The trial for Bundy brothers, Ammon and Ryan, and six other defendants charged in the 41-day occupation of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Harney County, Oregon starts today, reports High Country News.
The occupation began after two local ranchers were convicted of arson on Bureau of Land Management land. Despite not having the support of either rancher, 25-40 people showed up to the Refuge, protesting that the federal government had for too long abused the rights of ranchers and should hand over control of public lands to states, counties or private citizens.
The occupation finally ended after state police shot and killed one of the movement’s leaders, Robert “LaVoy” Finicum, while capturing the Bundy brothers, on Jan. 26.
“So far, 11 Malheur defendants have pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to impede federal employees at the Malheur wildlife refuge through intimidation, threats or force,” says High Country News. “The eight Malheur defendants who will step into court this week have entered not guilty pleas and could each face up to 20 years in prison plus fines, not including charges the brothers and some defendants face from the Nevada indictment.”
Cliven Bundy, Ryan and Ammon’s father, is also awaiting a trial, set for February 2017. Having refused for decades to pay grazing fees on public land in Nevada, the patriarch organized a 400-person, armed standoff in April 2014 to intimidate federal officials sent to confiscate his herd. It worked. The federal agents left and ‘Bundy’ become an icon within certain land-rights groups. Cliven was apprehended in early February at the Portland, Ore., airport en route to support his sons at Malheur.
“The case against the Bundys is pretty substantial,” says Ryan Lenz, writer for the Southern Poverty Law Center and its Hatewatch blog. “The real questions at the heart of this trial is what kind of antics will happen and what respect and deference will they give to the court.”