Thank you for visiting. My thoughts & Feelings are my Own.
Here I will share my feelings about America and her Future.
Let it be known to all the World, I love all Humankind, however the poor actions of the few that take away the Freedom's of the many wear on my soul. I don't hate them I feel sad for their foolishness before God and humankind.
Those leaders who seek to 'Keep their Oaths of office' and those who seek only self glory, power, tyranny and the destruction of America as it was founded, hoping to turn it into a Dictatorship, Marxist or other state of Tyranny.
For a long while I was unsure of putting a blog together with my thoughts on this, however Truth must be shared, if not to Awake American's to their dangerous situation then to record the folly of the ways of the wicked who do exist in the leadership of our Nation, States, Counties, Towns. Sad that I must add this page.
"We often search for things in life, yet seldom do we find.
Those things in life that really matter, until we make the time." S.T.Huls
Please
read the letter and then mail this letter to:
President
Trump
1600 Pennsylvania Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20500
Attach
a note or letter asking President Trump to issue a
Full
Presidential Pardon for Todd Engel. Also, please add Greg Burleson's name
to the abuses. Todd has been sentenced to 14 years and Greg to 68 years
in prison for simply showing up to prevent the massacre of the entire
Bundy family.
They
exercised their 1st and 2nd amendment rights and were ultimately convicted
of charges wrongfully, due to Judge Navarro suppressing the majority of
the evidence and their entire defenses.
They
were then sentenced, not to the charges convicted, but to all the counts
in which they were accused of in a false indictment. This is unjust and
simply evil.
You
ask, "what can we do?" Well, this is what we can do! We can
flood the President with letters.
Have
your entire family send separate letters if you feel inclined. With
enough letters, someone will notice. We need to appeal to our President!
He has to hear us. Our cries are falling on deaf ears in Nevada but we
must keep trying. I myself will never accept these two angels, Todd and
Greg, spending the rest of their lives in prison for ensuring our
family's safety and protecting our rights.
Thank
You and please pray for these men and for this nation.
God
Bless you all and may
He
keep this land free through the work and sacrifice of good men and women.
On April 5, 2014, the Bureau
of Land Management commenced an operation to impound rancher Cliven
Bundy’s cattle. In the run-up to the operation, no less than five
separate threat assessments were conducted to ascertain the threat that
the Bundy’s may pose to law enforcement officers during the roundup. Each
and every one of the assessments conducted by the FBI, JTTF, BLM, et.al.,
showed that the Bundy’s propensity for violence to be virtually
nonexistent. With these findings, an appropriate course of action
pertaining to a law enforcement presence should have been a few Las Vegas
Metro PD officers on scene ensuring the safety of all involved. If that
had been the case, the impoundment would likely have been completed
without incident. Nevertheless, that would not be the case.
The BLM brought in Special
Agent in Charge (SAC), Daniel P. Love, who began to stage a small army at
his incident command post in the week leading up to the scheduled
impoundment.
The list of men and
material he brought in included:
·At least 138 heavily armed
agents with level IV body armor, Kevlar helmets and assault rifles.
·Two FBI Swat Teams, one from
Los Angeles, and one from Las Vegas with attached sniper teams and a
F.L.I.R. equipped helicopter.
·A U.S. Park Service Special
Event Tactical Team (SETT) with an attached sniper team. • Multiple BLM
sniper teams
·
A Mine Resistant Armor
Protected (MRAP) vehicle
·Drones and Airplanes
·Multiple German Shepherd attack
dogs
The BLM also set up
two “First Amendment Areas” miles away from the impoundment operation for
protesters to exercise their 1st Amendment rights. These areas were
monitored by cameras and under cover agents who documented the license
plates of people in the area.
On April 6th, the
second day of the gather, agents encountered civilians taking pictures of
the gather from the side of the road. For over an hour, BLM agents harass
these citizens and attempt to herd them into the “First Amendment Areas.”
They threaten them with citations and arrest until they are informed by
the United States Attorney’s Office that they have “no arrest authority.”
