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"The national mainstream media doesn't really want to talk about it...or maybe they think it is just to important to talk about on a national level" Scott Rohter
The Trial of the Century – The Occupation Trial of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge
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Posted by Scott Rohteron Friday, October 7, 2016
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The Trial of the Century
The Occupation Trial of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge
By Scott Michael Rohter
Notes from the courtroom for the week of October 3 through October 7
The national mainstream media doesn’t really want to talk about it… or maybe they think it is too important to actually talk about on a national level. I’m not sure which, but the most important aspect of the occupation trial of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge won’t even be discussed at the trial, more less debated in the jury’s presence. That is because the judge won’t allow it to be discussed or debated.
Nevertheless this occupation trial of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge is the trial of the century. It is the political trial that isn’t supposed to be a political trial. It is purported to be a criminal trial… but all of the underlying issues that caused the occupation of the Refuge to happen are all political in nature and they all began back in 1976 when Congress rewrote 200 years of American history and precedent by passing the Federal Land Policy Management Act.
This changed the way that Congress administers public land. It went from being a temporary, custodial stewardship to a permanent confiscation as a result of this law. The occupation of over seven hundred million acres of land in twelve Western States will not be discussed in the courtroom during the trial. This is the real occupation, not the one that occurred at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge… The amount of land occupied by the Federal Government is an area bigger than the size of most countries.. Only eight countries in the world are bigger than the amount of land owned and administered by two agencies of the Federal government… the Bureau of Land Management and the United States Forest Service. It isn’t constitutional.
The eight defendants in this trial are accused of conspiracy to impede federal officers by threats and intimidation. The defendants are: Ammon Bundy, Ryan Bundy, Shawna Cox, Jason Patrick, Kenneth Medenbach, Jeff Banta, Neil Wampler and David Fry.
This may be the most intensively managed trial that America has ever seen. It is certainly the most intensively managed trial that I have ever seen. Every aspect of it is controlled and regulated by the judge from the moment the jury enters the room to the moment they leave the room. The judge acts more like an explosives expert than a referee between the prosecutors and the defense attorneys. She is handling this trial like it is some kind of a ticking time bomb or a lighted stick of dynamite.
All the video evidence submitted by defense attorneys is managed right down to the very last nano second so jurors will not be allowed to get too comfortable with the soft going, gentle resolve of the man who is at the center of this trial.. the good natured, mild mannered Ammon Bundy, and his simply amazing brother, Ryan Bundy. These modern American heroes have been locked up without bail since their arrest in January 2016 for organizing and participating in a protest designed to get Congress to re-examine the issue of what to do about America’s public lands.
In order to eliminate a lot of what Judge Anna Brown likes to call cumulative evidence but what many observers, myself included consider to be corroborating evidence, she has sustained almost four thousand objections raised by federal prosecutors who want to keep as much exculpatory evidence as possible out of this trial. Every time defense attorneys open their mouth to speak another government prosecutor is up on his feet raising another objection. Much of the time is spent stating and restating the following words: “Objection… cumulative… sustained. The objection is sustained Mr. Mumford, now move on”. This goes on over and over again till you want to scream.
The government is not trying to win the argument by presenting a clear and convincing case against the defendants, but rather by preventing their attorneys from making a clear and convincing case on their behalf. That is my impression at least, and this isn’t justice. It isn’t even fair.
Neither the defense attorneys nor the prosecutors really want to talk to each other so the judge acts like a reluctant intermediary and she acts like she doesn’t understand it. This trial is certainly like no other… and the conspiracy that Ammon Bundy and the others are accused of committing is a conspiracy like no other.
Normally you can’t have a lawsuit unless you can show damages, so where are these damages? Well, the FBI and the Department of Justice have fabricated a list of so called damages which were created after most of the defendants had already been arrested and removed from the Refuge. They are attributing these damages to all of the defendants collectively. The government alleges that the defendants trashed the place, but numerous eye witnesses who were there during the occupation have stated that they always saw it neat and tidy and never saw any damages. If there are no damages, there is no basis for a lawsuit. That is the usual rule, but there has been nothing usual about this trial so far, so we will just have to wait and see what the jury decides to do..
Federal arms charges were dismissed against Shawna Cox this week. It also came out during trial this week that the BLM district manager for Harney County closed the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Center on or about the same time that the BLM obtained a first right of refusal to purchase the Hammond Ranch. The BLM also filed a civil lawsuit against the Hammonds to cancel their grazing rights so they could never use public land again.
Many witnesses testified that they never felt threatened or intimidated by any of the defendants who were at the Refuge. That included Pat Harlacher, a seven year resident of Burns who visited the Refuge six different times while the defendants were there, a man from Las Vegas named Brand Thornton who supported the occupation, a local rancher named Travis Williams, another local rancher named Melody Rae Molt, and Sheriff David Ward. Sheriff Ward also said that he didn’t recall ever hearing about any threats made to Federal employees by the defendants. He said he did feel that he had been given an ultimatum though at one point by the defendant Ammon Bundy, but he failed to show any evidence of that under cross examination.
The judge ruled that no one could discuss the Constitution in her court because only a lawyer is qualified to properly understand and explain the Constitution and she wasn’t about to therefore it wasn’t going to be done… Ammon wasn’t going to be allowed to do it period, end of story. The prosecutors objected to the Constitution being read, and the Bible being quoted, and the Book of Mormon. God was ruled inadmissible at some point in the day, but someone did find a way to bring the devil into the discussion. That was one hell of a crazy day.. and oh by the way there is one more thing that is Verboten… No one can ever talk about the murder… excuse me, I mean the death of Lavoy Finicum. That is absolutely forbidden… along with any discussion of how 700 million acres of land in twelve western states has become occupied by the Federal Government and controlled by Congress through two federal agencies … the Bureau of Land Management and the United States Forest Service. This trial is so frustrating as to what the defense is and is not allowed to talk about that it is getting ridiculous already.
Out of those nearly four thousand objections raised by the prosecutors about 99% of them were sustained
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The Hammond family of Burns,Oregon
There was a brief discussion in court about whether or not prosecuting the Hammonds under the Anti-Terrorist and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA) was the same thing as calling them terrorists… The judge said it wasn’t.. but Ammon basically said it was a difference without a distinction. Judge Anna Brown then stated the record pertaining to the Hammonds as follows…
On June 21 2012 Dwight and Stephen Hammond were convicted of arson. Dwight was sentenced to three months in jail for one count, while Stephen was sentenced to twelve months on two counts. On February 5, 2014 the Ninth Circuit Court of Schlemiels overturned the lower court sentences. Upon further appeal the Hammond’s claim for relief was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court and they were resentenced to spend the rest of a five year mandatory minimum sentence under AEDPA.
Categories: National, Oregon Tags: Ammon Bundy, Bundy Trial, Lavoy Finicum, Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Oregon Standoff Trial, Ryan Bundy
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