A10
News
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, November 2, 2016
STANDOFF
Continued from Page A1
conspiracy to impede federal
employees from doing their
jobs by force, threat or intim-
idation.
“It’s a favorite charge of
prosecutors,” said Portland
defense attorney Kevin Sali
before the trial began. “When
people are involved in a con-
spiracy they can be liable …
for things their co-conspirators
did.”
The Bundys, Fry, Banta
and Cox also faced weapons
charges. (Prosecutors dropped
those against Cox.) Ryan Bun-
dy and Kenneth Medenbach
were also charged with theft of
government property. Internet
radio show host Pete Santilli
also faced a conspiracy charge
but it was later dropped.
The jury found the defen-
dants not guilty on all but one
charge. They failed to reach
consensus on Ryan Bundy’s
theft charge stemming from
the removal of government
surveillance cameras at the
refuge.
In light of the verdict, ques-
tions swirled about whether
the prosecution brought the
proper charges.
Williams, the U.S. Attorney
for Oregon, said prosecutors
could have brought crimi-
nal trespass charges and tried
the occupiers in state court.
But misdemeanor trespassing
didn’t seem to pass for muster
— prosecutors wanted to bring
felonies.
“If there had been some
other federal statute that spe-
cifically addresses the conduct,
we would have considered
using it,” Williams said in an
interview with OPB’s Amelia
Templeton. “We have and still
believe we brought the most
applicable and appropriate
charges under the evidence,
which is our duty.”
The Prosecution
Some described the prose-
cution’s case as a “slam dunk.”
In basketball, a slam dunk is a
show of force.
Mike Arnold, Ammon
Bundy’s previous attorney,
told OPB’s Anna Griffin he
OPB/Amelia Templeton
OPB/Bradley W. Parks
Alternate juror Sarah Foultner, second from right, poses for a photo with
occupiers, from left, Neil Wampler, David Fry, Shawna Cox and Jeff Banta.
thinks the prosecution brought
felony charges to make a pow-
erful statement with “serious
prison time.”
“Their goal is to prevent
any sort of activity like this in
the future from the actual de-
fendants themselves and other
like-minded folks,” Arnold
said.
Prosecutors
brought
mounds of evidence to the ta-
ble — sometimes literally, like
when they brought a large dis-
play of firearms and ammuni-
tion into the courtroom.
And rarely did defendants
dispute the facts of the case.
They admitted to illegally tak-
ing over a federal facility, even
to bringing their arms.
“It didn’t bother me to be
arrested because I’m where I
want to be right now,” Meden-
bach said on the stand. “Like
the Bundys, I’ve been called
by a higher power … we all
know this is what God called
us to do.”
But prosecutors missed
the dunk. And just like in bas-
ketball, a missed dunk in the
courtroom can be humiliating.
Juror No. 4 — who ear-
lier sparked a fellow juror’s
dismissal by questioning his
impartiality — wrote the Ore-
gonian/OregonLive saying the
prosecution came off as arro-
gant in its case.
“The air of triumphalism
that the prosecution brought
was not lost on any of us,” the
juror wrote.
The prosecution moved
through its case quickly. Pros-
ecutors rested after 13 days.
They cross-examined Ammon
Bundy for just 15 minutes.
Their closing argument lasted
less than two hours.
Williams admitted the hur-
ry with which prosecutors pre-
pared their case may have hurt
it. He called the legal timeline
“extraordinary.”
The prosecution focused
heavily on the occupiers’ in-
tent behind the refuge take-
over. But the jury ultimately
determined the prosecution
failed to prove impeding fed-
eral employees was the occu-
piers’ goal — even if the oc-
cupation actually did impede
employees.
The Defense
Matt Schindler, Meden-
bach’s hybrid counsel, deliv-
ered a thunderous closing ar-
gument on Oct. 19.
The charge all seven oc-
cupiers faced was conspiracy
to impede federal employees
from doing their jobs by threat,
force or intimidation.
“I just sat through five
weeks of a trial about threat-
ening federal employees with-
out hearing a single threat,”
Schindler said in his closing
argument.
