Thursday, December 7, 2017

BUNKERVILLE STANDOFF:  THE DEMOCRAT JUDGE, THE REPUBLICAN PROSECUTOR AND DOING THE RIGHT THING


Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas once told a group of Washington DC high school students that his toughest cases were those where "his heart said one thing and the law said something else".

US District Judge Gloria Navarro's "heart" was revealed in her blind acceptance of prosecution pronouncements at the first two Bunkerville Standoff trials, only to be blindsided by the sudden release of torrents of evidence as the third trial got underway.

Navarro went through the first two trials accepting there was no evidence justifying self-defense (the Second Amendment) as a defense for the six defendants, preventing any arguments from the defense lawyers or defendants in that vein.

Two men (Greg Burleson and Todd Engel) ended up being convicted in that process and she sentenced Burleson to 68 years in prison back in July.

She has seen the new evidence and decided it gives the defendants traction in their assertion of self-defense in the case because the new evidence shows a buildup of armed Bureau of Land Management agents around Bundy Ranch and a period from April 5-8, 2014 when the FBI set up a Forward Operating Base,  ran surveillance camera operations and posted 20 plus heavily armed agents ("snipers") in the area.

Cliven Bundy was telling people like internet media host Pete Santilli  (now released in Ohio after cutting a plea deal)  he was surrounded by federal agents and felt threatened and he was right.

His story caused hundreds of people to show up around Bundy Ranch to assert their First Amendment rights with some exercising their Second Amendment rights at the same time.

Getting back to Democrat Judge Navarro's "heart" that's hard to know, but she must be torn to know she's presiding over a trial being dirtied by a prosecutor who's been praised by a Republican AG Jeff Sessions who serves an even more hated political enemy, Donald J. Trump.

What matters to her more?    The law or hating Republicans or Trump and or making her ideology and constituencies on the Left happy.

The Democrat Party has evolved from being the party of racial supremacy to being the party of animal supremacy.

Environmentalists are watching Bunkerville because Cliven Bundy chose to resist their cult of putting "endangered species" ahead of human use and habitation of the land.

And then there's the absurd notion that Cliven Bundy is a racist because he used the word "negro" in his speaking.   This drove the RINO's away from him and is part of their shunning.

The Southern Poverty Law Center has an "investigative reporter" monitoring the trial and associates the peaceful and humble Bundy's with "racists" and "extremists".


One more important matter, that being Judge Navarro's harsh sentence handed down to a lesser figure who entered a guilty plea.  Jerry DeLemus was co-chair of Veterans for Trump in New Hampshire during last year's primary, but he also spent some time around Bundy Ranch helping to secure the area.


DeLemus wanted to withdraw his guilty plea, but couldn't.  Prosecutors asked for a six year sentence, but Navarro gave him 15 months more (87 months).    She branded him a "vigilante bully" at his sentencing.


Does Judge Gloria Navarro have any remorse or regret for that in light of the new evidence?


More on Jerry DeLemus later on in the Republican side of this story.


On the other hand we have the lead prosecutor, Acting US Attorney Steven Myrhe, who I call the Republican prosecutor because he was roundly endorsed by the Republican US Attorney General Jeff Sessions during a July 12th visit to Las Vegas.

Sessions praised Myrhe's "leadership" in the case saying he was "standing up and defending the office and the principles of the law".


Its become very clear in recent weeks that Myhre withheld evidence from the defense and tarnished the office and the principles of the law. 


Myhre has been over the top bombastic throughout the trials describing the defendants as the "most dangerous of criminals" as Ryan Bundy put it in a recent media interview.


Myhre asserted at the beginning of the current trial that the Bunkerville Standoff case is about "law and order", something Republicans have been talking about since the end of the 1960's when Richard Nixon pilfered the issue from third party presidential candidate George Wallace to get his voters into the GOP camp.


Wallace's "law and order" notion came out of the race riots of the 1960's.    He was Alabama governor in 1963 when Birmingham's  Eugene "Bull" Connor believed he was on the side of "law and order" putting down non-violent protests over the "Jim Crow" racial segregation and subjugation laws in the Southern states with his dogs and water cannon.


In Cliven Bundy's fight against "Desert Tortoise Supremacy", remember the grazing fee controversy came out of the Bureau of Land Management's decision to put desert tortoises first in land use.

Myhre claims he is on the side of "law and order" and that no argument about First or Second Amendment rights or about water rights etc. from the defendants is relevant.

The Republican Party postures as "law and order" every election cycle.   I saw it this last election cycle here in Pennsylvania with  candidates for judge and prosecutor alike talking tough and hailing endorsements from law enforcement organizations, who comprise a large well paid and well pensioned cadre of taxpayer financed employees.

