Category Archives: News

Marcus Mumford’s attorney wants to review the personnel files of each deputy U.S. marshal who tackled his client and then stunned him with a Taser in the courtroom after the acquittal of refuge occupation leader Ammon Bundy.

The attorney also wants all emails between the marshals that mention Mumford during last fall’s trial.

The requests are part of a wide-ranging motion by attorney Michael Levine for evidence as Mumford prepares to challenge charges that he didn’t follow the lawful direction of a federal police officer and disrupted official government duties, both misdemeanors.

Judge Anna Brown, in Portland, Oregon, has made a decision regarding the Justice Department’s efforts to shut down my writings. Before I give you what she has said, I want to thank you all for the incredible outpouring of support for what I have been doing. I have no doubt that Judge Brown has issued the following order realizing that the government, in Ammon Bundy, et al., has overstepped their bounds and has to, now, eat a little of that pie called humble.

The Minute Order filed, today, January 9, 2017, reads as follows:

“Order by Judge Anna J. Brown. The Court has reviewed the governments Motion to Enforce Protective Order and directs the government to file no later than Noon on Tuesday, 1/10/17 a supplemental memorandum that addresses the following issues: (1) The Courts authority to enjoin the actions of a third party under the existing terms of the Protective Order and without advance notice to the third party and an opportunity for that third party to be heard; (2) the Courts jurisdiction to compel an individual who is not present within the District of Oregon to respond to the government’s arguments raised in this Motion via an order to show cause or other form of order; and (3) whether the Court should amend the existing Protective Order in any respect to address the issues raised in the government’s Motion.”

The federal court will soon summon 1,000 prospective jurors for the second conspiracy trial stemming from the takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. They’ll be asked to complete written jury questionnaires that are due back to the court by Jan. 25.

The trial for seven remaining defendants is set for Feb. 14.

The court must decide whether new misdemeanor charges filed against the defendants will be heard by a jury or the judge.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Ethan Knight said legally, the defendants facing Class B misdemeanors – including trespass, destruction or removal of government property and tampering with vehicles and equipment – don’t have a right to a trial by jury. Those charges typically go before the court.

Defense lawyers for the seven defendants set for trial next month expect to argue that a jury consider all the charges – the misdemeanor charges as well as the felony charges of conspiring to prevent employees from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service or U.S. Bureau of Land Management from carrying out their work at the refuge and possession of a firearm in a federal facility.

The court could, however, have a jury deliberate on the federal charges, and the judge could hear testimony on the misdemeanor charges during the jury’s deliberations.

Marcus Mumford, Ammon Bundy’s lawyer who U.S. marshals tackled and stunned with a Taser gun in federal court on the day his client was acquitted, returned to the same courtroom Friday to appear in his own criminal case.

His attorney, Michael Levine, entered a not guilty plea on Mumford’s behalf to charges of failing to comply with the lawful direction of a federal police officer and impeding or disrupting official government duties, both misdemeanors. The maximum penalty for each offense is 30 days in custody and a $5,000 fine.

Mumford was arrested Oct. 27 shortly after the judge announced the jury’s verdict acquitting Bundy and six co-defendants of conspiring to stop federal employees from doing their work at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. Bundy and armed followers took over the refuge Jan. 2, 2016.

Deputy marshals tackled Mumford as he questioned the government’s authority to continue to hold Bundy on federal charges pending in Nevada and demanded to see paperwork to back it up.

“What happened here is an unprecedented attack on the defense bar,” Levine said after the brief hearing Friday.

He called the use of a stun gun and Mumford’s arrest “outrageous,” saying Mumford was doing nothing more than engaging in zealous advocacy for his client.

As they prepare for a second trial stemming from the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, prosecutors want the court to reconsider and let refuge employees and Harney County residents testify about the fears they felt as a result of the armed seizure of the refuge.

Defendants, in turn, want the court to allow them to use the principle of adverse possession – staking claim to a property to declare it as their own – as a defense to the new misdemeanor trespass charge they face.

The defendants also will ask a judge to restrict prosecutors from parading dozens of firearms into the courtroom during trial if the firearms haven’t been traced specifically to the defendants charged, according to court documents filed Wednesday.