28 October 2016
The Bundy bunch acquittals, and arrests of pipeline protesters
Yesterday, a jury in Portland, OR, acquitted brothers Ammon and Ryan Bundy and five of their companion of federal charges they conspired to impede federal officials in the performance of their duties. One thousand miles to the east, near Cannon Ball, ND, opponents of the Dakota Access pipeline who were illegally encamped on private land, were removed from that land by force after they refused to leave peacefully. At least 140 were arrested, and firearms were discharged. Contrary to what some pipeline protesters are claiming, the events were unrelated.
Government fails to prove conspiracy against Bundy bunch. Jurors in the case are beginning to talk. One, a business student, sent the Oregonian a long email saying that prosecutors failed to prove that the alleged conspiracy existed. He believes that prosecutors erred by choosing to charge the Malheur occupiers with the crime offering the harshest sentence instead of with crimes for which there was sufficient evidence for a conviction. And, he says, the judge’s instructions to the jury prevented the jurors from convicting for a lessor offense. Bundy’s attorneys deserve credit for presenting a convincing defense. The federal prosecutors deserve scrutiny for failing to convict people who clearly were guilty of unlawfully occupying the wildlife refuge.
After the acquittals were announced, Bundy’s defense attorney attempted to have his client released from custody. An argument between the attorney and the judge (who seems to have an imperious disposition) ensued. Several U.S. Marshals suddenly surrounded the attorney, threw him to the floor, and tased him. That outrage is right out of a movie about a violent and corrupt court in a third world dictatorship. There needs to be a house cleaning in Oregon’s federal judiciary and law enforcement organizations.
Equally disturbing is the nutball argument that the jurors, all white, acquitted the Bundy bunch, also white, in an act of racial solidarity. Virtually everyone involved in the Malheur occupation — the occupiers, the displaced federal workers, law enforcement officers, residents of Burns — were white. Race was not an issue in the occupation, the arrests, the trial, and the acquittals.
The 141 anti-pipeline protesters who were arrested wanted to be arrested. Most of the opponents of the Dakota Access pipeline are encamped on federal land near Cannon Ball, ND. A few, however, chose to occupy private land through which the pipeline is being laid. They were trying to physically halt the construction of the pipeline. They were trespassing, and knew they were trespassing. Yesterday, after refusing to peacefully break their camp and retreat to the encampment on federal land, they were removed by local and state law enforcement officers wearing riot gear.
There were no serious injuries, but according to one report, a woman protester fired three pistol rounds at law enforcement officers, fortunately not hitting anyone.
Authorities said protesters set fire to four large pieces of construction equipment. At least two cars were also burned.
Aaron Johnson, 50, a member of the Cheyenne River Sioux in South Dakota, said he and other protesters weren’t happy with the day’s outcome. “I came here for peace and prayer,” he said. “When somebody sets something on fire, that’s not peace and prayer.” [Billings Gazette]
The protesters also blocked public roads, set piles of tires afire, and adamantly refused to follow lawful commands. They wanted to be arrested. I believe they also wanted to provoke violent arrests.
As far as I’m concerned, these people are self-indulgent, intellectually lazy, thugs. They’re self-righteous, not righteous. And they’re prone to violence. They belong in the slammer.