150 Militia Take Over Makhuer National Wildlife Preserve Headquarters

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Todd Macfarlane Day 15 from RangeFire, Malheur Protest trial Ammon Bundy completes his testimony, the defense has very few questions, Jeanette Finicum testified.

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DAY 16 — Thursday, October 6, 2016
Ammon Bundy’s testimony continued today. He testified about his purposes, objectives, intentions, and actions at MNWR. He reiterated that one of his primary objectives was to stake an adverse possession claim, because he believed ownership of the Refuge property was in dispute, and he was disputing federal ownership of the property. Consequently, based on Adverse Possession principles, he took steps to change signs, and to actually change and improve the property, including clean-up and repairs. Although some have
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asserted that the Adverse Possession defense was something Bundy and his attorneys came up with after the fact, they presented evidence, including videos, that he had presented classes on the subject of Adverse Possession at the Refuge, and showed pictures supporting his testimony that it was part of his purpose from the outset. When asked about his exit strategy, Bundy testified that his plan was to teach locals, including the Harney County Committee of Safety and local ranchers; turn the effort, including possession of the Refuge over to them to move forward with in challenging the federal government’s ownership, possession and jurisdiction, and leave. Once again, check out Bundy Court Sketches on Facebook.

Ammon Bundy said that based on what he was trying to accomplish, he didn’t believe he was doing anything unlawful, and certainly not criminal. He said he thought there was a possiblity that the federal goverment would take action, civilly, to claim he and his associates were trespassing at the Refuge, and would take action, civilly, to evict them. He said that because the idea of conspiring to impede or interfere with federal employees had never even crossed his mind, he did not consider the possiblity of such charges. By the time Ammon Bundy was done testifying, it was clear that much hard-fought evidence had come in that the Government worked desperately to keep out, seriously undermining the government’s already marginal case.

After hours on the witness stand in direct examination, Bundy was only cross-examined by the prosecution for less than 20 minutes. On cross examination, Bundy admitted that he had taken a federal government-guaranteed loan for his business, and that he pays federal taxes. He said that he recognizes and believes in the federal government, but believes its proper role is limited by the constitution. When prosecutor Ethan

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Knight attempted to question Bundy about that, he offered to debate the constitution and what it means with Knight, who declined, and moved on with his questioning, including the reason for bringing guns to the refuge. Bundy testified that it was so they would be taken seriously, get more attention, be able to defend themselves, if necessary, and to help insure their right to exercise their First Amendment rights.

After Bundy’s testimony was finished, LaVoy Finicum’s widow, Jeanette Finicum, took the stand. She testified about the facts and circumstances surrounding LaVoy’s trip to the Refuge. She said the protest rally in Burns to support the Hammonds wasn’t even on his radar screen until the day before (1/1/2016) when he received a phone call. When he left home he was planning to go up for the rally and come straight back. Jeanette said that she was surprised that he had decided to stay, and she broke down in tears as she testified that she spent the first week trying to convince him to come home, until she resigned herself to the fact that he was committed to stay, because, according to him, local ranchers wanted him, and the others to be there.

We’ll be talking with Trent Loos about weekly trial updates tomorrow, and plan on shooting a weekly recap video as well.

For contrasting perspectives and reporting, you can also follow Maxine Bernstein for OregonLive, and Conrad Wilson for Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB), Bundy Court Sketches on Facebook, or Gary Hunt at Outpost for Freedom and Redoubt News.

At RANGEFIRE! we believe in the need for alternative voices to mainstream media commentary and coverage of these issues.

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