Judge Navarro insists elderly Cliven Bundy must be kept in custody for long haul

Cliven Bundy has repeatedly claimed that the government has denied him a right to a speedy trial. In a motion this month, he asked to be tried alongside the four defendants in the June 26 retrial.

“Mr. Bundy’s speed trial rights have already been violated by the numerous delays in this case caused by the court and caused by the United States,” Las Vegas lawyer Bret Whipple said in his motion.

Whipple indicated Bundy has remained incarcerated since his arrest in February 2016.    

Robert Anglen

AZCentral.com

Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy will get his day in court later rather than sooner. And while he waits, he will remain in custody.

A federal judge this week rejected Bundy’s attempt to jump-start his trial on conspiracy and weapons charges for taking up arms against federal agents in the 2014 standoff near his ranch.

Nevada Judge Gloria Navarro said Bundy, 71, will have to wait to go to trial until after the retrial of four co-defendants has ended. That case is scheduled to begin June 26 and could take months.

Navarro’s ruling is the first clear indication that prosecutors are unwilling to let the four go after a jury deadlocked on all charges against them last month.

“The government’s response indicated its intent to retry the … defendants following the April 2017 mistrial,” Navarro wrote. 

The Nevada U.S. Attorney’s Office on Tuesday declined comment on “whether or not a decision has been made” to retry the four defendants. But also on Tuesday, prosecutors filed a motion challenging a motion for acquittal made by one of the defendants based on the jury’s inability to reach a verdict.

Prosecutors said the court should deny Oklahoma defendant Richard Lovelien’s move for acquittal. 

“His reliance on the fact that the jury did not vote unanimously to convict him is inapt … and fails to show that a rational jury could not convict,” prosecutors wrote.

 

Jurors on April 24 convicted two defendants on multiple counts but could not reach a unanimous verdict against Lovelien and three others.

The six men were described by prosecutors as the least culpable of 17 defendants charged with conspiracy, extortion, assault and obstruction for helping Bundy fend off a government roundup of his cattle in what became known as the Battle of Bunkerville.

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Their trial was the first of three separate trials in the Bundy Ranch case and was supposed to serve as a strategic springboard for prosecutors.

Cliven Bundy, his sons Ammon and Ryan Bundy and two others whom prosecutors said led the standoff are scheduled to be tried second.

‘Rights have already been violated’

Cliven Bundy has repeatedly claimed that the government has denied him a right to a speedy trial. In a motion this month, he asked to be tried alongside the four defendants in the June 26 retrial.

“Mr. Bundy’s speed trial rights have already been violated by the numerous delays in this case caused by the court and caused by the United States,” Las Vegas lawyer Bret Whipple said in his motion.

Whipple indicated Bundy has remained incarcerated since his arrest in February 2016.    

“Mr. Bundy cannot be harmed by further delay,” Whipple said. “The United States cannot detain these defendants indefinitely while conducting indefinite and repeated retrials.”

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Comments

  1. This is crazy. We are suppose to be a Constitutional Republic. Appears we are no longer so. No comments? Are people afraid to speak out on this travesty of justice?

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