By David Montero
Los Angeles Times
LAS VEGAS — Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy and his sons repeatedly violated court orders to remove their cattle from public lands while inciting and escalating an armed standoff with government agents near their Bunkerville ranch more than three years ago, federal prosecutors told a Las Vegas jury Tuesday.
Acting U.S. Attorney Steven Myhre laid out the government’s case against Bundy and his two sons, Ammon and Ryan Bundy, along with cohort Ryan Payne, during an opening statement that lasted about two hours. Defense lawyers were expected to counter with their opening remarks later Tuesday.
Myhre told jurors that the case wasn’t about free speech, legitimate protest or even gun rights. Instead, he said, jurors needed to weigh whether the nation would be better governed by the rule of law or the end of a gun.
The high-profile case is expected to push into 2018 as federal prosecutors aim to prove the Bundy family and militia leader Payne tried to stop the federal government from seizing cattle that were grazing on public land by threatening a federal officer, carrying and using a firearm and engaging in a conspiracy.
Cliven Bundy, 71, has become a revered figure among those who believe the federal government has overstepped its authority in requiring grazing fees for cattle on land controlled by the federal Bureau of Land Management and has raised the larger question of federal control of land in the West.
It also marks a showdown for the federal government as it looks to rebound from several high-profile losses in court to the Bundy family.
Myhre methodically took jurors through a timeline leading up to the April 12, 2014, standoff at an overpass along Interstate 15 about 90 miles north of Las Vegas. He said the conflict began in 1993 when Cliven Bundy decided to stop getting permits and paying grazing fees for his cattle that had settled on BLM land.
Bundy, the prosecutor said, had plenty of opportunities to comply with court orders and said that his violation of those lawful demands gave federal authorities the right to remove the cattle.
“Mr. Bundy interfered,” Myhre said. “The level of interference escalated.”
Using video projectors to show photos of the heightened tensions, Myhre supplied a narrative for jurors with the use of social media posts and a recording of a conservative California radio talk program in which the Bundys claimed to be victims of government tyranny.
Myhre told jurors those claims were false and that the BLM was simply executing a lawful court order to remove cattle that were grazing illegally.
As he spoke, the pictures on the video screens showed militia members carrying rifles in confrontations with law enforcement — including an image of Ammon Bundy being tasered by police after allegedly running his ATV into a truck as he tried to stop workers from removing cattle.
He said federal officers feared for their lives as about 400 Bundy supporters faced off against about 30 federal agents. he told jurors they would hear testimony from officers saying: “We were outnumbered. We were outgunned.”
But federal prosecutors have struggled to secure convictions against the Bundys and their followers.
Both Ammon Bundy, 42, and Ryan Bundy, 44, were acquitted on similar federal felony charges related to their roles in a 41-day standoff at an Oregon wildlife preserve in 2016. Twice this year, Las Vegas juries either acquitted or deadlocked on multiple charges pinned to several Bundy cohorts involved in the Bunkerville clash.
Federal prosecutors did manage to get Eric J. Parker, 34, of Hailey, Idaho, and O. Scott Drexler, 47, of Challis, Idaho, to plead guilty last month to one count of obstruction of court order.
This trial has already seen a few twists and turns, and opening arguments were delayed last week. Defendants claimed prosecutors neglected to turn over surveillance video during an evidentiary hearing, and both sides were still wrangling over the details into Monday.
And the trial threatened to be delayed again Tuesday when Myhre asked for a continuance after asking to review emails that had been brought to his attention this week. But that request was opposed by the defendants and denied by U.S. District Court Judge Gloria Navarro.
“Let’s get it done,” Cliven Bundy told the judge.
The Bundys claimed there were surveillance cameras set up on a hill, and a witness testified to seeing a stream of video on a screen during the Bunkerville standoff. But federal prosecutors claimed if anything had been recorded, it would’ve been turned over to defense lawyers.
Last week, the Bundys — along with Payne — also sought permission from Navarro to be granted pretrial release. Late Monday, she granted that request to Ryan Bundy, who had claimed hardship in processing motions and preparing his defense from his jail cell in Pahrump. He will have an ankle monitor and live in a halfway house during the trial.
The other three defendants were denied pretrial release.
Navarro had hinted at the problems for granting pretrial release last week when she noted the Bundy family members on trial hadn’t shown respect toward federal authorities in the past. She said federal authorities would be overseeing any pretrial release of the defendants and she openly worried about the safety of those officers.
Since jury selection began in October, the courtroom has been largely filled with Bundy supporters — including several family members. Outside the federal courthouse in downtown Las Vegas, a group of supporters have doggedly stood with flags and banners backing the Bundy family.