Just a few short hours later, Dave Bundy is parked on the side of the
road filming the gather with his Ipad. A BLM sniper team is deployed on
the hill behind him and aim rifles at his back. Agents then approach him,
body slam him, grind his face into the gravel and haul him off to jail,
all with “no arrest authority.” He is released the next morning with no
charges. His Ipad is confiscated and when it is returned, three years
later, all video had been erased.
As the impoundment continued,
BLM agents began to shoot the Bundy’s cattle from helicopters, leaving
many valuable bulls dead. They also systematically shot cattle they had
corralled at the ICP and bury them in a mass grave. Simultaneously, the
BLM and their contractors began to destroy Cliven Bundy’s State of Nevada
deeded ‘waters’ that have been in his family for over a hundred years and
are protected by Nevada State Law. It’s understandable why they wanted no
pictures taken. Killing his cattle and destroying his waters are crimes
under Nevada law.
April 9th, a
spontaneous protest occurs whereby citizens were curious as to why a dump
truck and backhoe are involved in gathering cattle. As the protestors
attempt to look into the back of the dump truck, an attack dog is
released on Ammon Bundy and he is tased three times. His fifty-nine year
old aunt is grabbed from behind and violently body slammed to the ground.
In the dump truck, they find torched pieces of their water tanks,
evidence of BLM criminal activity. When SAC Dan Love is asked by reporter
Pete Santilli, if the government is killing cattle, Dan Love states, “we
are not killing cattle!” Multiple videos and photographs show different. (All
of the information listed above was not allowed to be presented at my
trial)
On April 12th, a tense protest
occurs with armed and unarmed citizens in a wash a few miles from the
Bundy residence. As unarmed protestors arrived in the wash, the BLM
immediately aimed assault rifles at them and stated over the loudspeaker
that they would use lethal force. This precipitated a response from armed
protesters who moved down the freeway towards the wash to defend the
people from the BLM. During this protest, multiple agents are recorded
saying such things as: “This is another Waco,” “This is a shoot first ask
questions later type situation,” and after the protest is over, an agent
says, “ Not one shot fired. They’re all fucking mouth. We should have ran
units in there, smashed em and killed em.”
Almost two years
after the impoundment, nineteen of us would be arrested and put on trial
in three separate tiers. The first tier went to trial on February 6th,
2017, of which I would be included in. Just six weeks before trial, due
to my court appointed attorney being incompetent and unprepared, and not
wanting another postponement by replacing him, I chose to represent
myself pro se. During trial the Judge, Gloria Navarro, in open bias
against the defense would not allow me to say the words “U.S.
Constitution”, “1st Amendment Right”, “2nd Amendment Right”, “Right to
keep and bear arms”, and in a moment of total frustration I asked her if
I could say “freedom of speech” in her courtroom. She looked at me and
said, “No, you may not.” When the defense got the case and attempted to
call our first witness, the prosecution stated that all of our witnesses
were “unindicted co-conspirators” and threatened to arrest and indict
them if they testified. As a result, only two took the stand in our
defense.
Just prior to trial, it was
discovered that SAC Dan Love had participated in some nefarious
activities of which he was under investigation for and was ultimately
relieved of duty. In a blow to the government’s case, they removed him as
their star witness. No worries though as we would call him to the stand.
When the defense attempted to call him, the government fought it and the
judge ruled in their favor. The Special Agent in Charge of the entire
operation and that agent whose Grand Jury testimony resulted in our
indictments, would never take the stand.
With Dan Love in a protected
status and me completely discouraged at the ongoing conspiracy between
the prosecutors and the judge, I asked a witness a single question about
Dan Love and was immediately stripped of my pro se status and the ability
to defend myself. My standby counsel took over but was completely
clueless, knew nothing of the discovery, and continued to take his daily
catnaps and e-bay shopping during the trial.