The defense tried to make
its case bigger than the Bu-
reau of Land Management
and U.S. Fish and Wildlife
employees in Harney County.
Five defendants ended up
taking the stand, speaking at
length about the U.S. Consti-
tution, land management, di-
vinity, and the 2014 standoff
in Bunkerville, Nevada. Ryan
Bundy questioned his wife on
the stand. David Fry giggled
when prosecutors asked him
about using government com-
puters. Medenbach reveled in
the glory of public testimony
after decades of protesting the
federal government.
In their closing arguments,
defense attorneys attempted
to instill into the jurors a sense
of political responsibility.
“We’re counting on you to
stop government overreach,”
Marcus Mumford, Ammon
Bundy’s attorney, told the
jury. “Our trust is in you.”
The Verdict
Defense attorneys ex-
pressed shock at the verdict;
even they did not expect such
a result. It came despite scru-
tiny from U.S. District Court
Judge Anna Brown and pros-
ecutors for lack of organiza-
tion.
Defendants and their sup-
porters erupted into tearful
celebration outside the fed-
eral courthouse in downtown
Portland (and streamed it live
online, just like much of the
occupation).
“We came to Oregon —
to Harney County — seek-
ing justice,” defendant Neil
Wampler said after his acquit-
tal, “and today we found it.”
But despite defendants’
and supporters’ cries of vic-
tory, Juror No. 4 wrote in his
letter to the Oregonian that the
verdict was not an endorse-
ment of the occupiers’ politi-
cal beliefs.
“It should be known that
all 12 jurors felt that this ver-
dict was a statement regard-
ing the various failures of the
prosecution to prove ‘conspir-
acy’ in the count itself — and
not any form of affirmation of
the defense’s various beliefs,
actions or aspirations,” the ju-
ror wrote.
The Celebration
The mood was jubilant
among occupiers and their
supporters, who grilled,
milled and posed for cameras
in downtown Portland on the
Friday following the verdict.
Many people have said
they fear the verdict will em-
bolden defendants and their
supporters. Cox and Fry both
said they would participate
You’re our hero!
The Hilton Half Committee received so much valuable
support from our community this year! We wish to express
our sincere gratitude to the following individuals who
volunteered to help plan and run the event:
Kara Kohfield, Rebekah Rand, Mindy Walker, Aaron
Lieuallen, Devin Moan, Jessica Madden, Katrina
Randleas, Russ Comer, Sheila Comer, Soren Caudill,
Curtis Perry, Tim Madden, Cindy Lemcke, Megan
Sherman, Ethan Haney, Tracey Blood, David Blood,
Elena Allen, Barbara Comer, Mary Tronnes, Steve
Tronnes, Lindsay Rausch, Lisa Weigum, and Michael
Shockley.
A watch tower at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.
Andy Dunbar, a rancher who lives adjacent to the
refuge, explained his view of the occupation in court.
in protests like the Oregon
Standoff again.
“If I have a compelling
urge to come out here to join
a protest, if I think it’s a le-
gitimate reason to come, I’ll
absolutely protest,” Fry told
OPB.
The reaction was different
just a few blocks away.
Don’t Shoot PDX, a Port-
land activist group support-
ive of the Black Lives Matter
movement, was holding what
was supposed to be a rally, un-
related to the trial, at Portland
State University.
“I don’t know how I can
keep telling people to pro-
test,” lead organizer Teressa
Raiford told the crowd. Rai-
ford seemed exhausted.
The occupiers’ acquittal
came the same day more than
100 protesters in North Da-
kota were forcibly removed
from the construction site of
the Dakota Access Pipeline
and arrested. It came weeks
after Don’t Shoot PDX pro-
testers were pushed out of
City Hall and pepper-sprayed
by Portland police.
Raiford expressed anger at
having to discuss the Malheur
trial verdict. She and count-
less others on social media
highlighted what many see as
a double-standard in how law
enforcement and the justice
system punish people of color.
With the exception of David
Fry, defendants in the occu-
pation case were all white. All
jury members were also white.
“Forty-one days at a com-
pound on federal land,” Rai-
ford said, pointing to weapons
at the refuge, occupiers’ refus-
al to leave, and threats made
by occupiers against the FBI.
