A jury is due to begin deliberations after closing arguments conclude on Thursday in the trial of six men accused of acting as gunmen for cattle rancher Cliven Bundy in a tense 2014 standoff with federal law enforcement officers.
The six defendants are the first of 17 people to go on trial on charges related to the standoff at Bundy’s property near Bunkerville, 75 miles (120 km) northeast of Las Vegas, in a case that has come to symbolize tensions in the U.S. West over the federal ownership of land that ranchers use to graze cattle.
The defendants were among hundreds who traveled to the ranch to stand up for Bundy, whose refusal to pay $1 million in grazing fees for running his cattle on federal land had become a cause celebre on the political right.
Bundy and two of his sons are defendants in the second of three scheduled federal trials later this year.
Jurors are expected to begin deliberation as early as Thursday afternoon after closing arguments for the defendants are completed.
Gregory Burleson, O. Scott Drexler, Todd Engel, Ricky Lovelien, Eric Parker and Steven Stewart are charged with conspiracy against the government, conspiracy to impede a federal officer, assault, threatening and obstruction of justice.
They are also charged with extortion, interstate travel in aid of extortion and using a firearm during a crime of violence.
During the eight-week trial, defense attorneys have described their clients as patriotic citizens who learned from social media and the internet of federal efforts to remove Bundy’s cattle from federal public lands.
Lawyers for the defendants said in their closing arguments on Wednesday that the men did not pose a threat but were simply backing Bundy in a dispute over the government’s land-use policy.
Prosecutors, however, have claimed the men were willing to use “armed force, threats and intimidation” to enforce Bundy’s desire to see his impounded cattle returned.
“They thought they were going to die out there for simply carrying out their duties,” Assistant United States Attorney Nicholas Dickinson said during closing arguments on Wednesday in reference to the outgunned Bureau of Land Management rangers and National Park Service officers who were assigned to provide security for a court-ordered roundup of Bundy’s cattle.
The trial in U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro’s courtroom made use of voluminous audio, video and still photography that captured the drama, which ended peacefully.
(Reporting by John L. Smith in Las Vegas; Editing by Brendan O’Brien and Tom Heneghan)
I believe most folks went out there because they saw pregnant women being abused by law enforcement, as most folks never heard of rancher bundy and his dispute…!
It was a natural organic response by mostly decent folk, which apparently the fascist did not expect…..
Then they tried to bait a larger response at Malheur, OR in The middle if nowhere….we know the rest of tbe story….wonder if this jury will do thecright thing….!
Everything the government accuses these folks of doing, they are guilty of themselves. One can find a list of government atrocities as long as one’s arm, from Ruby Ridge to Waco, and the Brance Dividion’s. I hope those on the jury hearing the Bundy case are wise and just.
However, knowing the government, even if this jury finds for the defendents, I doubt the feds will give up. More charges will be the effect.
Please piss off the judicial
And Jury Nullify this bullshit!
Let them black robes see who really owns and runs this country for once , I beg of you jurors
Please don’t be a bunch of liberal pussies
If this is in the liberal mecca of Las Vegas, well, not a good start.
I really wish the Bundy’s well.
As much as I despise the LDS occult church running most of our government in NV.
I really hope that the deliberations work out well in their favor.
That’s why I feel there should be 12 niggers from North Las Vegas on welfare ..crack and heroin on the jury for deliberations.
And the lead Jury foreman’s first name should be… Akisha…
How’s that for being fkd up….?
Maybe they’ll get lucky and get an LDS judge and a blond haired blue eyed jury.
LMAO!!!! I’m with ya brother!
As from what has come out of this trial from observers in the court room. I think the Bundy’s are cooked. I pray the jury looks over the judge and the prosecutions BS and let’s the Bundy’s and all the rest of these innocent Americans walk free. I’d hold my breath, but I’m a smoker.
I hate to say it, but the bundies are toast. It’s Clarke county. The main area of nevada that is over-run with anti-gun leftist. He’s got more people that are against him in clarke county, than for him. Bundies wont stand a chance in a clarke county court.