The GOP may not go for the teacher union and government employee union support in other sectors, but they go for law enforcement.

In at least one "detention hearing" in the Bunkerville case,  Myhre has gone so far as to associate the accused with real cop killers.   Two people who came and hung out like groupies at Bunkerville ended up in Las Vegas later and they murdered two Las Vegas police officers.

Las Vegas Metropolitan Police and federal law enforcement have been rough and aggressive towards the defendants and the people who show in support to protest at the courthouse.

Speaking of law enforcement and killing, though,  I have to go back to Oregon and LaVoy Finicum.    The FBI fired the first shots that night likely causing the shrapnel wound to Ryan Bundy, who chose to keep it as "evidence" refusing medical treatment at the time.  

( Bundy is now released on home detention in the Bunkerville trial and there was talk of him getting that medical treatment now and getting the shrapnel removed, perhaps to make it evidence at the planned trial of  the FBI agent accused of lying about firing the shots.)

In the end though it was Oregon State Police snipers who were part of the FBI operation called a "felony traffic stop" who gunned down LaVoy.      Many Oregon sheriff's departments supported the operations against the Oregon Standoff protesters and the deadly operation that killed LaVoy Finicum.

The Oregon State Sheriff's Association backed the law enforcement effort fully in response to the statement of one sheriff, Glenn Palmer of Grant County, suggesting a negotiated solution to the protest instead of violence.

The sheriff's association recently got what it asked Washington for when President Trump nominated the temporary US Attorney who was appointed by the Obama Administration, Billy Williams, as the permanent US Attorney in Oregon.  Williams office prosecuted the Oregon Standoff protestors.

And then there's Jerry DeLemus, Marine and political activist from New Hampshire, whose wife was a state legislator and who heads the 9/12 Movement there.   Many politically active people in the GOP there took a stand on behalf of Jerry seeking a pardon from President Trump.

So far what they've gotten as best I estimate is the transfer of DeLemus to the Fort Devens federal prison in Massachusetts  near his home in New Hampshire enabling his wife to visit him with more ease.

A recent arrival to join him at the prison was Anthony Weiner who's serving a 21 to 27 month sentence.  Of course we all know who's getting out first unless someone decides to free Mr. DeLemus from prison.

Dr. Martin Luther King forced the Democrats to choose between their "Sheets" Byrd wing and their desegregation "civil rights" wing in the early 1960's.    One way he tried to do that was by staying behind bars in Albany, Georgia in 1962.

Cliven Bundy has chosen to remain behind bars even though he was offered pre-trial release to "home detention".    Bundy's view is that until the charges are dropped, until he is found not guilty he is not truly free or enjoying liberty.    He's waiting for "liberty and justice for all" to apply in the Bunkerville case.

Are the Republicans on the side of the farmers and ranchers being driven out of business by the Bureau of Land Management and other federal agencies, on the side of the Second Amendment supporters who came out to help the Bundy family at Bunkerville or does the "law and order" side of the GOP come first?

The Republicans in power at the Department of Interior like Secretary Ryan Zinke or Attorney General Jeff Sessions should drop charges against the Bunkerville defendants.   Carol Bundy, Cliven's wife, says they have that power.

President Trump also has the power of pardon to bring liberty and justice to this matter.

The trial resumes again Monday December 11th and we shall see what will happen next.


(UPDATED AND FINALIZED THURSDAY DECEMBER 7TH THROUGH SATURDAY DECEMBER 9TH)

4 comments:

  1. Thank you for Pete news!
    U.S. Constitution on trial
    I hope Bundy sues

    ReplyDelete
  2. Dec 10
    I am unsure where you updated - you dont put new info under ' UPDATE' - but this stands out to me. I'd LOVE to question that friendly sheriff in the next county where they were headed.

    it was Oregon State Police snipers who were part of the FBI operation called a "felony traffic stop" who gunned down LaVoy. Many Oregon sheriff's departments supported the operations against the Oregon Standoff protesters and the deadly operation that killed LaVoy Finicum.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sheriff Glenn Palmer came under attack with a local police chief and the 911 dispatch center director filing complaints against him that were unfounded.

      Sheriff Glenn Palmer of Grant County was re-elected last year. Palmer has kept low and avoided talking to the media since the events of early 2016.

      Where was his backup from all those local members of law enforcement who claim to be "Constitutional" and run as Republican candidates all the time? Palmer stuck his neck out and he had no backup.

      Delete
    2. Palmer - thats the GOOD sheriff. I emailed him in January 2016
      He is hated by an unConstitutional Oregon
      I am happy he was re-elected

      Delete