As the trial came to a close,
we were not allowed jury instructions of “selfdefense,” “defense of
others,” or “justification” as the judge stated we were unable to prove
the presence of BLM “intimidation,” “provocation,” “over aggressiveness,”
or the presence of “snipers.” Our only defense would be, “we didn’t do
it.” I was ultimately convicted of Count 12, “Obstruction of Justice” and
Count 16, “Interstate Travel in Aid of Extortion.” Seven months later,
during the third trial in which Cliven, Ryan, Ammon Bundy, and Ryan Payne
were defendants, a bombshell memo was sent to the prosecution, the
Department of Justice, and Congress. The memo was eighteen pages of
outrageous conduct by the BLM, FBI, and USAO and was written by the
government’s own lead investigator, Larry Wooten who investigated this
incident for almost three years.
Wooten stated that on February
17th, 2017, two weeks into my trial, A.U.S. A. Steven Myhre, the lead prosecutor,
entered into a conspiracy with Wooten’s direct supervisor, Kent Kleman,
to have Wooten removed from the investigation because they didn’t like
his findings. All records of his investigation were confiscated from his
office and he was told not to discuss the case with anyone. His
investigation reports have never been found. This is a classic example of
witness tampering and is a crime of “obstruction of justice” as Wooten
was on the witness list for my trial.
In the spring of 2018, Wooten
wrote a second eighteen-page report memo that is so revealing of the
governments’ corruption that the judge placed an exceptionally strict
protective order on it and to date, it has not been released. In December
of 2017, the judge declared a mistrial due to over three thousand pages
of ‘Brady’ material (information likely beneficial to the defense) was
finally turned over. The new ‘Brady’ material showed:
·Five separate threat
assessments that showed the Bundy’s were not a threat for violence.
·The BLM’s threat assessment
showed that (the BLM) were looking to “faceoff” and provoke the Bundy’s
into a confrontation.
·An FBI Operations Order in
which the FBI had deployed snipers.
·An aerial photograph showing
the positions of at least two sniper teams perched above Cliven’s home on
the nights of the 5th and 6th, prior to the arrival of protestors or
militia. It also showed that the snipers had ranged the distance to his
house, carried intermediate range rifles, night vision, thermal imaging
devices, and infrared spotlights.
·
A six man Quick
Reaction Force two miles away on stand-by prepared to assault the Bundy
residence on the nights of the 5th and 6th.
·The presence of live feed
cameras above Bundy’s residence feeding real time video back to the ICP
and Dan Love.
·Evidence that Dan Love,
pre-operation, gave a pep talk to his agents telling them to go out there
and “kick Cliven in the teeth.”
·Evidence that Dan Love sent an
email telling his agents how to become “warriors.”
·Evidence that Dan Love carried
a “kill book” wherein he bragged about being responsible for three
suicides in Operation Cerberus Action in Blanding, Utah.
FBI Agent Joel Willis,
according to the judge, “hid” exculpatory evidence in his agency vehicle.
He stated that he “finally found a thumb drive”, after three years, “on
the floor of his vehicle”.
On January 8th, 2018, the
judge dismissed the case “With Prejudice” against Cliven Bundy, Ryan
Bundy, Ammon Bundy, and Ryan Payne due to “Flagrant Prosecutorial
Misconduct, Due Process Violations, and multiple Brady Violations.” The
government filed a motion asking Judge Navarro to reconsider her decision
and on July, 3rd, 2018 she denied their motion and stated that the
‘Brady’ material withheld was at least relevant to Count 5, Count 12, and
Count 16; two of the charges of which I was convicted. Shortly
thereafter, the government dismissed all charges on the defendants that
had not gone to trial yet. My luck for being in the first group!
We filed a motion for a new
trial due to the multiple ‘Brady’ violations revealing new evidence, a
motion for a “Judgement of Acquittal” as the elements of the charges were
never met, and a motion to depose Larry Wooten under oath in order to get
his story on the record and add additional new evidence to the mountain
that already existed. On the day of my sentence hearing, just minutes
before going into the courtroom, Judge Navarro denied all three motions
stating that the ‘Brady’ violations were not relevant to me and that the
new evidence did not reach the threshold for a new trial and deposing
Larry Wooten was “moot.” The government had stated, in the indictment,
that there were NO government snipers at the Bundy Ranch and therefore
Cliven’s assertion of snipers was “false, deceitful, and deceptive” and
that his call to the militia for protection was an “unnecessary
escalation of tensions.” At trial, I contentiously argued that snipers
were present but was continually objected to by the government and
sustained by the judge. We now know that as I argued at trial, the
government had, in it’s possession, reams of evidence showing that from
April 5th through April 12th, snipers were present and active at the
Bundy Ranch.
