Cliven Bundy trial delayed over handling of surveillance cameras

LAS VEGAS —  The trial against Cliven Bundy and his sons was delayed for a week over questions about whether the government withheld surveillance videos of the Bundy Ranch during the 2014 standoff.

Jurors were about to be called into the courtroom to hear opening statements Tuesday when the trial derailed and federal prosecutors were asked to account for evidence they said did not exist. 

U.S. District Court Judge Gloria Navarro said she could not determine, based on the government's answers, if federal agents recorded footage or took notes of the live feed from surveillance cameras positioned on hills overlooking the Bundy home.

"It's difficult for me to believe there was no watching," Navarro said. "It doesn't make sense to me to have a camera and have no one watching it." 

The revelation about video surveillance surfaced at an evidentiary hearing Friday when a former National Parks Service ranger testified she saw feeds from at least one camera. The witness said the FBI set up the cameras and that the feed played throughout the four-day standoff on a television inside a command-post trailer.

Acting Nevada U.S. Attorney Steven Myhre told the judge that prosecutors had nothing to turn over because the camera only operated for part of a day before it was damaged, likely by a vehicle hitting and running over it — and that no one was watching the camera feed.

"That's why we don't have any information from this event to turn over ... We've done our due diligence," Myhre said. "If it had evidentiary value, we would be using it ourselves."

Navarro replied, "Unless it was exculpatory."

Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy is accused along with his two sons, Ryan and Ammon Bundy, and militia member Ryan Payne of organizing an armed rebellion to prevent Bureau of Land Management agents from rounding up the family's cattle from public lands.

They have been charged with 15 felonies, including conspiracy, obstruction of justice, extortion, using firearms in the commission of crimes, assault and threatening federal officers. If convicted, they could spend the rest of their lives in prison.

Cliven Bundy's lawyer, Bret Whipple, asked the court Tuesday to throw out the charges against his client and to dismiss the case over the government's failure to turn over the surveillance footage.

"If there's video of live feed at the Bundy Ranch, that precludes our ability to go forward," he said, adding the potential footage "irrevocably harms" his client's case.

Ryan Bundy, who is representing himself, said in court Tuesday that he requested information about video surveillance of his home months ago and that federal prosecutors mocked his discovery motion as a "fantastical fishing expedition."

Bundy said in his motion that he saw video cameras in the hills above his home and saw federal agents servicing those cameras during the four-day standoff. His questioning of the National Park Service ranger on Friday revealed the surveillance cameras.

Navarro said it should not be too difficult for prosecutors to quickly produce a witness to testify about the video footage.

"I think it has potentially useful information and that the defense is entitled to it," she said. "I'm not convinced that nothing exists."

More questions about evidence 

The video surveillance footage was just the start of problems for prosecutors on Tuesday. 

Payne's lawyer, Ryan Norwood, raised additional evidentiary concerns in a separate motion to dismiss the case. He said government's failure to produce discovery goes farther than just the surveillance recordings.

Norwood said the court sealed documents in the case, preventing him from discussing them in open court. But he said information has been raised that suggests a federal agent withheld information and is not a credible witness.

Norwood's motion references Dan Love, the former Bureau of Land Management agent in charge of the cattle roundup, court records show. Love left the agency in September amid internal investigations that found he violated policies, tampered with evidence, intimidated employees into deleting emails about his conduct and used his position to gain benefits in unrelated cases.

Navarro responded by delaying opening statements for a week, until Nov. 14. She asked the government to address the surveillance issues by Wednesday afternoon and to provide explanations about what was recorded and where the video cameras were located.

She asked the government to respond to Payne's motion by Friday and has scheduled a hearing Monday to address that issue.

Navarro also agreed to hold a custody hearing Thursday that could allow the Bundys to be released from prison during the trial, perhaps to a halfway house.

Cliven and Ammon Bundy came to court Tuesday dressed in red prison scrubs as part of a protest of their confinement. A copy of a what appeared to be a Constitution jutted from Cliven's front shirt pocket. Ammon said very little and sat with his elbows on the defense table and his hands clasped in front of him.

