Jury delivers shocking verdict in trial of Oregon siege militants
Portland — A federal court jury on Thursday acquitted anti-government militant leader Ammon Bundy and six followers of conspiracy charges stemming from their role in the armed takeover of a US wildlife centre in Oregon earlier this year. The surprise verdict was a stinging defeat for federal prosecutors and law enforcement in a trial the defendants sought to turn into a forum for their cause — opposition to US government control over millions of acres of public lands in the west. Bundy and others, including his brother and co-defendant Ryan Bundy, cast the 41-day occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge as a legitimate and patriotic act of civil disobedience. Prosecutors called it a lawless scheme to seize federal property by force. In an emotional climax to the seven-week-long trial in the US District Court in Portland, Ammon Bundy’s lawyer, Marcus Mumford, was tackled to the floor by US marshals as he became involved in a heated verbal exchange with the judge over the te...
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