The news has been so full of the short-fingered vulgarian that the incident earlier this year of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge occupation probably has slipped your minds. For those of us here in Oregon, it has returned to top story status as the jury was selected last week, & the trial began yesterday.
(I’ve been slow in writing a diary about this because I figured someone with better reporting skills would get to this. Or at least someone who knew to save their first draft before trying to add a photo at the top.)
For those of you who forgot about this episode of right-wing terrorism, I’ll furnish a brief summary. From 2 January to 11 February of this year, about 30 armed militants seized the headquarters buildings of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge outside Burns, Oregon, ostensibly to protest the sentencing of a local ranching family for misusing Federal lands (the ranchers have disavowed any connection to these militants) as well as to demand public federal lands be transferred “to the people”. Instead of accumulating superior physical force & charging into their armed encampment, & risk the lives of law enforcement as well as the militants, the government decided to wait them out. Except for one death — of Robert Finicum, who had publicly declared he would die before he left — no one died in the end, & at least 26 persons were arrested for their role in this illegal occupation.
Since the end of the occupation, the existence of these militants has largely faded from the national conscience while they conducted their own first-hand tour of the justice system. Of the 26-odd people arrested, 12 have decided to plead guilty. Seven are currently on trial for charges of conspiracy in Portland: Cliven Bundy, his son Ammon Bundy, his brother Cliven, Jeff Banta, Neil Wampler, Kenneth Medenbach, David Fry and Shawna Cox. Seven more will have their day in court 14 February 2017. And Peter Santilli, who was arrested separately, had his charges dropped relating to the Occupation, although he still faces charges for his role in Cliven Bundy’s earlier confrontation with the Federal government.
The first motion in this trial was made last week, when defense attorneys asked Judge Anna Brown to exclude information these terrorists had posted on Facebook; she denied the motion. A jury was then selected: not counting the 6 alternates, the jury comprises eight women and four men; one of the jurors subsequently asked to be excused for hardship conditions. The person was replaced with an older white man — making the 12-person jury now all white.
The trial itself began yesterday, in much the same surreal manner of the 41-day occupation: Marcus Mumford, Ammon Bundy’s attorney, claimed that the occupation was a peaceful protest, & that the occupiers believed they had not prevented the Wildlife Refuge employees from performing their duties. (I’m not clear how a government employee wouldn’t find a group of armed anti-government people intimidating. But then that’s just me.)
Some of the other defense lawyers decided to offer a more plausible defense. According to the Washington Post:
An attorney for 68-year-old Neil Wampler argued that her client is “an old hippie who can’t shut up,” who came to the refuge to learn and to act as a cook for the occupiers. He left and later, when charges were being filed against occupiers, called the FBI and turned himself in.
Meanwhile, several protesters supporting the armed terrorists gathered outside the Federal Courthouse & spent their time marching around the building. Although one news agency claimed they numbered about a dozen, from what I could see on the evening news their numbers were closer to half that.
Since I started writing this diary, there has been an update: Harney sheriff Dave Ward took the stand this morning & testified that he’d been warned that Harney County would be "invaded" by armed citizens if he didn't protect his constituents from the federal government. I haven’t seen anything more reported about his testimony yet.