{"id":9276,"date":"2016-09-07T13:03:08","date_gmt":"2016-09-07T20:03:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/?p=9276"},"modified":"2016-09-29T10:53:11","modified_gmt":"2016-09-29T17:53:11","slug":"just-how-low-will-the-government-go-to-convict-the-bundys-of-conspiracy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/just-how-low-will-the-government-go-to-convict-the-bundys-of-conspiracy\/","title":{"rendered":"Just How Low will the Government Go to Convict the Bundys of Conspiracy?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0<\/h1>\n

\u00a0<\/h1>\n
\"Ammon

Ammon Bundy (rancher\/constitutionalist)<\/p><\/div>\n

Jury Selection Begins in the Trials of\u00a0Seven Malheur National Wildlife Refuge Defendants.<\/h1>\n

By Scott Michael Rohter, September 2016<\/p>\n

Dateline: September 12th, Portland Oregon<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"AmmonOpening arguments begin\u00a0this week in the trials of Ammon and Ryan Bundy and\u00a0five\u00a0of the remaining co-defendants who are accused of conspiracy to impede Federal officers in\u00a0the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. The so called “occupation” lasted for 41 days.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a surprise move\u00a0by prosecutors just before the trial\u00a0began, all of the charges against\u00a0another defendant, Pete Santilli were dropped, but Mr. Santilli will remain in Federal custody until his other trial in Nevada begins\u00a0later this year or early next year on\u00a0similar charges relating to his involvement in\u00a0the BLM standoff at the Bundy\u00a0Ranch.<\/p>\n

\"pete-santilli\"Why weren\u2019t the charges against Pete Santilli dropped over \u00a0seven months ago? Why did the government wait until the\u00a0 last minute to dismiss the conspiracy charges against him? The reason is obvious. The government wanted to punish the internet journalist for his positive news coverage of the occupation of the Refuge from the point of view\u00a0of the defendants and their supporters. The government did\u00a0this\u00a0by locking him up for seven and a half\u00a0months until his trial. That is not justice..\u00a0That\u00a0is revenge.<\/p>\n

The government\u2019s decision to hold all of the defendants in pre-trial custody before they\u00a0have their day in court violates a very\u00a0important\u00a0principle of American jurisprudence. All defendants are innocent until proven guilty, and unless the government can show proof that\u00a0they are a flight risk or represent a danger to the community they have the right to the presumption of innocence and to be free on bail pending\u00a0their trial.<\/p>\n

I was present at\u00a0the pretrial hearing\u00a0on\u00a0the motion to release\u00a0Ammon and\u00a0Ryan Bundy\u00a0on bail. I heard\u00a0government\u00a0prosecutors argue that the\u00a0accused\u00a0men should be denied the presumption of innocence because they\u00a0had firearms at the Refuge. The Obama Justice Department is making a complete and total mockery of\u00a0our laws, and by cooperating with them so is this trial judge. Meanwhile\u00a0President Obama travels to other countries and lectures them about their human rights record\u2026 He shouldn\u2019t be lecturing\u00a0the leaders of\u00a0other countries about their\u00a0human rights record\u00a0as long as his own Justice Department\u00a0is incarcerating\u00a0innocent Americans\u00a0without\u00a0 trial, without bail, and without the presumption of innocence.<\/p>\n

\"RyanThe trials of Ammon and Ryan Bundy and the remaining five defendants will take place in one of the most liberal cities in America, Portland Oregon.\u00a0According to Oregon Public Broadcasting which routinely blankets the State with its progressive propaganda so much so that most Portland residents can\u2019t think either clearly or rationally anymore, neither the facts of this case nor the charges involved are\u00a0in dispute.\u00a0 It is from a pre-selected pool of\u00a0 these brainwashed individuals that Ammon and Ryan Bundy\u00a0have the difficult task of choosing a jury of their peers\u2026 the men and women who will actually decide their fate.<\/p>\n

The truth of the matter is that everything about this trial is actually in dispute. The facts are in dispute. The charges are in dispute, and the Federal government\u2019s policy of owning and controlling half of the land in America west of the Rocky Mountains is in dispute. It has always been in dispute ever since the Federal Land Policy Management Act\u00a0was passed by Congress in\u00a01976. This changed the way that Congress\u00a0administers America\u2019s public lands. Everything in the trial is in dispute and it is critical to understand this because it is why the Bundy\u2019s came to Oregon in the first place where 53% of the land is controlled by the by the Bureau of Land Management and the United States Forest Service. This is why the Bundy’s\u00a0decided to\u00a0stage a\u00a0peaceful occupation of\u00a0a deserted Wildlife Refuge in the middle of winter, in the middle of nowhere, when no one was even there. The Bundy\u2019s\u00a0came\u00a0here\u00a0after two Oregon ranchers who had\u00a0already served their time in jail for burning weeds on their\u00a0land were re-incarcerated and forced to spend another five more years\u00a0in a Federal Penitentiary.<\/p>\n