On July 19th, 2018, I was
sentenced to fourteen years in Federal Prison. But I was not sentenced
for Interstate Travel in Aid of Extortion or Obstruction of Justice but
was sentenced for actual Extortion, Assault on a Federal Officer,
Threatening a Federal Officer, and Use and Carry of a Firearm during a
Crime of Violence; all of the charges I faced at trial but was not
convicted.
So why was it so important and
why so much effort to remove Cliven Bundy from his land? It certainly was
not delinquent grazing fees of $1.3 million, as a government attorney
testified in the third trial that Mr. Bundy only owed $8800 in back fees.
The answer is quite simple really and could have been found on the BLM’s
own website before they removed it. During the impoundment, the website
stated that the “Gold Butte Solar Project was not compatible with feral
cattle.” There it was for the whole world to see and it had nothing to do
with grazing fees. So who were the main players behind this massive land
grab? Evidence shows that Senator Harry Reid’s son, Rory Reid, had formed
a partnership and signed contracts with a Chinese solar company to
install this solar project in Gold Butte. But they still needed Bundy and
his cattle off the land.
Harry Reid had a plan. He took
one of his high level advisors, Neil Kornze, from his staff and had him
moved over to the BLM. From 2009 to 2014, Kornze moved up the ranks until
in April 2014 he became the Director of the BLM. To anchor this
conspiracy and ensure he had the courts in his pocket, Harry Reid
recommended to Barack Obama the appointment of none other than Gloria
Navarro as Chief Justice for the District of Nevada.
I tremble to think what the
outcome of this rogue operation may have been had protestors, armed and
unarmed, not heeded the call of this besieged rancher and converged on
his ranch from across the country. Would Dan Love have killed this family
and burned their house down around them as they assaulted them with
snipers and armored vehicles? I thank the Lord that we will never know
that answer.
From inside a Birmingham,
Alabama jail, Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat
to Justice everywhere.” From inside a prison in Pahrump, Nevada, I
couldn’t agree more.
Electronic files of this note
can be download here:
Attorney General Jeff Sessions stepped into the Bundy prosecution after Wednesday’s mistrial, ordering a third-party examination of the case in light of the latest government snafu.
“The attorney general takes this issue very seriously and has personally directed that an expert in the [Justice Department’s] discovery obligations be deployed to examine the case and advise as to the next steps,” said Ian D. Prior, the department’s principal deputy director of public affairs, in a late Wednesday statement.
The decision to intervene came after Chief U.S. District Court Judge Gloria Navarro declared a mistrial over the government’s “willful failure to disclose information” to the defense, saying it would have been “impossible” for the four co-defendants to receive a fair trial.
“Failure to turn over such evidence violates due process,” Judge Navarro said in the courtroom, the Arizona Republic reported. “A fair trial at this point is impossible.”
Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, his sons Ammon and Ryan Bundy, and Ryan Payne of Montana have been charged with 15 felony counts stemming from the 2014 armed standoff with the Bureau of Land Management at the Bundy ranch near Bunkerville.
The examination represents the first direct public intervention by the attorney general in the Nevada case, which began last year under then-Attorney General Loretta Lynch.
Acting U.S. Attorney Steven W. Myhre, who oversees the prosecution, said he welcomed the input from D.C.
“We respect the ruling of the court and take very seriously our discovery obligations,” Mr. Myhre said in a statement. “The office welcomes the assistance of the attorney general as we continue to evaluate the case in light of the court’s ruling.”
No deadline was given for the attorney general’s examination, but Judge Navarro set a Jan. 8 hearing on defense motions to dismiss the case. The next trial is tentatively scheduled to begin Feb. 26.
