Authored by James Bovard, op-ed via The Hill,
Federal judge Gloria Navarro slammed the FBI and Justice Department on Monday, Jan. 8, for “outrageous” abuses and “flagrant misconduct” in the prosecution of Cliven Bundy and sons, the Nevada ranchers who spurred a high-profile standoff with the FBI and Bureau of Land Management in 2014.
Navarro condemned the "grossly shocking” withholding of evidence from defense counsel in a case that could have landed the Bundys in prison for the rest of their lives. Navarro, who had declared a mistrial last month, dismissed all charges against the Bundys.
Navarro was especially riled because the FBI spent three years covering up or lying about the role of their snipers in the 2014 standoff. The Bundys faced conspiracy charges because they summoned militia to defend them after claiming FBI snipers had surrounded their ranch. Justice Department lawyers scoffed at this claim but newly-released documents vindicate the Bundys. In an interview Saturday, Ammon Bundy reviled the feds:
“They basically came to kill our family, they surrounded us with snipers. And then they wanted to lie about it all like none of it happened."
Many of the heavily-armed activists who flocked to the scene feared that the FBI snipers had a license to kill the Bundys.
Their reaction cannot be understood without considering a landmark 1990s case that continues to shape millions of Americans’ attitude towards Washington: the federal killings and coverups at Ruby Ridge.
Randy Weaver and his family lived in an isolated cabin in the mountains of northern Idaho. Weaver was a white separatist who believed races should live apart; he had no record of violence against other races — or anyone else. An undercover federal agent entrapped him into selling a sawed-off shotgun. The feds then sought to pressure Weaver to become an informant but he refused.
After Weaver was sent the wrong court date and failed to show up, the feds launched a vendetta. Idaho lawyer David Nevin noted that U.S.:
“Marshals called in military aerial reconnaissance and had photos studied by the Defense Mapping Agency. They prowled the woods around Weaver’s cabin with night-vision equipment. They had psychological profiles performed and installed $130,000 worth of long-range solar-powered spy cameras. … They even knew the menstrual cycle of Weaver’s teenage daughter, and planned an arrest scenario around it.”
On August 21, 1992, six camouflaged U.S. Marshals carrying machine guns trespassed onto the Weavers’ property. Three marshals circled close to the Weaver cabin and killed one of their dogs. A firefight ensued and 14-year old Sammy Weaver was shot in the back and killed as he was leaving the scene. Kevin Harris, a family friend, responded by fatally shooting a federal marshal who had fired seven shots in the melee.
The next day, the FBI sent in its Hostage Rescue Team snipers with orders to shoot to kill any adult male outside the Weaver cabin. A federal appeals court ruling later noted that:
“FBI agents formulated rules of engagement that permitted their colleagues to hide in the bushes and gun down men who posed no immediate threat. Such wartime rules are patently unconstitutional for a police action.”
FBI sniper Lon Horiuchi shot Randy Weaver in the back after he stepped out of his cabin, wounding him. Horiuchi then shot and killed Vicki Weaver standing in the cabin door holding their 10-month old baby. A confidential 1994 Justice Department task force report concluded:
“The absence of a (surrender demand) subjected the Government to charges that it was setting Weaver up for attack.”
Weaver and Harris surrendered after an 11-day siege. At their 1993 trial, federal prosecutors asserted that Weaver long conspired to have an armed confrontation with the government. The feds bizarrely asserted that moving from Iowa to a spot near the Canadian border in 1985 was part of Weaver’s plot. After an Idaho jury largely exonerated the defendants, federal judge Edward Lodge slammed DOJ and FBI misconduct and fabrication of evidence in the case.
Regardless of the judge’s condemnation, FBI chief Louis Freeh in 1995 exonerated the FBI for its actions at Ruby Ridge. That year, after I slammed Freeh’s whitewash in the Wall Street Journal and elsewhere, Freeh denounced my “inflammatory and unfounded allegations.” Five months later, I snared a confidential 542-page Justice Department report on Ruby Ridge, excerpting its damning findings in a Wall Street Journal piece. The coverup unraveled and the feds paid the Weaver family $3.1 million to settle their wrongful-death lawsuit. A top FBI official was sent to prison for destroying key evidence.
But the FBI sniper who killed Vicki Weaver never faced justice. When Boundary County, Idaho, sought to prosecute Horiuchi in 1998, the Clinton administration invoked the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution (which blocks local and state governments from challenging federal power) to torpedo their lawsuit. Solicitor General Seth Waxman absolved the sniper because “federal law-enforcement officials are privileged to do what would otherwise be unlawful if done by a private citizen.”
