Thursday, February 4, 2016

16 Occupiers Of Oregon Wildlife Refuge Indicted In Federal Court

Ammon Bundy

Justin Sullivan / Getty Images

Sixteen people face federal charges for their alleged role in the armed occupation of a wildlife refuge in Oregon that sparked a month-long standoff, according to a grand jury indictment unsealed Thursday.

The defendants include the alleged leader of the occupation, Ammon Bundy, as well as well-known right-wing activists Jon Ritzheimer, Ryan Bundy, and Shawna Cox. They were all charged with one count of conspiring to impede officers of the United States, and If convicted, could spend up to six years in prison.

Bundy and his alleged co-conspirators took control of the federal facility at the Malheur Wildlife Refuge near the rural town of Burns as an act of protest for what they said was an unfair prison sentence given to a local rancher accused of burning federal land.

The armed occupiers' list of grievances eventually grew to include broad complaints about federal land ownership and the role of government, drawing anger from local communities.

The standoff came to a head on Jan. 25, when the Oregon State Police shot and killed one of the most visible spokespeople for the occupiers, Arizona rancher LaVoy Finicum. Five other occupiers, including Bundy, were arrested that day. The rest of those indicted were later taken into custody.

The U.S. Code defines conspiracy to impede or injure an an officer, the sole charge of the indictment, as follows:

If two or more persons in any State, Territory, Possession, or District conspire to prevent, by force, intimidation, or threat, any person from accepting or holding any office, trust, or place of confidence under the United States, or from discharging any duties thereof, or to induce by like means any officer of the United States to leave the place, where his duties as an officer are required to be performed, or to injure him in his person or property on account of his lawful discharge of the duties of his office, or while engaged in the lawful discharge thereof, or to injure his property so as to molest, interrupt, hinder, or impede him in the discharge of his official duties, each of such persons shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than six years, or both.