The case, which involves 19 defendants spread over three tiers, has been riddled with setbacks for the prosecution, including a previous mistrial, hung juries and acquittals on lesser figures in the April 2014 armed confrontation with BLM agents.
Judge Navarro said the prosecutors had willfully failed to disclose key evidence in the case, including FBI records about surveillance and government snipers at the Bundy ranch, activity logs, law enforcement threat assessments showing the Bundy family posed no threat of violence, and internal reports about BLM agent misconduct.
She dismissed the jury after seven weeks in the latest trial involving the second of the three tiers of co-defendants.
All four in the latest trial are considered leaders of the confrontation with the BLM, which began after agents tried to impound the ranch’s cattle following Cliven Bundy’s refusal for years to pay grazing fees in a protest over federal land management.
Doug Knowles posted: "Updated 7:01 AM; Posted 7:00 AM By Maxine Bernstein The Oregonian/OregonLive "Tell me about this standoff." And with that, Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy found a biographer behind bars. Bundy had invited a fellow inmate to sit down"
And with that, Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy found a biographer behind bars.
Bundy had invited a fellow inmate to sit down at a table with him. They chatted about farming, raising cattle, growing melons and grandchildren.
Soon, they were walking regular laps together around the inside of a large unit that housed 94 bunk beds between concrete cinderblock walls about 60 miles west of Las Vegas.
And when the time seemed right, inmate Michael Stickler broached the subject of why the Bundy patriarch was in custody at the Southern Nevada Detention Center in Pahrump.
At first Bundy seemed reluctant to talk about the notorious face-off with federal rangers in the desert in 2014, Stickler said. Bundy explained that he didn't know who he could trust, that the FBI had an undercover agent pose as a journalist and interview his family members on videos that now were being used against him.
But Stickler kept urging the 71-year-old cattleman: "You need to write a book."
The two eventually shook hands. And now Stickler is preparing to sell a biography about Bundy that offers a glimpse of his life in prison, his surprise at being arrested in Portland last year, his family history and Mormon faith and his two-decade-old battle with the federal government.
Michael Stickler, of northern Nevada, met Cliven Bundy at the Southern Nevada Detention Center earlier this year as Stickler was serving the last two months of a two-and-a-half-year federal prison sentence for theft of public money.
Michael Stickler, of northern Nevada, met Cliven Bundy at the Southern Nevada Detention Center earlier this year as Stickler was serving the last two months of a two-and-a-half-year federal prison sentence for theft of public money.
Stickler is self-publishing the book through his company, Vision Group, and promised to contribute proceeds to Bundy's legal defense, though no formal contract was signed.
Bundy has been in custody for a year and nine months and is about to go on trial, accused of leading a "massive armed assault'' in April 2014 that thwarted federal officers from impounding his cattle. Bundy was grazing them on public land near his ranch in defiance of court orders. He owed more than $1 million in fees and fines that he'd refused to pay for years.
He was recently moved to a jail in Henderson, Nevada, to be closer to the federal courthouse in downtown Las Vegas.
'HE DIDN'T SEE IT COMING AT ALL'
Stickler, who was released in June after serving out the last two months of a 2 1/2-year sentence for theft of public money, described Bundy's routine when he was at the Pahrump lockup, a transfer center for federal inmates.
Bundy was housed in the same unit with sons Davey and Mel, but sons Ammon and Ryan were held separately, often kept in solitary confinement for rule violations, including refusing to undergo strip searches when taken to and from federal court.
The father and his four sons all face charges in the standoff near Bunkerville. The senior Bundy, Ammon and Ryan Bundy are on trial now. Thirty days after that trial ends, Davey and Mel Bundy are scheduled for trial.
Because of Cliven Bundy's length of time at the detention center, he snagged a coveted lower bunk bed against the wall. Son Davey's bunk bed was next to his, and Mel's was a couple of rows away, Stickler said.
The elder Bundy was among the few early risers. He'd wake up at 5 a.m., and would read the Book of Mormon quietly on his bed.
"Pretty much others left them alone,'' Stickler said.
