Ammon Bundy and his followers have been indicted by a federal grand jury, prosecutors announced in court Wednesday. Robert “LaVoy” Finicum was killed January 26 during a confrontation with Federal Bureau of Investigation agents and Oregon State Police on a remote road.
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Bundy and his followers faced a felony conspiracy charge, accused of using intimidation to prevent federal officers from doing their work at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. Beckerman said Bundy repeatedly ignored federal demands to leave the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge and she had little confidence he would comply with orders to show up in court.
Lawyers for the leader of the armed occupation at a national wildlife preserve in OR have appealed a judge’s decision to keep him in jail, while four holdouts remain holed up in the frozen high desert Monday, almost a month after the standoff began.
Ritzheimer returned to Arizona before he was arrested. That’s when Bundy and others were taken into custody.
Finicum reached at least twice toward a jacket pocket that later was found to contain a 9mm handgun, the Federal Bureau of Investigation said in a statement last week.
Bundy’s attorney has said Bundy didn’t recognize Fry’s name and that he wasn’t a core member of the group.
O’Shaughnessy’s public defender, Amy Baggio, said her client wasn’t a key figure in the occupation and did not spend his nights at the refuge.
The four occupiers of a wildlife refuge in eastern OR aren’t showing any sign that they are ready to leave in the latest interview with them. Bundy’s relatives say the shooting was not justified.
Bundy’s statement tracks with a letter his father, Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, sent to local authorities on Monday saying federal and state police should be removed from the area and the refuge should be placed under local control.
In a separate matter, an attorney for Shawna Cox – a defendant allowed to return home to Utah as her case goes through the court system – asked Wednesday for her client to be allowed to attend Finicum’s funeral on Friday. While most of the activists have been arrested, four holdouts remain.
Federal prosecutor Geoff Barrow told the Associated Press the indictment involves the 11 people arrested so far “and others”.
He is among 11 people arrested in the standoff that began January 2 when a group opposed to federal land policy took over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.
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Meanwhile, group leader Ammon Bunday will be staying in jail after a judge called off his court hearing.
