On Tuesday, the federal jury in Las Vegas considering the case against the four men accused of taking up arms against federal agents during the Bundy Ranch standoff in 2014, decided none of them were guilty.
After four days of deliberations, the jury decided that Richard Lovelien, Steven Stewart, Eric Parker and O. Scott Drexler were innocent of conspiracy and extortion; jurors could not reach a verdict on weapons and assault charges against Parker and Drexler.
Las Vegas defense lawyer Shawn Perez said, “Both Ricky and I were teary-eyed. I was shaking. … I have gotten not-guilty verdicts before, but this was really special to me.” Las Vegas defense lawyer Jess Marchese added, “(Parker) is getting released as we speak. He’s ecstatic.”
Trisha Young, spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Las Vegas, said, “While we are disappointed with the verdicts, we thank the jurors for their service. At this time, the government has not announced its decision regarding the retrial of Eric Parker and O. Scott Drexler.” Back in April, a jury deadlocked on charges against the four men, but convicted two other defendants on multiple counts. Conspiracy charges against all six men failed.
In the standoff, armed ranchers and militia members confronted Bureau of Land Management (BLM) agents roughly 70 miles north of Las Vegas in order to help Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy stave off a government roundup of his cattle. The BLM had threatened Bundy for decades, warning him to remove his cattle from federal lands; in 2014 BLM obtained a court order to seize his cattle when Bundy refused to renew permits that would have allowed his cattle to graze on public lands near his ranch.
A key moment in the trial occurred on August 11, when Judge Gloria Navarro ordered Parker to retreat from the stand and striking his testimony of what he saw at the stand-off from court records. Parker returned to the defense table and started crying.
Marchese said jurors told him after the verdict was announced that the incident with Parker influenced their decision. He said, “That weighed heavily in their decision. They wanted to hear him speak. It was very bothersome to them. They felt like they weren’t getting the whole story,” though he added, “It wasn’t one thing. They (jurors) said it didn’t make sense.”
Perez explained why the defense waived closing arguments: “The jurors knew our hands were tied. By the time the government laid it all out for them, they had already made up their minds. … They knew there was no reason for us to go farther.”
Navarro would not let defendants explain why they traveled thousands of miles to join protesters at the Bundy Ranch. She also would not let them testify about perceived abuses by federal authorities that impelled them to join Bundy. As AZ Central reported:
Navarro also restricted defendants from raising constitutional arguments, or mounting any defense based on their First Amendment rights to free speech and their Second Amendment rights to bear arms. In her rulings, Navarro said those were not applicable arguments in the case. Federal officials did not face the same restrictions. To show defendants were part of a conspiracy, they referenced events that happened months, or years, after the standoff.
19 people were charged for their roles in the Bundy incident; Cliven Bundy and his sons, Ammon and Ryan Bundy have yet to be tried in court. Gregory Burleson of Phoenix and Todd Engel of Boundary County, Idaho were found guilty of obstruction of justice and interstate travel to aid extortion earlier this year.