Bundy often spoke with his wife, Carol, on the phone. One time, Stickler recalled, Bundy was talking to his son-in-law, who's helping out at the family ranch, instructing him how to fix a broken water pipe.
Cliven Bundy told Stickler that he had no worries except for his sons when his plane touched down at Portland International Airport on Feb. 10, 2016.
He had come to visit Ammon and Ryan Bundy, both in jail in downtown Portland after their arrests in the armed takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in southeastern Oregon. Cliven Bundy had heard Ryan had been wounded and hoped to see him.
Investigators believe Ryan Bundy has a "metallic object" in his shoulder from when officers fired into occupation spokesman Robert "LaVoy" Finicum's truck as he sped away from a police stop. Ryan Bundy was in the back seat.
Cliven Bundy got bumped from his first flight and didn't know why. He was placed on a later flight. FBI agents were waiting for him at the airport.
"He didn't see it coming at all,'' Stickler said. "He had felt like the whole thing in Bunkerville had passed.''
'LOOK WHAT I STARTED'
Earlier this spring, when supporters camped outside the Nevada detention center in tents in protest of conditions the Bundys faced inside, Cliven Bundy and Stickler weren't sure what was going on.
The institution suddenly went into a panic mode, with inmates ordered to keep their TVs off and visits halted for about two weeks. Corrections officers let it be known that the Bundys were at fault for the increased security, Stickler said.
One night, Bundy and Stickler saw fireworks shooting off outside, he said.
"Look what I started,'' Cliven Bundy remarked to Stickler. "He said, 'You know, 20 years ago, I decided to stand up to the federal government. I'm still surprised many people care about this,' '' Stickler recalled.
Cliven Bundy regularly ate his meals at a table in the unit with Mel and Davey Bundy. Two other inmates would share their food with Cliven Bundy, often making their own dinners from left-over scraps, Top Ramen and meat bought in the commissary.
The detention center, filled with drug smugglers and bank robbers, could get extremely noisy and irritating, Stickler said. Through it all, Cliven Bundy remained calm. "He was even-keeled, and polite and kind to everyone,'' he said.
As he shared his personal story, Bundy would draw rudimentary maps or sketches with a pencil and pad to help Stickler understand what he was describing. Though he has little education, he has a tremendous memory, often quoting passages from the Constitution, Stickler said.
When Stickler pressed if he regretted any of what he's done or would consider a plea deal, Bundy "got a little uppity,'' he remembered.
"I raised my sons to be strong and independent and follow the Constitution,'' Bundy told him. "Now's not the time to do otherwise.''
At the same time, Bundy can't help but worry about the future, especially whether his sons will be able to be fathers again to their children, Stickler said.
Still, Bundy has hope: Stickler said: "He recognizes that if convicted, he could spend the rest of his life in prison. He prays and believes that can't happen, though. He stands with a conviction that this is much bigger than the Bundys.''
Stickler, 57, of northern Nevada, was in court last week and plans to attend Cliven Bundy's trial. He knows what it's like to go to trial. A federal jury found him guilty in March 2014 of theft of public money, ruling he pocketed $200,000 from a $500,000 federal grant awarded to his Faith Based Solutions company in Reno. The money was supposed to be distributed to other nonprofit groups. Stickler's business taught other nonprofit groups how to apply for federal grants. He also pleaded guilty in a separate federal case for failing to pay taxes, and has a felony conviction from 1993.
He's completed his book and expects to publish it in December. He said he's sent pages to Cliven Bundy to read and edit. Carol Bundy confirmed that her husband agreed to let Stickler write his story, but said her husband hadn't reviewed a final draft.
Stickler, who until now wrote Christian books, plans to ship a copy to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, as well as to President Donald J. Trump.
But Stickler said he won't be able to send the finished product to Bundy. The jails won't allow hardcover books behind bars.
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.
Mumford, 43, flew in from Utah to appear briefly before U.S. District Judge John C. Coughenour and Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy J. Ohms, both assigned from Washington state after federal judges and prosecutors in Oregon recused themselves from the case.