While that claim may sway federal judges, it often fails to charm jurors. A Justice Department brief in the Bundy case revealed that prosecutors dreaded jury nullification — “not guilty” verdicts due to government abuses. That specter spurred prosecutors to withhold key evidence from both the court and the defense counsel, resulting in a mistrial and dismissal of charges.
Judge Navarro rightly declared that “a universal sense of justice has been violated” by federal misconduct in the Bundy trial. Americans’ trust in the FBI and Justice Department will not be restored until those agencies are compelled to obey the law and the Constitution. Until that happens, federal prosecutors should continue fearing verdicts from Americans who refuse to convict those whom the feds wrongfully vilify.
* * *
James Bovard is a USA Today columnist and the author of 10 books, including “Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty” (St. Martin’s Press, 1994).
Comments
Conservative and patriotic white Americans are #1 on the deep state's 'domestic terrorist' watch list.
It is as Murray Rothbard has argued: the State is little more than a 'legalized', criminal organization.
https://olduvai.ca
In reply to Straight white male patriots… by Stu Elsample
If every white left America today, the country would collapse overnight. Whites are the only thing holding this country together. Keep fucking with us and there will be a mass uprising, starting with a tax revolt.
In reply to Straight white male patriots… by Stu Elsample
This is the same FBI that...
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-03-08/do-you-remember-five-men-bein…
In reply to If every white left America… by Jack McGriff
Whites still think this is their country and will never turn against it no matter how hard it fucks them over. Just look at the Afrikaners.
In reply to If every white left America… by Jack McGriff
If a cow had a square ass, it could shit bricks. Not gonna happen. So keep up the bitchin. It'll at least make you feel better.
In reply to If every white left America… by Jack McGriff
Wombats have a round asshole and poop cubes, so anything is possible.
In reply to If a cow had a square ass,… by ReturnOfDaMac
ROFL
In reply to … by hedgeless_horseman
Mutual admiration society assholes.
In reply to ROFL by ReturnOfDaMac
"Wombats have a round asshole and poop cubes, so anything is possible."
I am intrigued by your insights and would like to subscribe to your newsletter. Tell me more of this strange, rectangular scat...
In reply to … by hedgeless_horseman
I sure hope that Judge isn't doing any remodeling....that would involve a nail gun.
In reply to If every white left America… by Jack McGriff
Bring it.
In reply to Straight white male patriots… by Stu Elsample
Which would be kind of pointless since because as the dollars dives to nothingness the agencies are just going crumble. But before they crumble the agencies are going to devour other agencies. And while the agencies are devouring each other all the oligarchs are also going to devour each other (already occuring). Agencies have already begun to devour each other and soon will begin the next phase which is them crumbling. The government employees coming to the realization they won't have pensions and they're working for nothing. Then they'll begin to not give a fck about doing their jobs correctly and it'll start crumbling.
In reply to Straight white male patriots… by Stu Elsample
I suspect that just before it reaches the point where agencies start devouring each other, average-joe-taxpayer will have had the life-blood sucked out of him.
In reply to Which would be kind of… by MusicIsYou
Here's a Kickstarter page for a Doc titled "Dead Man Talking"
His name was LaVoy Finicum.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/selfgovern/lavoy-dead-man-talking
In reply to Straight white male patriots… by Stu Elsample
http://www.northwestfront.org/rfn/rfn020416.mp3
The Murder Of Lavoy Finnicum
In reply to Here's a Kickstarter page… by boattrash
Sh**hole federal government.
In reply to Straight white male patriots… by Stu Elsample
Why do Democrats constantly try to destroy America and kill her citizens?
Probably for the same reason nobody stops them: laziness, money love, arrogance, and too self important.
In reply to Why do Democrats constantly… by Ramesees
Because they are told to do so by their master.
In reply to Why do Democrats constantly… by Ramesees
Because they are murderous Marxists like their heroes Vladimir Ilyich Lenin and Yosef Stalin.
In reply to Why do Democrats constantly… by Ramesees
Interesting thing was a democrat brought this up to me in the cafeteria where we work last week and was somewhat loud about it, and I really didn't hear any of this in the news, or read a quick concise summary as I just did here, to hear the MSM flapping their jaws this last week, you would have thought that Trump took a rifle, hid in the woods outside someones house, and opened fire on them. The more interesting thing is how little of this was in the news. And what the news thinks is important to cover.
This is once where the conspiracy theorists had it right. And that isn't cool. And I'm wondering why if this had been a black the law officer who killed that person didn't face charges and an investigation?
