So, it should be perfectly fine for dozens of ticked-off birders and environmentalists to occupy the refuge and protect it from the next round of militia goons, right?
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Per The Oregonian, “Kenneth Medenbach was found not guilty of stealing government property, and a hung jury was declared on Ryan Bundy’s charge of theft of FBI surveillance cameras.”
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Is “destruction of government property” no longer a law?
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The joke’s really on LaVoy Finicum now.
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My understanding is that although some of the camps at the Standing Rock protest are on federal land, there has been no effort to enforce that occupation. The enforcement has been when the protests go onto private land.
I wonder if it was jury nullification? I have not heard about the makeup of the jury, or the judge’s instructions during deliberation. And I have to assume that there will be other charges. These guys seem to be part of the crowd that does not believe in taxes and things like that.
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All-white. But that’s par for the course for Oregon.
There was one juror that was removed after their impartiality was questioned:
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This always seemed the case to me. They should have been charged with destruction of public property, trespassing, and probably a number of other charges. The lone conspiracy charge makes it seem like the government wimped out for fear of armed uprisings or something.
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Finally! White Christian men have something go their way. I can’t remember the last time that happened. I am also a goldfish.
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as a nevadan and a tax-paying citizen, i’m outraged.
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Nevada still gets their shot; let’s hope they do a better job.
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we’re working on it. #UniteBlue
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Regarding the tackling of Bundy’s lawer:
“He said you’re not taking this man because you have no jurisdiction over him. He’s been found not guilty on all charges and they attacked Mumford,” defendant Shawna Cox said. (
http://www.kgw.com/news/local/bundys-attorney-tackled-by-us-marshals-during-heated-argument-with-judge/343359074)
Apparently for a lawyer practicing law in Oregon, Mumford doesn’t know that it’s the law in Oregon to deliver to other states anyone who has felony warrants in another state - so the state of Oregon has jurisdiction over anyone who has a warrant for their arrest or pending charges in another jurisdiction. This also applies to the federal government.
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Surely the judge has jurisdiction over, and responsibility for, what happens in the courtroom.
Assaulting a defense lawyer looks like police-state stuff on its face.
It seems really dumb even if it’s technically legal.
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…and they aaaaall moved away from me on the bench.
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I think it’s important at this point to be skeptical of the accounts being told. The KGW article I linked to only quotes people on the Bundy side. We haven’t seen video of the incident or gotten a statement from neutral witnesses. For all we know the lawyer was disrupting court or physically interfering with a lawful arrest, both of which seem really dumb to me. He was described as “yelling” even by sympathetic witnesses. You don’t argue with a judge in a heated exchange. If he physically stood in their way after the marshal’s were given orders/permission to take Bundy into custody, then he was obstructing justice. You can fight a warrant and you can fight charges, but you can’t fight the arrest.
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Not really. But there is a legal precedent for it, now.
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Ah yes, “don’t rush to judgment.”
Are we going to postpone judging everybody, or just the authorities?
I think I’ve seen this movie before.
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No, they’ll just see it as confirmation that the heart of the nation is on the Trump side and double down if Trump loses.
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OK, how about “creating a nuisance”?
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I am not an expert on either event, but I see a lot in common between the Malheur occupation and the Alcatraz occupation. A bunch of differences as well, but I can see the judge ( Clinton Appointed) wanting to be very careful about the issues of free speech and protest.
