Several defendants took the stand in their own defense this last week, in their trial for threatening federal workers while occupying the Malheur Wildlife Refuge in south east Oregon. They provided testimony never before heard in any court room. Here are some of the notable highlights.
Ammon Bundy, the acknowledged leader of that armed gang, attempted to weasel out of that role, under cross-examination. He did manage to confess to all of the necessary elements of the felony charges, however. He admitted planning the occupation, to carrying firearms on the Refuge, and to converting the Refuge to other uses and to �denying federal workers access.
In a surreal moment, Ammon’s brother Ryan, who is acting as his own attorney, questioned his own brother. While it was a “ha-ha” moment when Ryan asked Ammon how long had he known him, I’d expect the jurors to grow impatient at the continued parade of irrevelant testimony.
David Fry also testified. Other defendants, including Ammon, have stated plainly that God spoke to them and ordered the Refuge takeover. Fry testified he heard voices also, directing him to the Refuge. Although Fry claimed those were Angel’s voices, a pyschologist testified that Fry’s schizotypal personality disorder was a more likely source.
Defendant Ken Medenbach fleshed out the Bundyites’ unique defense of “Adverse Possession,” wherein you can acquire federal government property by simply taking it over. Medenbach, has also claimed that a “higher power” directs his action against the satanic federal government. Medenbach had previously been kicked off Federal lands in southwest Washington, and was convicted for squatting on BLM lands in southwest Oregon.
He claimed the adverse possession defense invalidated his most recent arrest near the Refuge, which included charges of stealing a goverment pickup truck, since after all, the government wasn’t using it.
The US attorney pointed out that Medenbach has lost every single motion in every trial in which he claimed adverse possession, but Medenbach responded that the Federal Judges did not know the Constitution.
The Goverment has revealed that at least fifteen people provided them inside information about the Bundy gang’s activities at the Refuge. This means that about 20-30% of the gang at the Refuge were informers. The Feds paid $3000 and expenses to some of them.
The defense has also called a parade of “witnesses” who testified that the takeover was peaceful. One witness, however, Matthew Deatherage, testified during cross-examination that he was actively circulating a petition called for the impeachment of the trial judge, Anna Brown, in retaliation for Judge Brown refusing to allow Bundy to hand out pocket Constitutions to the jury. During that revelation, Judge Brown was seated just a few feet from Deatherage.
While all legal observers note the defendants seem to have unwittingly confessed to the charges during their testimony, the Bundy supporters think their side is stomping the Government.
Ryan Payne, who’d previously pled guilty for a plea bargain of 12 years in prison for all of the charges in both Oregon and Nevada, has asked to withdraw his plea. He apparently thinks his crime partners are about to be acquitted, and wants to be vindicated at his own trial.
About two dozen Bundyites are attending the trial and occasionally demonstrating outside the courthouse. Some of them also recently burnt Oregon Governor Kate Brown in effigy, because of her inadequate support for the 2nd amendment.
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