“The difference is we
would have been murdered,”
Raiford said.
Jarvis Kennedy, of the
Burns, Oregon, Paiute tribe
told OPB’s Amanda Peacher
he was angry with the verdict.
Kennedy and the Paiute tribe
have been vocal opponents of
the Malheur occupation from
the start. However, Kennedy
added he was now more moti-
vated to fight for Native lands
and rights.
Don’t Shoot PDX eventual-
ly marched past the occupation
supporters’ barbecue Friday,
where they staged a die-in
near the courthouse steps and
burned an American flag.
After a brief shouting
match, Bundy supporters went
back to the grill and Don’t
Shoot PDX continued to City
Hall.
The Implication
Ammon and Ryan Bun-
dy are still in federal custody,
despite an animated effort by
Marcus Mumford to win his
client’s release upon receiving
the verdict.
After arguing with Judge
Brown for Ammon Bundy to
be let go, Mumford was tack-
led by U.S. Marshals, alleged-
ly tased, briefly detained and
later released.
The Bundy brothers still
face charges for the 2014
standoff in Bunkerville led by
their father, Cliven Bundy.
Seven Oregon occupi-
ers still await trial in Feb-
ruary, though the status of
those proceedings could be in
limbo.
Shawna Cox called Thurs-
day’s outcome “just one
win” in a larger movement to
change how the federal gov-
ernment manages land in the
American West.
U.S. Attorney Billy Wil-
liams seemed to hope more
people would shun the Bund-
ys’ form of protest.
“There are a good num-
ber of folks in rural America
who are of the mind that you
don’t take arms and take over
a federal facility to prove your
point,” Williams said.
The Oregon verdict will
certainly color the conversa-
tion around the impending trial
in Nevada. The result there —
where the penalties for alleged
crimes are slightly more harsh
than Oregon — has the poten-
tial to make even bigger waves
in the so-called patriot move-
ment.
But occupiers and their sup-
porters cooking out in down-
town Portland took heart in the
Oregon verdict and envisioned
a long fight ahead of them on
behalf of rural Americans.
Under downtown shade-
trees, defendant Jeff Banta
approached supporter David
Zion Brugger, who decorated
his hat and shirt with “NOT
GUILTY” buttons, and shook
his hand.
In a hushed voice, Banta
said, “See you down the road.”
With the spirit of the coming holidays in our hearts, we hope that we can count on your
support for our annual Veterans Christmas Gift Shop. This allows hospitalized veterans
to have Christmas gifts to share with their families.
American Legion Auxiliary members will be collecting items through November 12. The
donated gifts will be on display in Mosier’s Home Furnishings window. Please leave
price tags on donated items so we can credit you for the full amount. If a check is to be
donated for the American Legion Auxiliary it can be mailed to Ruth Harris.
The veterans and their families, and the members of the American Legion Auxiliary, say
“Thank You” for your support.
Additionally, we received donations and sponsors that have
allowed us to make this a success. We want to thank the
following:
Ruth Harris
Gift Shop Chairman
PO Box 35, John Day, Oregon 97845
541-575-0076
1st Choice Auto Body, Dr. Dave & Alicia Hall, Station 62,
Squeeze In Restaurant, Dr. Zac and Heather Bailey,
Teresa Aasness, Anthony Lakes Resort, Outpost, Java
Jungle, John Day Polaris, the Lieuallen family, John
Day Video, Huffman’s Market, Dairy Queen, The Cut
Above, Life Flight Network, Air Link Critical Care
Network, Chester’s Thriftway, Body Fitness & Dance,
Suds Pub, Doug’s Motor Vehicle Repair, Stylish 10, Bret
Lauer, Canyon Creek Cross Training, Len’s Drug, Roan
Outwest, Wild West Hair Company, 1188 Brewing,
Cindy Qual, Cloud Nine, Sigh Massage, Hair It Is,
Polished Nails, Tanni Wenger
Photography, Seneca
Timbers, Nature’s
Calling, Cornerstone
Christian, Blue Mountain
Hospital, Families First, and
JDCC Parks & Recreation.
04753
Proceeds support the Families First
home visitation programs.
04756