert “LaVoy” Finicum,
a spokesman for the group
that took over the remote bird
sanctuary to oppose federal
control of land in the Western
U.S., was fatally shot Jan. 26,
2016. Oregon State Police
opened fire after he got out
of a vehicle at a police road-
block, held up his hands and
then reached toward a hand-
gun that he kept in an inner
jacket pocket.
Investigators determined
the troopers were justified
in shooting Finicum but also
found members of an FBI
hostage rescue team at the
scene failed to disclose that
they fired two rounds that
missed the Arizona rancher.
Finicum’s widow, Jeanette
Finicum, has said she plans
to sue Oregon State Police
and the FBI, alleging the
use of excessive force in her
husband’s death. Nobody
answered a call to her number
Wednesday, and her lawyer,
Brian Claypool, did not return
a message seeking comment.
Dozens of people, includ-
ing leader Ammon Bundy,
occupied the remote Malheur
National Wildlife Refuge
about 290 miles southeast of
Portland, from Jan. 2 to Feb.
11, 2016. They were allowed
to come and go for several
weeks as authorities tried to
avoid bloodshed seen in past
standoffs at Waco, Texas, and
Ruby Ridge, Idaho.
But authorities moved
in Jan. 26 when key stand-
off leaders left the refuge to
attend a community meeting,
pulling over two vehicles and
arresting the occupiers inside.
Finicum, 54, was driving
one of the vehicles. Video
taken by one of his passen-
gers showed the occupants
panicking after authorities
stopped the truck.
With his window rolled
down, Finicum shouted at
officers: “Shoot me, just
shoot me! Put the bullet
through me.”
Finicum then sped off.
He was driving more than 70
mph when the truck came to a
roadblock and plowed into a
snowbank.
Authorities say the FBI
agent fired two errant shots
as Finicum left the truck. As
Finicum stood in the snow,
authorities told him to lie
on the ground. Instead, he
reached toward his jacket,
leading state troopers to fire
three rounds, all of which hit
him.
Most occupiers left the
refuge after Finicum’s death,
though four holdouts stayed
an additional 16 days.
Federal prosecutors tried
to convict occupation lead-
ers Ammon and Ryan Bundy
and five others in a trial last
fall but jurors acquitted them
of charges of conspiring to
impede federal workers from
their jobs.
Jurors convicted four men
in a second trial. An addi-
tional 14 people pleaded
guilty without going to trial.
The Bundys and others are
now facing trial in Nevada on
conspiracy charges in a 2014
armed standoff with federal
agents.
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Standoff defendant: home detention
By Steven Dubois
Associated Press
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP)
A military veteran who per-
formed guard duty during
the armed occupation of
a national wildlife refuge
in Oregon was sentenced
Monday to six months of
home detention.
Geoff Stanek, 27, of
Lafayette, Oregon, pleaded
guilty to conspiracy in June
2016, three months before
the high-profile trial in which
occupation leader Ammon
Bundy and six others were
found not guilty. Stanek’s
early acceptance of respon-
sibility was one reason fed-
eral prosecutor Craig Gabriel
recommended a sentence
that did not include prison
time.
Stanek was among the
more than two dozen men
and women who answered
Bundy’s January 2016 call to
occupy the Malheur National
Wildlife Refuge in a protest
against federal control of
Western lands and the impris-
onment of two ranchers con-
victed of setting fires.
“You’re free to think what
you choose, but your con-
duct crossed the line,” U.S.
District Judge Anna Brown
said Monday.
Another occupier, Eric
Lee Flores, was scheduled
to be sentenced Monday,
but got mixed up on the date
and never arrived from his
home in Tulalip, Washington.
Brown said the hearing will
be rescheduled.
Stanek arrived at the
refuge Jan. 7 after learn-
ing about the occupation
through Facebook. He stayed
until Jan. 26, the day Bundy
and other occupation lead-
ers were arrested in a traffic
stop that included the fatal
shooting by police of protest
spokesman Robert “LaVoy”
Finicum.
Though Gabriel described
Stanek as one of the least
culpable defendants, the
judge noted that he arrived
at the bird sanctuary with
an AR-15, body armor and
medic supplies.
“You were prepared for a
bloodbath,” she said.
Stanek declined to make
a statement when given a
chance. In response to ques-
tions from the judge, Stanek
vowed to provide for his
young daughter and not vio-
late any conditions during a
two-year term of probation.
One requirement prohibits
him going on federal land
without permission from his
probation officer.
A total of 14 people
pleaded guilty to occupation-
related charges and another
four were convicted by a jury.
Judge Brown plans a fall hear-
ing to decide how to divvy up
restitution.
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