U.S. prosecutors regroup for second trial
in Oregon occupation
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[October 29, 2016]
By Scott Bransford
PORTLAND, Ore. (Reuters) - U.S. prosecutors
on Friday regrouped to strategize for their next trial of armed
militants who occupied a wildlife center in Oregon the day after seven
others at a related trial were surprisingly acquitted of all charges.
The group's leader, Ammon Bundy, and six others were declared not guilty
on Thursday of conspiracy charges stemming from their role in the armed
takeover and 41-day occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.
The stinging defeat left federal prosecutors scrambling as they prepare
to try in February seven others who were part of the same occupation.
The criminal counts brought against them, which include conspiracy to
impede federal officers, are similar to the charges on which Bundy and
other were acquitted.
The U.S. Attorney's Office in Portland abruptly canceled a news
conference to discuss Thursday's verdict.
"We're just regrouping with our trial team for pending litigation," said
Kevin Sonoff, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office in Oregon.
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Bundy and his brother, Ryan, still face assault, conspiracy and other
charges from a separate armed standoff in 2014 in Nevada.
The acquittal on criminal conspiracy counts and weapons charges
delivered in federal court in Portland on Thursday also encouraged the
group's supporters.
Bundy and others cast the occupation of the wildlife refuge as a
patriotic act of civil disobedience. Prosecutors called it a lawless
scheme to seize federal property by force.
The relative silence of U.S. prosecutors on Friday gave little
indication of how they will proceed with the trial against the Bundys in
Nevada and the case against the second group of defendants in the Oregon
occupation.
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![](../images/102916pics/news_c7.jpg)
(clockwise from top left) Ryan Bundy, Ammon Bundy, Brian Cavalier,
Peter Santilli, Shawna Cox, Ryan Payne and Joseph O'Shaughnessy,
limited-government activists who led an armed 41-day takeover of the
Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, are seen in a combination of
police jail booking photos released by the Multnomah County
Sheriff's Office in Portland, Oregon January 27, 2016. Multnomah
County Sheriff's Office/Handout via Reuters/File Photo
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U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden in Nevada in a statement on Friday said
the criminal case in that state is proceeding as planned with trial
set for February, the same month as the second trial in Oregon.
"The Oregon case and charges are separate and unrelated to the
Nevada case and charges," Bogden said.
The Nevada case stems from a face-off the Bundy brothers and their
supporters had near the Nevada ranch of their father, Cliven Bundy,
with federal agents who had seized his cattle for his failure to pay
grazing fees for his use of public land.
The Bundy brothers and their father remain jailed while awaiting
trial in Nevada.
(Additional reporting by Joseph Ax in New York, Writing by Alex
Dobuzinskis; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
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