Las Vegas Sun

March 29, 2024

Rulings could shape Vegas trial of 6 in Bundy ranch standoff

Updated Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2017 | 9:18 p.m.

A federal judge in Las Vegas is considering crucial rulings about what jurors will hear in the trial of six defendants accused of stopping U.S. agents at gunpoint from rounding up cattle near Cliven Bundy's ranch in April 2014.

Jury selection continued Tuesday for a trial that isn't for the jailed states' rights advocate and four of his adult sons, but that will set the tone for their trial in coming weeks.

Some defense attorneys want U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro to dismiss the case outright.

They say they should've been told about an internal investigation released last week about Daniel Love, the federal Bureau of Land Management supervisor who oversaw the Bundy cattle roundup in April 2014.

Defense teams are also challenging statements defendants made in interviews with a film crew that they say was an FBI undercover operation.

A federal jury was sworn in Tuesday for the trial of six defendants accused of stopping U.S. agents at gunpoint from rounding up cattle near Cliven Bundy's ranch in 2014.

U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro scheduled opening statements for Thursday, giving attorneys and jurors a day to prepare for a trial that is expected to take up to 10 weeks.

The judge will also consider crucial rulings ahead of the trial focused on six men characterized by the prosecution as less-culpable gunmen and followers.

Bundy, four sons and six other men are due to stand trial later this year.

All have pleaded not guilty to conspiracy, assault, weapon and other charges.

Among issues the judge is considering:

FEDERAL AGENT IN CHARGE

Several defense attorneys are seeking dismissal of the case, accusing the U.S. attorney's office of improperly withholding information about Daniel Love, the federal Bureau of Land Management supervisor who oversaw the Bundy cattle roundup in April 2014.

Findings released last week by the federal Interior Department inspector general faulted the supervisory agent from Salt Lake City for accepting tickets and transportation at the Burning Man festival in Nevada in 2015, and for influencing the hiring of a friend to the bureau.

The unnamed agent was accused of trying to influence employees not to cooperate with the probe of his activities. The findings weren't final, but were referred to higher-ups for possible disciplinary action.

Federal public defenders representing one defendant identify Love as the head of the Bundy cattle impoundment operation and an important witness for the prosecution.

They say they should have been informed last year about the allegations against him.

Tom Pitaro, a Las Vegas defense attorney with decades of trial experience who isn't representing anyone in the Bundy case, called it unlikely that the disclosures about Love would derail the trial.

"The reality is that rarely happens," Pitaro said. "Dismissal is the most extreme response."

FBI FILM CREW

The judge ruled Monday against one defendant's bid to prevent the government from showing jurors an interview he gave in the months after the standoff to a film crew from a company called Longbow Productions.

Defense attorneys allege that crew members said they were making a documentary, but the interviews were for the FBI.

Cliven Bundy is among other defendants seeking to prevent the jury from seeing his interview.

He says that witnesses were paid, tricked and coached into making incriminating statements for the camera.

A lawyer for another defendant says he wants the jury to see his interview, because it will show his client telling why he was at the Bundy ranch.

Nancy Rapoport, a professor at the Boyd School of Law at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, said it will be up to the jury to determine the credibility of the witnesses and the value of the evidence.

BREADTH OF FOCUS

Prosecutors have asked the judge to narrow the focus of the trial to the day of the standoff, and to prohibit defense teams from referring to federal land policies in Nevada and other states in the West where the federal government owns vast swaths of rangeland.

Defense lawyers argue that if the government hopes to prove conspiracy, the jury has to hear what the defendants believe and why they went to the Bundy ranch.

Pitaro called that a common — and key — courtroom fight.

"In every criminal case, the prosecution tries to narrow the focus only to the act and what happened that day," he said. "The defense always tries to expand it to get into other areas."

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