“The rule of law has been reaffirmed with these charges”.
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Finicum, part of the occupation of an OR wildlife refuge, was shot and killed by police who tried to arrest him on January 26, 2016.
Bundy said nothing in court.
Bundy stopped paying grazing fees in 1993, when the BLM restricted the number of head he could graze and the seasons in which he could graze them, which would have forced him to control the cattle and take them off grazing lands in the off season.
Yesterday, Justice Department lawyers filed a memorandum in federal court in support of their petition to keep Cliven Bundy held in jail until his trial starts. In addition to conspiring among themselves to plan and execute these crimes, the defendants recruited, organized, and led hundreds of other followers in using armed force against law enforcement officers in order to thwart the seizure and removal of Cliven Bundy’s cattle from federal public lands.
Also named in the 51-page indictment were Ryan W. Payne, 32, of Montana, and Peter T. Santilli Jr., 50, of Ohio.
“His ranching operation – to the extent it can be called that – is unconventional if not freaky”, it says. He claimed he was on his way to visit his sons, Ammon and Ryan Bundy, who are being detained at the Multnomah County Jail on federal conspiracy charges for their roles in an armed occupation at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Oregon.
Bundy is expected to return to Nevada for his next court appearance, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Nevada, The Oregonian reported. The complaint against Bundy describes the ensuing confrontation, on April 12, as “a massive armed assault against federal law enforcement officers”.
Rancher Cliven Bundy stands along the road near his ranch after speaking with reporters January 27 in Bunkerville, Nev. So the Feds simply picked him up at the Portland Airport.
“As of the date of this hearing, he continues to violate federal court orders and continues to possess the proceeds of his illegal activities”, prosecutors said.
A preliminary hearing in Bundy’s case is scheduled in Las Vegas on Friday.
The maximum sentence is five years for conspiracy to commit an offense against the US, six years for conspiracy to impede and injure a federal officer; 20 years for assault on a federal officer; 10 years for threatening a federal law enforcement officer; 10 years for obstruction of justice, 20 years for interfering with interstate commerce by extortion, 20 years for interstate travel in aid of extortion and a five-year minimum for using and carrying a firearm in a crime of violence. According to FBI surveillance reported in the Justice Department memo, there were Bundy supporters with rifles on high ground serving as lookouts, and snipers aiming at federal agents from bridges.
An attorney for Bundy could not be immediately reached for comment on Wednesday night. Myhre also said Bundy had set up armed checkpoints on his ranch and on public land around his ranch, as well as hosted militia training camps. In 1993, federal lands around his ranch were designated as protected.
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Bundy allegedly doesn’t vaccinate or treat his cattle for disease and doesn’t employ cowboys to herd them, so he “has to bait them into traps in order to gather them”, prosecutors said.