Oregon's federal public defender Lisa Hay, wearing a "FREE MARCUS MUMFORD'' pin on her blazer, other defense attorneys from the Bundy case and court staff crowded into the courtroom to watch the proceeding.
Hay said she came to show her support for a defense attorney who was "physically assaulted while advocating for his client in the courtroom and not in disobedience of any judicial order.''
Judges can find attorneys or others in contempt of court, but Hay called it an "abuse of power'' for defense lawyers to face physical force from marshals.
Oregon Federal Public Defender Lisa Hay wore a "FREE MARCUS MUMFORD'' button on her suit lapel in court Friday. She said she came to support a "defense attorney who was physically assaulted while advocating for his client in the courtroom and not in disobedience of any judicial order.'' (Maxine Bernstein |Staff)
None of the marshals who tackled Mumford were in court.
A three-day trial has been set for April 17 and pretrial motions will be heard on Feb. 15. The prosecutor said he might file a criminal information in the case but none has been issued yet.
Mumford is expected to argue that there was a "pattern of overreaction'' by marshals who "initiated conflict unnecessarily'' during the case, according to emails he sent to federal court.
He has requested video surveillance footage of the encounter as well as any video footage of two earlier incidents with marshals in court.
On the day of the Bundy acquittal, Mumford stood before U.S. District Judge Anna J. Brown and argued that Bundy should be released from custody immediately.
When Mumford continued to yell and argue after the judge told him that Nevada had an order to hold Bundy, six to seven marshals slowly moved in and surrounded him at his defense table. The judge directed them to move back, but moments later the marshals grabbed Mumford, tackled him and used a Taser on him.
The probable cause statement filed by the U.S. Marshals Service in support of the citation against Marcus Mumford. (Court document)Maxine Bernstein | The Oregonian/OregonLive
According to a probable cause statement, the marshals said they moved forward to escort Bundy out of the courtroom when Mumford positioned his body to block them and began yelling in protest. When Mumford became more agitated, "flailing his arms and raising his voice even louder,'' and exhibiting "pre-assault indicators,'' they moved in.
Mumford earlier told The Oregonian/OregonLive that the marshals were "just making up facts.'' He said he wanted the marshals or the court to show him the order from Nevada that indicated they had the right to hold Ammon Bundy. Bundy faces charges in Nevada for a 2014 standoff near his father's ranch.
A day after his arrest, Mumford sent an email to three Oregon federal judges -- Brown, U.S. District Judge Robert E. Jones and Chief Judge Michael W. Mosman -- saying he intended to defend himself against the citation. He also urged the court to investigate the marshals for contempt of court.
Mumford wrote that it was an honor to appear before Brown. He said her "indefatigable effort'' in such a complex case inspired him to try to match such effort on behalf of his client.
After the judge admonished him for raising his voice, Mumford said he leaned into the microphone to further explain his stance. The marshals ignored Brown's direction to them to stand back, he said, and instead grabbed him and used a Taser on him twice after he was on the ground with his hands behind his back.
In other emails to the court, Mumford cited two previous encounters involving U.S. deputy marshals that were inappropriate.
On Oct. 17, during a break in the Bundy trial, defense lawyers and their clients remained in Courtroom 9A to discuss strategy. The marshals "became involved in our joint defense discussion in a way that I did not feel was helpful,'' he wrote. When he pointed that out to them, "they confronted me and began accusing me of 'threatening a U.S. marshal.'"
He also cited an Oct. 7 hearing before Judge Jones, who was reviewing why the marshals ended the practice of allowing Mumford to have contact visits with Bundy and his brother, Ryan Bundy, in the courthouse. Jones admonished one marshal during the hearing to "shut up'' and sit down when he spoke over the judge.
Defense lawyer Matthew Schindler, who represented Kenneth Medenbach during the trial last fall, said he came to court Friday to support his friend. Schindler also said he introduced himself to the federal prosecutor handling the case and volunteered to be interviewed because he said what the marshals wrote in the probable cause statement about what occurred was false.
"To the extent someone says Marcus Mumford took a fighting stance, they're lying. That's a fact,'' Schindler said.
