Las Vegas • Armed assault and lawful protest were the opposing scenarios presented to a federal jury hearing the retrial in Las Vegas of four men who bore assault-style weapons during a standoff that stopped government agents from rounding up Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy’s cattle in April 2014.
Acting U.S. Attorney Steven Myhre displayed photos and told jurors during opening statements on Monday that evidence will show the defendants used what he called “the working end of a rifle barrel” to bend the law to their will, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported (http://bit.ly/2tmyc09 ).
“These four defendants got on a bridge, armed with semi-automatic rifles, and threatened to shoot law enforcement officers who stood below them in a wash,” Myhre said as he urged the jurors to focus on the conspiracy, assault on a federal agent, weapon and other charges against the defendants.
Defense attorney Richard Tanasi, representing Idaho resident Steven Stewart, countered that the defendants were just individuals protesting the U.S. government.
“This case is about standing up for what you believe in. Nothing more, nothing less,” Tanasi said.
The defense openings represented a condensed version of statements that attorneys gave in February, at the onset of a trial that resulted in a jury finding two co-defendants guilty in April of some charges, but failing to reach verdicts for Scott Drexler, Richard Lovelien, Eric Parker and Stewart.
Rulings since then by Chief U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro have barred the defense from referencing constitutional rights to freely assemble and to bear arms.
Defense attorneys are also barred from mentioning alleged misconduct or excessive force by law enforcement.
Those arguments represented the core of the defense case in the first trial, as lawyers said their clients came from other states to Bunkerville, Nevada, after viewing online postings depicting law enforcement officers using stun guns and police dogs to control angry protesters and Bundy family members.
Defense attorney Todd Leventhal, representing Drexler, told the jury on Monday that his client “saw images that shocked his conscience” and traveled from Idaho to Nevada because he believes “no man is above the law, badge or not.”
Attorney Shawn Perez, who represents Lovelien, noted that “not a shot was fired, not a bottle was thrown, not a rock was thrown” during the standoff, and that “nobody was injured, and everyone went home.”
Myhre accused the four men of conspiring with Bundy to thwart the federal government’s roundup of roughly 1,000 cows from public land.
The cattle impoundment operation followed a decades-long dispute over grazing rights that pitted Cliven Bundy against the Bureau of Land Management.
Both sides on Monday characterized the grazing dispute as peripheral to the trial.
The men are charged with conspiracy, extortion, threats, assault, obstruction of justice, and weapons counts. If convicted of all counts, they face a mandatory minimum sentence of 57 years in prison.
Bundy, his sons Ammon and Ryan, and two other defendants are due for trial later this year. Six others, including two other Bundy sons, are slated for trial next year.
http://www.sltrib.com/home/5524076-155/retrial-begins-for-4-defendants-in
“Acting U.S. Attorney Steven Myhre displayed photos and told jurors during opening statements on Monday that evidence will show the defendants used what he called “the working end of a rifle barrel” to bend the law to their will,”
WHAT A TRAITOROUS BULLSHIT STATEMENT. . THAT SOUNDS MORE LIKE THE WHISTLES AND CLICKS OF AFRICAN BUSHMEN THAT WORDS TO PUT BEFORE A JURY. SOMEBODY, WHIP OUT YOUR PISTOL AND DISPATCH THAT DAMNED YANKEE!!!
The working end of those gun barrels were to thwart tyranny
And it seemed to work
That’s what’s freaking the establishment out
If more people learn this , they will have a real problem on their hands
Can’t have that
So they have to drum up false allegations
And a bullshit court
Folks , the new rules of engagement are
The quick and the dead
Just ask that lady shot by the Somali pig in Minnesota
Why is it that cops hate open carry ?
It’s because If you draw quicker than them
You win
Concealed carry gives them the required amount of time to beat you to the draw
MAYBE, MAYBE …
“MAYBE NOT”
I like it
although I dont do Bib Overalls , If I did this is how I’d do it
” Six others, including two other Bundy sons, are slated for trial next year.”
This is the first time I’ve heard of 2 other sons going to trial.
This thing is so completely messed up. Criminals in the 1st degree accusing these guys who have committed NO crime.
We’re toast if we don’t get this criminal enterprise out of our country!!
I remember vividly those pictures of the guys on the bridge with their rifles drawn. I have never been so proud in my life. I pray these brave souls prevail, as did our forefathers hundreds of years ago.
But, as we all know, today the game is rigged.
Our TRUE brave for fathers actually put their lives to the hazard by employing guns because they knew there was no govt. that could dictate their lives.
These modern day fellas with regard to the Oregon situation were not willing to stand FULL ground, therefor, they sit to rot in prison.
The people that are mentioned in this article were the ones in Nevada near Bundy,s ranch. I wasn’t sure if you knew that or not. They prevented the BLM from their dirty deeds.
There was still big damage, as the BLM killed many bundy head of cattle, amongst other things. But, initially that original standoff in Nevada came damn close to the start of a war.
Then things progressed over to the Oregon thing.
I know you probably already knew that, I’m just reminding everybody else.
Even the guys at the Bundy stand off were derelict in their duty and that is to completely eliminate the enemy, the BLM, enforcers of what can’t belong to anyone but you and I. They provided quarter for the enemy even while the enemy stood in front of their faces. Had they have been serious those weapons would not only have been trained on those enemy targets but bullets would have been exiting and entering. It is not time for games any longer.
I’ll also add that this is exactly what happens when the fire is not put out at the first flame.
Yeah, it came damn close to bullets flying. YOUR RIGHT ! No way to argue your excellent points Katie. If they would have lit it off, they wouldn’t be facing 57 years in prison right now.
Frustrating…
WELL SAID KATE!!!!!!!!!For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. Wilt thou then not be afraid of the power? do that which is good, and thou shalt have praise of the same:
WHO ARE THE “RULERS” ACCORDING TO OUR LAW?????
THE PEOPLE!!!!
NOT A SELECT FEW SATANISTS!!
Parallel Verses
King James Version
For he is the minister of God to thee for good. But if thou do that which is evil, be afraid; for he beareth not the sword in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that doeth evil.
THE AMERICAN PEOPLE BEAR THE LARGEST NUMBER OF “SWORDS” ON EARTH. DONT YOU THINK ITS TIME WE USE THEM?????????
All I can say is…
Do you know how much money these fkng attorneys are making off the Bundy’s ?
At 300..400..500 bucks an hour..?
Hell a goddamed transvestite hooker in Vegas can’t even make that much in an hour.
The Bundy’s are a cash cow for these parasites and leeches.
Notice I said attorneys. .
Not lawyer’s.
Because if they practice law.
They’ll be thrown out of the elite priest class of Attorneys and discarded.
It reminds me of that Clint Eastwood western movie.. Hang’m high.
Where the Swede says on the gallows.
Tell that guy to shut up and lets get this over.
justice delayed is justice denied..how long has the establishment been circle jerking this trial?
way too dam long
set them free, and learn the lesson they were teaching