BUNKERVILLE STANDOFF 2018:  THE HIDDEN EVIDENCE AND SO MUCH MORE

Breaking News:  On Friday December 29th Acting US Attorney Steven Myrhe, the lead prosecutor in the Bunkerville trials, filed a 55 page brief arguing that a new trial should happen after the judge ruled that the prosecution had deliberately withheld discovery evidence from the defense causing due process issues.

Myhre's filing ahead of a January 8th hearing where the judge is expected to decide the future course of the Bunkerville case came after the US Department of Justice announced December 20th that a discovery evidence expert would be assisting the US Attorney's Office in Las Vegas in taking the next step.

The big focus in media reports in recent weeks is the "willful" withholding of discovery evidence by the Acting US Attorney in Las Vegas, Steven Myrhe.

But for those of us following the case closely through the many months, there's so much more that should be dealt with in the year ahead.

If Attorney General Jeff Sessions thinks all that is needed is some "discovery evidence expert" to advise on the next step in the case, he is wrong.

1.  The coaching of witnesses to lie and mislead the jury 

A recent report by "Redoubt News" shed light on the testimony of Bureau of Land Management official Mary Jo Rugwell.   Rugwell testified at the beginning of the trial that turned into a mistrial back on November 15th,

She claimed no knowledge of who owned water rights on the grazing land used by Cliven Bundy but there is a paper trail showing that Rugwell contacted Nevada officials seeking to take water rights away from Cliven Bundy.

Perjury?

Many observers of the trial reported in their videos that they believed the witnesses had been coached and trained for their testimony with detailed answers for prosecution questions and no detailed answers for defense questions with many "I don't recall" answers mixed in.


And a juror who was dismissed when the mistrial was called December 20th expressed the opinion that a government witness was lying.   He also shook hands with defendant Ryan Bundy outside the courthouse.

See link below:


Juror shakes hands with Ryan Bundy

2.  The hatred of the Bundy's and their supporters and the killing of LaVoy Finicum in Oregon on January 26th, 2016

"My supervisor even took photographs in the secure command post area of the Las Vegas FBI headquarters and even after he was told no photographs were allowed, he recklessly emailed out photographs of the "Arrest Tracking Wall" in which Cliven Bundy and Eric Parker had  "X's" through their face and body......Mr. Myhre previously referred to the defendants as a cult and Mr. Schiess said 'lets get these shall we say Deplorables'........I was told of former BLM SAC Love's misconduct.  I was told by BLM Law Enforcement supervisors that he had a Kill Book as a trophy..."


BLM Agent Larry Wooten's "whistleblower" letter to US Department of Justice



The level of hatred and contempt revealed inside the federal government towards the Bundys and their supporters takes us back to the tactics utilized against them in connection with the Oregon Standoff in early 2016.


This kind of hatred no doubt contributed to the approach taken in the "felony traffic stop" that killed LaVoy Finicum and injured Ryan Bundy on January 26th, 2016 along US Route 395 in Harney County, Oregon.

3.  Did the "not guilty" verdicts in the first Oregon Standoff trial dictate the manipulation of witnesses  and evidence in the three Bunkerville Standoff trials?

When the jury found Ammon Bundy, Ryan Bundy and five others not guilty in the first Oregon Standoff trial, US District Judge Anna J. Brown held a private meeting with jurors to ask them why they came up with "not guilty" verdicts.

In the second trial, the federal prosecutors tacked misdemeanor charges onto  felony ones and Judge Brown decided to hold a bench trial on the misdemeanors.

In addition, she restricted defense witnesses for the second trial where defendants were found guilty of some felonies by the jury and misdemeanors by the judge.

Did the judge and prosecutors in Oregon communicate anything to Nevada to help US District Judge Anna M. Navarro and or the prosecutors in Nevada  (Steven Myhre, Daniel Scheiss ,Nadia Ahmed) for the Bunkerville case "get the Bundys" and prevent not guilty verdicts there?

At the very least we can say that the outcome of the first Oregon Standoff trial provided a powerful incentive for the prosecution and judge to "get it right" in the Bunkerville trials.


ONE OTHER NOTE HERE.   THE ACTING US ATTORNEY IN OREGON WHO OVERSAW THE OREGON STANDOFF PROSECUTIONS, BILLY WILLIAMS, HAS BEEN NOMINATED TO BE PERMANENT US ATTORNEY IN OREGON BY PRESIDENT TRUMP WITH THE STRONG SUPPORT OF OREGON'S DEMOCRAT SENATORS JEFF MERKLEY AND RON WYDEN.

(UPDATED THROUGH SATURDAY EVENING)