Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

That is huge’: No guilty verdicts in Bundy ranch standoff trial

Bundy

John Locher / AP FILE

In this Feb. 6, 2017, file photo, supporters and critics of defendants on trial at the federal courthouse gather in Las Vegas.

BLM-Bundy Standoff: April 12, 2014

Photos of the April 12, 2014 stand-off between the Bureau of Land Management and supporters of rancher Cliven Bundy near Bunkerville, Nevada. The BLM eventually called off their roundup of Bundy cattle citing safety concerns. Courtesy of Shannon Bushman. Launch slideshow »

A federal jury in Las Vegas declined to convict four men of any crimes for their participation in the 2014 armed standoff near the Bundy ranch in Bunkerville.

During that conflict, ranchers and militia members blocked federal officers from confiscating livestock owned by Nevada cattleman Cliven Bundy.

On Tuesday, jurors acquitted defendants Richard R. Lovelien and Steven A. Stewart of all charges and O. Scott Drexler and Eric J. Parker on most counts against them.

Jurors could not reach a decision on two charges against Drexler and four charges for Parker, all related to an alleged assault on a federal officer while carrying a firearm. The U.S. district attorney’s office in Nevada issued a statement Tuesday saying that prosecutors had not decided if they would retry the men on those charges.

“That is huge,” said Andrea Parker, whose husband, Eric, was photographed pointing a rifle at officers and others during the confrontation. The image became a symbol of the standoff. “The government did everything they could to stack and get guilty charges,” she continued. “I might actually get to hug my husband for the first time in 18 months.”

The decision is only one chapter in the best-known land use case in the contemporary West. For years, officials had ordered Bundy to remove his cattle from a publicly owned desert expanse near Bunkerville, northeast of Las Vegas. When he did not, the authorities moved in to do it themselves, but allies of Bundy traveled from around the country to stop them.

Many people came with pistols and rifles, some came on horseback flying American flags. When the government backed down on April 12, 2014, a segment of rural Westerners long angered by restrictions on federal land — as well as perceived abuses by federal law enforcement officials — hailed it as a victory.

The court decision Tuesday sets the stage for Bundy’s trial, which will take place in the coming weeks. He has been jailed since early 2016, along with four of his sons: Ryan, Ammon, Mel and Dave. (Ryan and Ammon will be tried with their father; Mel and Dave will be tried later.)

Parker, Drexler, Lovelien and Stewart were charged with conspiracy, extortion, assault, threats, obstruction of justice and weapons counts. They sat for a first trial in February, but the jury deadlocked, requiring a do-over.

Had the men been convicted on all charges, they would have faced a mandatory minimum sentence of 57 years in prison.

The verdicts came after a monthlong trial marked by intense debate over the terms set by U.S. District Judge Gloria M. Navarro.

Lawyers for the federal government argued that the men went to Bunkerville as part of a coordinated attack on federal officers. The indictment called it a “massive armed assault.” Lawyers for the defense said the men traveled there as part of a political protest, to stand against alleged abuse by law enforcement.

Parker, for example, is an electrician from Idaho who has said that he went to the Bundy ranch after seeing videos of confrontations between the Bundys and officials from the Bureau of Land Management.

But Navarro prevented lawyers for the four men from raising First Amendment rights to free speech and Second Amendment rights to bear arms, saying that these were not applicable in the case.

“The law does not recognize these amendments as legal defenses to the crimes charged,” she said in a July court filing.

The Bundys’ success during the 2014 conflict inspired two of Cliven Bundy’s sons to lead an occupation of a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon in 2016, a move they characterized as a stand against federal overreach.

Both events continue to invigorate people across the West. And in mid-July, just before the trial, hundreds of people gathered at a Las Vegas fundraiser for the defendants.

The headline speaker was Roger Stone, an occasional adviser of President Donald Trump. Dressed in a blue seersucker suit, he criticized an “oppressive, jackbooted government” and the crowd leapt to its feet.

“Mr. President, hear our cries,” he said, as the group cheered. “Pardon the Bundy family!”

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