Bundy / Bunkerville acquittals

[HurricaneDitka]

AP: No guilty verdicts reached in Bunkerville ranch standoff

A federal jury in Las Vegas has refused to convict four accused gunmen in a 2014 standoff with federal authorities near the Nevada ranch of anti-government figure Cliven Bundy.

How often does the federal government lose criminal cases like this? Does it happen more often than I realize, or is this a pretty big shocker?

[Senegoid]

What lesson shall the Feds take from this? Next time, they’ll just shoot them all on the spot.

[HurricaneDitka]

@Senegoid

What lesson shall the Feds take from this? Next time, they’ll just shoot them all on the spot.

I doubt that.

[Shodan]

The jury did not reach verdicts on four charges against Parker and two charges against Drexler.

I wonder if they will re-try them. I’m guessing Not.

Regards,
Shodan

[Tom_Tildrum]

@Shodan

I wonder if they will re-try them. I’m guessing Not.

I have no idea, but some of the coverage I read suggested that prosecutors were hoping to build upon these convictions for the upcoming proceedings against the Bundys themselves, so they may feel obliged to try again.

Given the nature of the defendants, it is perhaps worth noting that the trial was in a blue city in a blue state.

[HurricaneDitka]

@Tom_Tildrum

I have no idea, but some of the coverage I read suggested that prosecutors were hoping to build upon these convictions for the upcoming proceedings against the Bundys themselves, so they may feel obliged to try again.

Given the nature of the defendants, it is perhaps worth noting that the trial was in a blue city in a blue state.

My personal impression is that there’s a not-insignificant amount of “fuck the Feds” attitude, even in Las Vegas.

[Okrahoma]

@Shodan

I wonder if they will re-try them. I’m guessing Not.

Since two were found not-guilty on all charges and the other two were found not-guilty on most charges, they can’t re-try two of them at all, and can’t re-try the other two on the most serious charges.

By the way, this was a second trial. The first one, for these four defendants, ended with the jury failing to reach a verdict.

[Backwater_Under_Duck]

The Feds have always had a real hard time with conspiracy cases. The juries don’t understand. If they had charged these guys with specific, individual crimes, they would have nailed them. I had a Prof I really liked, back in the day. When we were protesting Cambodia and stuff like that. He used to get all hyper about how they could charge any three people who discussed the same subject with conspiracy. They might have thought so too.

[Gatopescado]

@Tom_Tildrum

Given the nature of the defendants, it is perhaps worth noting that the trial was in a blue city in a blue state.

Blue city, Red state. If it weren’t for Clark County, Nevada would be Blood Red, Pot would be illegal and that stupid gun measure (can’t be bothered to look it up) would have gone down in flames.

Clark County should secede and join it’s rightful place in California.

[Lord_Feldon]

@Gatopescado

Blue city, Red state. If it weren’t for Clark County, Nevada would be Blood Red, Pot would be illegal and that stupid gun measure (can’t be bothered to look it up) would have gone down in flames.

“It’s a red state if you exclude the part where more than two out of every three people live” isn’t a very convincing argument.

[Projammer]

Judge declares mistrial in Bundy Ranch standoff case

A federal judge declared a mistrial Wednesday in the case against Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, saying U.S. prosecutors willfully withheld critical and “potentially exculpatory” evidence from the defense.

…

Navarro cited five key pieces of evidence that prosecutors failed to disclose. That evidence, Navarro said, was favorable to the defense and could have changed the outcome of the trial.

It included:

[ul]
[li]Records about surveillance at the Bundy ranch; [/li]
[li]Records about the presence of government snipers; [/li]
[li]FBI logs about activity at the ranch in the days leading up to standoff;[/li]
[li]Law-enforcement assessments dating to 2012 that found the Bundys posed no threat;[/li]
[li]And internal affairs reports about misconduct by Bureau of Land Management agents.[/li][/ul]
“Failure to turn over such evidence violates due process,” Navarro said. “A fair trial at this point is impossible.”

Acting Nevada U.S. Attorney Steven Myhre, who led the prosecution, did not make any comment after Navarro’s ruling, and his office did not respond to interview requests Wednesday.

The judge’s rebuke is the latest in a chain of failures by federal prosecutors, who have been unable to secure clear victories against the Bundys and their supporters during three trials in Nevada and another in Oregon.

I’ll just leave this without further comment for now.

[HurricaneDitka]

Looks like the judge dismissed the charges against the Bundys:

A federal judge dismissed all charges against Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, his two sons and another man on Monday after accusing prosecutors of willfully withholding evidence from Bundy’s lawyers.

[Shodan]

It appears to be the end of the road for the federal trial(s) of the estimable Mr. Bundy.

Navarro found that the prosecution had committed “flagrant misconduct” by withholding evidence that could have supported the defendants’ case. Namely, Navarro explained that federal prosecutors had failed to disclose information from cameras recording video from the standoff and the presence of federal snipers around the Bundy Ranch.

Navarro ruled that as a result, the men, who had been slapped with felony conspiracy and firearms charges, could not receive a fair trial. She dismissed the charges “with prejudice,” which specifically bars the possibility of bringing a new trial against them.

Cite.

For heaven’s sake, they can’t even get a conviction against a “sovereign citizen” type like Bundy without trying to put a thumb on the scales of justice. This should have been a slam-dunk. Instead, he walks, albeit with massive legal fees.

What’s next - book tour? Presidential campaign? Reality TV show?

Regards,
Shodan

[HurricaneDitka]

I’d imagine the next step for the Bundy clan will be to sue the shit out of the FBI.

[Shodan]

I suppose that’s possible - the Ruby Ridge guys made it work IIRC.

If it were me, I wouldn’t want to see the inside of a courtroom for the rest of my life, but HisMMV.

Regards,
Shodan

[Shodan]

And dismissed the charges with prejudice, which means no more trials.

Mods, if you want to close my other thread, feel free.

Regards,
Shodan

[Bone]

Merged thread from Elections into post # 13-15.

[/moderating]

[Shodan]

Thanks, oh skeletal mod.

Regards,
Shodan

[CaptMurdock]

Un-frickin-believable. :smack: Were these prosecutors asleep the day they taught Disclosure in Criminal Procedure??

Well, this is just great. Sets a great precedent, doesn’t it: have a disagreement with the cop about how fast you were speeding? Pull a gun on him! Cliven Bundy proved it’s okay! :dubious:

[HurricaneDitka]

The judge was pretty clear that what the prosecutors did went a good ways beyond mere negligence, which might have been expected if they slept through that day of law school. The judge called it “flagrant prosecutorial misconduct”, which sounds like something worse than just an accident.