The Bundy bust-up
Charges rain down on militant leaders of Bundy family standoffs in Nevada and Oregon.
Joshua Zaffos
March 8, 2016
... U.S. attorneys have charged 25 Malheur occupiers with just a single federal conspiracy charge. During a March 3 visit to Oregon, U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch said additional charges would be issued “very soon.” A district judge recently told prosecutors to hurry up, noting the defendants’ right to a speedy trial, which is very tentatively scheduled for late April.
For those charged in the 2014 Bundy Ranch standoff, a trial is likely still months away. In a statement on the Nevada charges, U.S. Attorney Daniel Bogden said the indictments stem from an “investigation (that) began the day after the assault against federal law enforcement officers and continues to this day.” FBI Special Agent in Charge Laura Bucheit called the indictments and arrests “an irrefutable message to the American people that our determination remains steadfast to protect them and pursue individuals who participate in violent acts of this nature.”
That investigation is overdue, says Mark Potok, senior fellow at the Southern Poverty Law Center, a progressive nonprofit that tracks militia activity and hate groups. “The arrests of many of those involved in the occupation of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge is a welcome development that may have the effect of slowing down this kind of lawless activism and the ‘Patriot’ movement in general,” Potok says. “After all, it was the delay of almost two years in making arrests in the original 2014 Bundy standoff in Nevada that encouraged Bundy’s sons and others to seize the Malheur facility to begin with. These people need to understand that they cannot break the law with impunity” ...
http://itswww.hcn.org/articles/Bundy-bust-up-cliven-ammon-malheur-sagebrush-rebellion-payne-santilli