Category Archives: (AP) Associated Press

LAS VEGAS (AP) — An October date was set on Thursday for the trial of Nevada cattleman and state’s rights figure Cliven Bundy and six other defendants in an armed standoff that stopped government agents from rounding up Bundy cattle near Bunkerville in 2014.
Jury selection will start Oct. 10 in Las Vegas for Bundy, two of his sons and four other men, Chief U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro decided. The trial will include two defendants who were released to home detention after their recent retrial ended with no verdicts on assault on a federal officer and related firearm charges, but acquittal on other charges.

One Bundy son, Ammon Bundy, refused to be brought to court for the hearing from federal custody. His lawyer, Daniel Hill, said his client objects to being strip-searched when he is transported.

Another Bundy son, Ryan Bundy, serving as his own lawyer, told the judge that he deserved to be released after spending more than 18 months in federal custody and that his right to a speedy trial has been “violated terribly.”

LAS VEGAS (AP) — In a dramatic end to a contentious trial, defense attorneys declined Tuesday to make closing arguments on behalf of four men accused of wielding assault weapons against federal agents in a 2014 standoff near Nevada anti-government figure Cliven Bundy’s ranch.

The move left defendants Eric Parker, Steven Stewart and Ricky Lovelien of Montana and Oklahoma essentially mute in answer to 10 felony charges including conspiracy, weapon possession and assault on a federal officer.

Defendant Scott Drexler of Idaho testified in his defense on Monday.

Parker testified last week, but Chief U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro ordered him off the witness stand and struck his testimony from the record for what she said was a deliberate failure to keep his testimony within bounds of rules she set to keep the focus on what the defendants saw and did during the confrontation, not what they felt or why they acted.

Restrictions placed by a federal judge on what defendants can say about being at Cliven Bundy’s ranch in April 2014 are leading to tense moments in the Las Vegas retrial of four men accused of wielding assault-style weapons to stop federal agents from rounding up cattle belonging to the anti-government figure.

Chief U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro refused Monday to order a mistrial sought by the defense attorney for Eric Parker, a defendant who Navarro ordered off the witness stand last week before telling the jury to disregard his testimony.

Such a dramatic step involving a defendant in the presence of a jury is unusual and might draw scrutiny from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, said Robert Draskovich, a Las Vegas lawyer who said he had never heard of such a move in more than two decades practicing in federal courts. Draskovich is not involved in the Bundy case.

LAS VEGAS – A federal jury in Las Vegas signaled trouble deliberating conspiracy charges Thursday before ending work for the week in the trial of six men who brought assault-style weapons to a standoff with government agents near Cliven Bundy’s ranch in April 2014.

Jurors adjourned shortly before 12:30 p.m. without a verdict and decided to return Monday, after Chief U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro told the eight women and four men that they are allowed to set their own schedule.

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A medical complaint by a defendant with a history of health problems briefly interrupted a trial Thursday in Las Vegas for six men accused of wielding guns during a 2014 armed standoff between followers of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy and federal agents.

An attorney for Gregory Burleson rose suddenly during testimony and told Chief U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro that Burleson needed immediate attention.

Attorneys and spectators in the courtroom said Burleson became pale and his hands were shaking when the judge called a two-hour break.