Ammon Bundy, his brother Ryan, and five other defendants were acquitted Friday of federal conspiracy charges stemming from an armed occupation of Oregon’s Malheur National Wildlife Refuge for 41 freezing cold days in January and February.
The not-guilty decision is a significant slap-down to federal authorities who had fought hard to prove their view that the Ammon brothers and five of their friends illegally took over the refuge and took up arms against the government.
But it wasn’t to be.
The defense, meanwhile, had argued the defendants had simply engaged in constitutionally protected protests against the federal government – and it was the FBI and other federal authorities who were the aggressors.
The jury, over the course of five days, found in favor of the defense.
The case tapped into some strong emotions.
As the Washington Post reported: “In the final hours of the [41-day] standoff, when just four people remained and armored FBI vehicles inched toward them, their screams and tears were transmitted to the ears of some 60,000 live listeners on YouTube. To the Bundys’ supporters, it felt like a modern Waco or Ruby Ridge.”
On Friday, when the acquittal was made public, supporters took their cheers to the streets.
The fates of the Bundy brothers are far from decided, however.
Both Ammon and Ryan are still in custody. They now face a separate trial over charges from 2014 in Nevada, when they engaged in a standoff with Bureau of Land Management officials who had encircled around their family’s ranch. That case stemmed from a stand-off with family patriarch Cliven Bundy against the BLM over contested cattle grazing fees.
Need a refresher on the Bundy family? Here’s a brief video, from the Washington Post, reminding of the family’s fight.
