Las Vegas Sun

March 18, 2024

Oregon standoff verdict leaves some shocked, others celebrating

Bundy Brothers Acquited

Defendant Neil Wampler speaks as he leaves federal court in Portland, Ore., Thursday, Oct. 27, 2016. A jury exonerated brothers Ammon and Ryan Bundy and five others of conspiring to impede federal workers from their jobs at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. Launch slideshow »
This photo provided by the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office on Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2016, shows Ammon Bundy.

This photo provided by the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office on Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2016, shows Ammon Bundy.

Ryan Bundy

Ryan Bundy

The jurors all came to the same conclusion in the Oregon standoff trial: not guilty. In Harney County, which was thrust into the national spotlight when Ammon Bundy and a self-styled militia took over the Malheur National Wildlife refuge, the verdict merely deepened the divide.

Some residents are incredulous that Bundy and his six co-defendants were acquitted of conspiracy and weapons charges stemming from the 41-day occupation of a federal wildlife refuge earlier this year. Others say the defendants are heroes in the fight to wrest control of those lands from the government.

Melissa Alfstad, one of the occupation’s most outspoken critics, told The Oregonian/OregonLive that she had been sure Ammon Bundy, his brother Ryan Bundy and five other occupiers would be found guilty.

“It’s absolutely devastating. It’s awful,” she said. “We’re just disgusted with the verdict.”

Alfsta said her friends and neighbors in Burns were shocked by the verdict announced Thursday in a federal courtroom in Portland. The occupation 31 miles south of their community made life “awful, horrible,” she said

“My pride is hurt -- but my pride is nothing compared to what the town went through,” she said. “But we’re also stronger now. We’ll survive. We’ll get through it.”

Harney County Commissioner Pete Runnels said folks with whom he’s spoken were nervous after hearing news of the verdict. Residents in Burns were taken by surprise when Ammon Bundy and his supporters used a protest at the county courthouse as a cover to take over the wildlife refuge.

Now, some are on the lookout for anyone planning a repeat of January’s occupation.

“You never really thought about that ever,” Runnels said. “It’s been a new part of life for us. This (the verdict) could just continue to put people on edge.”

Melodi Molt, a local businesswoman and rancher, was also surprised by the verdict. There was a hint of giddiness in her voice when she spoke with a reporter Thursday evening. “Welp. I’m in a very good mood thanks to the great news I just heard.”

“Never in 100 years did I think they (Ammon Bundy and his co-defendants) would have pulled that off with the federal government,” she said.

Molt is also a member of the Harney County Commission of Safety, a group sympathetic to the refuge occupiers. She praised Ammon Bundy and his co-defendants as “gentlemen [who] have given so much of their lives to get this government back under control.

“We need to continue getting back in control and not having 40 percent of our county under public employment,” she said.

Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward issued a statement Thursday evening, saying that although “I am disappointed in the outcome, I believe our form of government and justice system to be the best in the world.”

“These folks were tried in a court of law and found not guilty by a jury of their peers,” he said in the release. “This is our system, and I stand by it.”

That same faith in the judicial system was evident at the county courthouse, as well.

“The judicial system has run its course, and we have a decision,” Harney County Judge Steven Grasty said. “I’ve seen things going back to normal. I go to church and I see life going on. I see us moving back as a normal community.”

Grasty chairs the three-person county commission and performs limited judicial duties in a nonpartisan role. His third term ends in January.

Life will also go on for all but two of the defendants in the refuge trial. Ammon and Ryan Bundy are due in a Nevada court Feb. 6 for a trial stemming from their father Cliven Bundy’s standoff with the federal government in Bunkerville.

“At the very least, I feel like I got a little bit of enjoyment out of that,” Alfstad, the Bundy critic, said.

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