In contrast, Ryan Bundy was dressed in a black suit and Payne in a blue shirt and slacks. But they only faced the jury long enough to see it sent home for the day.

It's about more than the standoff

When jurors ultimately do gather for opening statements, they will be thrust into a deciding role in one of the most high-profile land-use cases in modern Western history. Their verdict could affect the federal government's position in managing more than 600 million acres of public land.

For federal prosecutors, the case is about protesters who drew down on federal agents. They want jurors to focus on conspiracy and weapons charges. 

Bundy, who does not recognize the federal government's authority on public lands, has turned the case into a platform for state's rights.

He has argued that the Bureau of Land Management has overstepped its role and that the agency's imposition of fees, arbitrary regulations and policies is threatening his family's way of life.

Bundy has maintained there was no conspiracy and that federal agents were the ones who ratcheted up tensions during the standoff. He has claimed supporters were staging a peaceful protest and exercising their constitutional rights to bear arms.

For many Americans, images of the four-day standoff in a dusty wash below Interstate 15 about 70 miles north of Las Vegas were shocking. Hundreds of protesters, ranchers and militia members took armed positions around federal law-enforcement officers, some lying prone on freeway overpasses and sighting down long rifles.

No shots were fired before federal authorities abandoned the roundup and retreated from the wash, saying they feared for their lives and avoided a bloodbath only by the narrowest of margins.

For all of that, making a solid case against Bundy and his supporters has so far eluded prosecutors. Two federal juries in Las Vegas have rejected conspiracy claims against six defendants in earlier trials.

Oregon case results in acquittals

A federal jury in Oregon also acquitted Ammon and Ryan Bundy last year for leading a 41-day siege of a remote wildlife refuge in 2016. The siege culminated in the shooting death of LaVoy Finicum, an Arizona rancher who joined the Bundys in protest of federal land policies.

Finicum was shot by police after he ran a roadblock, plowed into a snowbank and got out of his truck while yelling and advancing on authorities. Police said he was reaching for a weapon.

SEE ALSO:God, patriotism spurs Oregon standoff leader

In addition to the Bundys, the Oregon jury acquitted five others who were charged in the siege. Payne took a deal to avoid trial and pleaded guilty to conspiring to prevent federal employees from carrying out their duties. He has since sought to withdraw his plea.

Ammon and Ryan Bundy cited their success at the Bundy Ranch standoff — referred to in militia circles as The Battle of Bunkerville — in their run-up to the siege of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge.

19 people charged for roles in standoff

For decades, the Bureau of Land Management repeatedly ordered Bundy to remove his cattle from federal lands and in 2014 obtained a court order to seize his cattle as payment for more than $1 million in unpaid grazing fees.

The Bundys launched a social-media rallying cry. Hundreds of supporters from every state in the Union, including members of several militia groups, converged on the Bundy ranch.

The standoff was hailed as a victory by militia members.

No arrests were made in the Bundy Ranch case until after the Oregon siege ended.

Last year, the government charged 19 people for their roles in the standoff. Two men took plea deals. Trials for the remaining 17 defendants were broken into three tiers based on their alleged levels of culpability in the standoff.

Despite the different levels of culpability, all were charged with the same crimes. The Bundys, Payne and other defendants were denied bail and have remained incarcerated for more than 18 months while awaiting trial.

A jury in April deadlocked on charges against four of the first six defendants. It convicted Gregory Burleson of Arizona and Todd Engel of Idaho on weapons and obstruction charges but dismissed all of the conspiracy charges.

The government launched its retrial of the four defendants in July. But a second federal jury did not return any guilty verdicts after four days of deliberation.

Richard Lovelien of Oklahoma and Steven Stewart of Idaho were acquitted on all counts and walked out of court in August free after spending more than a year in prison.

Eric Parker and O. Scott Drexler were acquitted on most charges, but jurors deadlocked on a few weapons charge. Rather than face a third trial, both pleaded guilty last month to a misdemeanor charge of obstructing a court order.

They will not serve additional time in prison, getting credit for time served. Both retained their rights to own weapons as part of the plea deal.

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