In a shocking verdict, seven anti-government militants including Ammon Bundy, were acquitted in federal court of conspiracy charges stemming from their role in the armed takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon last winter in protest of the Bureau of Land Management’s treatment of the Hammond Family as supporters cheered outside the courthouse.
Ammon Bundy, Shawna Cox, David Lee Fry, Jeff Wayne Banta, Neil Wampler and Kenneth Medenbach were found not guilty on all counts, however the court could not reach a verdict on Ryan Bundy regarding a theft charge.
As Intellihub adds, the group’s leader Ammon Bundy will remain in custody to later stand trial for another high-profile standoff which took place at the Bundy Ranch in Nevada where members of militia and the BLM pointed loaded rifles at each other.
The outcome marked a stinging defeat for federal prosecutors and law enforcement in a trial the defendants sought to turn into a pulpit for airing their opposition to U.S. government control over millions of acres of public lands in the West. Oregon Governor Kate Brown (D), who ordered the FBI to act swiftly during the occupation, was also unhappy with the verdict, nor were other local officials, like Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward who some have accused of violating the U.S. Constitution during the occupation.
Bundy and others, including his brother and co-defendant Ryan Bundy, cast the 41-day occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge as a patriotic act of civil disobedience. Prosecutors called it a lawless scheme to seize federal property by force.
The court sided with the defendants.
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As we reporeted at the time, the standoff led to the shooting death of one protester, Robert "LaVoy" Finicum, by police shortly after the Bundy brothers were arrested, and left parts of the refuge badly damaged.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-10-28/shocking-defeat-prosecutors-anti-government-militant-leader-ammon-bundy-and-six-follThere is that pestering intuition of mine that still smells a big fat rat...the release of lesser players in this drama makes me think it is all a distraction...I think there was a Fedcoat mole in the group, I think they were eager to pop some of the leaders and at the time could only pop poor LaVoy Finicum...these people can be happy their loved ones are returned to them...but they really didn't win anything, most lost property...and the Bundy's are still incarcerated...and I don't think the Fedcoats can keep them alive much longer...certainly not in a trial where their execution of LaVoy would be discussed...I think these boys are about to be Fostered.