Court documents were unsealed Thursday in which a grand jury indicted 16 defendants, including the four that still remain at the Malheur Federal Wildlife Refuge near Burns, for felony conspiracy.
Advertisement
CBS News’ Paula Reid reports that they are all charged with one count of conspiracy to impede officers of the U.S. This indictment is mostly a formality and takes the place of holding a preliminary hearing.
The FBI released video of the January 26 shooting during a traffic stop that showed Finicum’s hand reaching into his jacket, but supporters dispute he was going for a weapon.
Bundy made reference to the death last week of one of the lead occupiers, Robert Finicum, who died in a confrontation with Federal Bureau of Investigation agents and OR state troopers that also resulted in the arrest of Bundy and others.
Ammon Bundy, of Nevada, was involved in a 2014 armed standoff with federal agencies over grazing rights. “You have already killed enough”, Bundy says in the 90-second recording.
Bundy defended taking over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge as a way to educate people about injustices by federal officials toward ranchers and others.
After asking his colleagues to go home last week, Ammon Bundy is now asking the authorities to leave.
They “brandished and carried firearms on the premises” of the refuge “and prevented federal officials from performing their official duties by force, threats and intimidation”.
Oregon Public Broadcasting reported Wednesday that the four now have access to just a single working phone, which was provided to them by the Federal Bureau of Investigation for negotiation purposes.
This group, which took on the name Citizens for Constitutional Freedom, also said they were protesting the federal government’s involvement in land ownership in the area, touching on longstanding unhappiness in Western states over the way this land was managed. At least 11 militants, including Bundy and his brother, Ryan, are being held without bail; another militant, LaVoy Finicum, was killed in last Tuesday’s arrest operation.
Advertisement
Bundy said he is in solitary confinement for 23 hours a day and hasn’t spoken yet to his father, Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, who sent a letter to the Harney County sheriff Monday saying “We the People” will retain possession of the refuge.
