Crime

Bundy Boys Back To Making Jackholes Of Themselves

Ammon and Ryan Bundy refuse to go into the courtroom -- and somehow the judge accedes to the demands of these perps in custody.

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Ammon BundyFresh off their acquittal — and setting off a courtroom Tasering — for committing a crime that we all watched them commit on television while federal authorities stood patiently by, Ammon and Ryan Bundy are back in court.

Acquitted, huh? Seems like an obvious act of jury nullification that most people have, at most, hemmed and hawed about. It seems to me that someone wrote a thinkpiece the other day with the basic premise that if jury nullification ever worked against white people they’d freak the hell out about it — and based on the lazy media outlet response, that premise is pretty accurate.

But, alas, the Bundys are back in court in Nevada (where Judge Anna Brown sent them after their acquittal, sparking the fight that ended with their lawyer taking a few thousand volts like a champ) to face charges for the original Bundy joint where they aimed loaded rifles at federal law enforcement to stand up for their right to steal from the government.

Or, more accurately, the Bundy boys are not back in court in Nevada:

Brothers Ammon and Ryan Bundy on Friday refused to participate in a federal hearing with their father and 13 other defendants charged with 16 felonies arising from their April 2014 standoff with federal agents.

“They are not cooperating” and “will not walk into the courtroom,” Assistant Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal Javier Jimenez told U.S. Magistrate Judge Peggy Leen.

And then Judge Leen “decided not to order marshals to bring Ammon and Ryan Bundy to court by force” and instead set it up so they could listen in from another room.

How f**king respectful of the wishes of two perps in federal custody! I’m sure Judge Leen lets every two-bit drug offender sit outside the court if they don’t feel like making it into her courtroom. Now the thing with double standards is one can easily fall into the “two wrongs don’t make a right” trap, but the idea that people in custody can be forced into court hearings doesn’t seem like a wrong as much as a fundamental consequence of being in custody.

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But, this is America in 2016 so we’re going to let these jackholes pretend the law doesn’t apply to them and complain about the “tyranny” of not being able to aim weapons at federal law enforcement without facing charges.

In any event, the hearing centered on the government’s plan for conducting the trial in three phases, with the Bundys (and a couple of other leaders) going first, mid-level participants in the standoff next, and the hangers-on last. Prosecutors believe the trials will run much more smoothly if the trials trickle down from the top. Meanwhile, the defendants want to be tried together and hopefully outside of Clark County where Nevadans may be too savvy to buy the Bundy manifesto.

If convicted, each defendant faces up to 72 months in prison with no chance for early release, plus three years of supervised release and a $500,000 fine.

Cliven Bundy also faces a potential $3 million fine for illegal grazing on federal land.

It remains insane that these people are considered heroes to rugged individualists. Didn’t Cliven Bundy graze on federal land because he doesn’t have enough of his own grazing land? Newsflash: if the federal government didn’t own this land, someone else would, and then Bundy would be out of luck unless he wanted to try his hand at stealing from his neighbor as opposed to the feds. He should consider himself lucky that the federal government charges as little as it does for grazing on their land. If he wanted to own this land controlled by the federal government — and since he couldn’t rub together enough pennies to pay his fees, there’s no reason to believe he could buy it — he’d be paying a lot more over the life of the property than what the feds charge. So what we have is a protest against the federal government for a benefit he receives solely because of the federal government’s generosity, but that he doesn’t want to pay for.

Seems like that would make it a government handout, but I’m sure there’s some theory about admiralty law or chemtrails that untangles this obvious dissonance in their heads.

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Bundy Defendants Get Saucy With Judge [Courthouse News Service]
Bundy brothers refuse to attend Vegas court hearing [CBS News]

Earlier: Ammon Bundy’s Lawyer Yells At Judge. Hilarity And Tasing Ensue.

HeadshotJoe Patrice is an editor at Above the Law and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. Feel free to email any tips, questions, or comments. Follow him on Twitter if you’re interested in law, politics, and a healthy dose of college sports news.

Photo via Getty Images

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