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Jury chosen for trial of Bundy brothers
and others for Oregon standoff
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 [September 07, 2016]
PORTLAND, Ore. (Reuters) - The trial
of seven anti-government activists, including ranchers Ammon and Ryan
Bundy, for leading an armed takeover of a federal wildlife refuge in
Oregon was set to begin on Wednesday with jury selection, court
documents show.
The takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, which started on
Jan. 2 with at least a dozen armed men, was the latest flare-up in a
decades-old conflict over federal control of millions of acres of public
land in the West.
The protest was sparked in part by the return to prison of two Oregon
ranchers convicted of setting fires that spread to federal property in
the vicinity of the refuge.
Jury selection was set to begin on Wednesday in a federal courthouse in
Portland, with opening arguments likely to begin next week, a spokesman
for the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
The seven defendants are charged with conspiracy to impede federal
officers and possession of firearms in a federal facility in connection
with the 41-day occupation of Malheur.
Federal prosecutors dropped charges against one of the Bundy's
co-defendants, Peter Santilli, a journalist who livestreamed events at
the refuge, writing in a motion filed on Tuesday that "the interests of
justice do not support further pursuit of these charges."
More than two dozen people have been charged in connection with the
Malheur takeover. One of the occupiers, Corey Lequieu, the first of the
26 people on trial, was sentenced to 2-1/2 years in federal prison
earlier this month, local media reported.
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Inmates Ammon Bundy (L) and his brother Ryan Bundy are seen in a
combination of police jail booking photos released by the Multnomah
County Sheriff's Office in Portland, Oregon January 27, 2016.
REUTERS/MCSO/Handout via Reuters
A second group of defendants are scheduled to go on trial separately
next February.
The Bundys and other protesters were arrested in January on a
snow-covered roadside where a spokesman for the group, Robert
"LaVoy" Finicum, was shot and killed by Oregon State Police.
(Reporting by Courtney Sherwood in Portland, Oregon; Writing and
additional reporting by Eric M. Johnson in Seattle; Editing by
Raissa Kasolowsky)
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