On MLK day no less..
In reply to Why do Democrats constantly… by Ramesees
Good historical review of the Ruby Ridge story.
The same author needs to expose the fucking US DoJ (US Department of Corruption, Injustice & Persecution) and FBI (Feral Bureau of Weasels) murderers who deliberately murdered 80-some completely innocent Branch Davidians at Waco, Texas, too.
In reply to Good historical review of… by Jus7tme
No, it's completely inaccurate.
I remember the Ruby Ridge standoff clearly; it was on the CBS evening news every night. Randy Weaver and his heavily-armed band of fanatical followers were threatening the very fabric of American society. They were a redneck version of the Symbionese Liberation Army. The authorities finally trapped the lunatics in their mountain lair. The madmen tried to shoot their way out, like cornered rabid hyenas, and a wild firefight ensued. In the end the forces of good prevailed, aided by God and the nation's prayers.
In reply to Good historical review of… by Jus7tme
yeah the true facts spin it all differently..
In reply to Good historical review of… by Jus7tme
Just a tiny little procedural mistake is all I need.
Government like a candle burns brightest just before it fizzles out.
They did the same thing to Ed and Elaine Brown.
While throwing out the case is good, where is the criminal prosecution of those that withheld evidence and lied in this case?
Judge Navarro should tread carefully.
She no doubt pissed off a lot of Feds with her favorable ruling towards the Bundys.
Unlike most public officials, when she swore her Oath to protect and defend The Constitution, she took it seriously.
In reply to While throwing out the case… by syzygysus
Something happened because she was pretty much in the tank for the prosecution the whole way. The best guess I've got is the whistle blower Larry Wooten talking to Shea was just too far over the top.
EXCLUSIVE: Rep. Matt Shea Exposes BLM Atrocities
https://redoubtnews.com/2017/12/shea-exposes-blm-atrocities/
In reply to Judge Navarro should tread… by serotonindumptruck
They picked the fight chunga. It was not me.
In reply to Something happened because… by chunga
Not to be a racist.. but if this person had been black?
In reply to While throwing out the case… by syzygysus
Just in case any of you were still wondering how this government really is run.
It will be OK.
In reply to Just in case any of you… by VWAndy
I don't know about time passing with Clive.
This county is burnt toast.
With a few thousand nukes the U.S. won't go down alone. I guarantee it.
In reply to This county is burnt toast. by Anarchyteez
I just knew Holder would be involved.
I told my American History kids that when the BLM loaded up in their trucks and backed off that this was a watershed moment. Not since the Civil War have we seen federal forces retreat. This one event is prima facie evidence that the second amendment does in fact hold governments run amuck in check. I told my kids having failed in their armed assault the next line of attack would be in criminal charges for the Bundys and their supporters. Thank God this one judge had the moral standing to pull the plug on this attack. My fellow Americans, take notice and remain armed and vigilant.
Vicki Weaver was shot THROUGH the door.
Lon Horiuchi never had a "clear shot".
The "rules of engagement" were modified and it took years before the FBI admitted who did it.
“Turnabout is fair play. Payback is a bitch.” LKH
Revenge like a good white wine is best served up cold.
In reply to “Turnabout is fair play… by Secret Weapon
We should start a line of food products like 0prah, and the first thing on the menu I'd suggest would be 'Revenge Gazpacho' soup.
In reply to Revenge like a good white… by Cloud9.5
saving her complicit hide.
and ruby ridge implicates what famblies of swamp slime?
" They even knew the menstrual cycle of Weaver’s teenage daughter, and planned an arrest scenario around it.”
that is some sick nazi shit right there.
i think Weaver won a $6mm settlement, for what that's worth after losing fambly members to these bastids.
Should have been $6Billion more in punitive damages.
In reply to saving her complicit hide… by WillyGroper
FBI malfeasance goes all the way back to Hoover denying there was any "organized crime".
You fail to understand the FBI's raison d'etre.
Its to protect the swamp dwellers from "we the people".
They are the swamps gamekeeper,nurturing the inhabitants, weeding out the weak when required, but
overall protecting its flock until they can be let loose to prey on us.
Does that make you understand better ?
In reply to FBI malfeasance goes all the… by Joebloinvestor
Don't forget Sen.Ted Stevens. FBI and prosecutorial misconduct of the same type as with the Bundy's. Convicted eight days before the election, then later the conviction was vacated and charges dropped due to prosecutors and investigators withholding exculpatory information. He died in a plane crash shortly thereafter.
In reply to FBI malfeasance goes all the… by Joebloinvestor
Pagination