Whether or not\u00a0Dwight and Stephen Hammond\u00a0were prosecuted\u00a0under an anti-terrorist act\u00a0or they were not\u00a0as\u00a0U.S. District Attorney for the State of Oregon, Billy\u00a0Williams\u00a0claims is not the point. The point is that Federal prosecutors had the discretion whether or not to prosecute the Hammonds\u00a0in the first place and if so under what statute they were going to\u00a0do it.. They had\u00a0prosecutorial discretion, and the statute they chose to prosecute the Hammonds under\u00a0(18 USC Sec 844 F1) carries a mandatory minimum of five years in jail which the original trial judge, Michael Hogan characterized as a gross miscarriage of justice which “shocks the conscience”. <\/em>When the Obama\u00a0Justice Department\u00a0appealed his decision and\u00a0put\u00a0the Hammonds back in jail for an additional five years, that set into motion the circumstances which led to the occupation of the Malheur Natl. Wildlife Refuge.<\/p>\n

For as long as the occupation trial\u00a0lasts Oregon Public Broadcasting will\u00a0be broadcasting\u00a0a daily podcast designed to confuse and confound its listeners.\u00a0Their podcast\u00a0is called THIS LAND IS OUR LAND. It is a cheap ploy on words. What they really mean is that 53% of the State of Oregon belongs to the Federal Government and it should be managed by Congress.\u00a0 Oregon does not belong to Congress. It belongs to Oregonians.<\/p>\n

All of the land in Oregon which is not privately owned really belongs to the people of Oregon,\u00a0 and it is the Oregon Legislature\u2019s job to decide what to do with it and how to administer it\u2026 It is not the job of Congress, but our State legislature is weak and it is controlled by Democrats.\u00a0Fifty three percent\u00a0of the land in Oregon was taken away by the Federal government when Oregon became a State through\u00a0the Enabling Act. This theft violates both the TAKINGS CLAUSE and the EQUAL FOOTING PRINCIPLE\u00a0by which all new States were supposed to be admitted to the Union on the same basis as all of the other States.<\/p>\n

Not only are the facts of this case in dispute and the charges in dispute, and the Federal government\u2019s policy of managing 700 million acres of State land in dispute, but even the very definition of the word conspiracy is in dispute. The word conspiracy comes from the root word conspire<\/em>. It is defined by Webster as \u201cto join in a secret agreement.\u201d <\/em>Whether a conspiracy is intended to do good or evil is actually irrelevant.\u00a0 You can commit a conspiracy to do either good or to do evil, but there has to be an element of secrecy. The government is trying to claim that the men who occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge were doing things in secret and committed to doing evil. These men believe in the Constitution, and they believe that\u00a0the government\u00a0should follow the Constitution. Unfortunately our Nation’s leaders in Washington haven’t\u00a0really wanted to follow the Constitution for many years. That is the problem.<\/p>\n

The government wants to re-define the word conspiracy for the purpose of this trial as something that occurs whenever two people decide to break the law\u2026 but by that definition they are the ones\u00a0who are actually guilty of a conspiracy, and the Supreme Court which doesn’t follow the Constitution is guilty of conspiracy, and of course the Obama Administration which likes to\u00a0pick and chose what parts of \u00a0the Constitution it will follow is also guilty of conspiracy. The element of secrecy is always there as Congressmen and Senators, and judges, and even the President with his pen and phone and his advisors\u00a0deliberate in private on how to circumvent the Constitution and rewrite the laws of this land with total disregard to the Supreme law of this land.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In contrast\u00a0there was never any element of secrecy involved in\u00a0anything that the Bundys\u00a0did during their occupation of the Refuge\u2026 Everything they did was in front of the television cameras and\u00a0was instantly broadcast\u00a0around the world for everyone to see. Words have meanings. The government prosecutors cannot simply change the definition of a conspiracy to suit themselves.<\/p>\n

In order to constitute a conspiracy secrecy must be present and\u00a0without the intent to do harm no one would waste any time prosecuting someone. Neither of these things was ever present during the 41 day occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge so all of the defendants should be acquitted on the charge of conspiracy. There was no intent to do harm and this is obvious from the fact that although some of the occupiers did have firearms, none of them ever used their firearms even when they were fired upon. The only people that fired shots were the FBI and the Oregon State police. That demonstrates the true intent of the defendants so the charge of conspiracy should have never been filed.<\/p>\n

<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

Opening arguments begin next week in the trials of Ammon and Ryan Bundy and five of the remaining co-defendants who are accused of conspiracy to impede Federal officers in the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. The so called “occupation” lasted for 41 days. In a surprise move by prosecutors just before the trial began all of the charges against another defendant, Pete Santilli were dropped, but Mr. Santilli will remain in Federal custody until his other trial in Nevada begins later this year on similar charges relating to his involvement in the standoff with the BLM at the Bundy Ranch…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":9239,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[20,6],"tags":[775,777,778,776],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9276"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9276"}],"version-history":[{"count":39,"href":"https:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9276\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9364,"href":"https:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9276\/revisions\/9364"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lessgovisthebestgov.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}