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Title: Militia members occupy US building in Oregon after protest
Source: MSM
URL Source: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/mi ... est/ar-BBo6RvQ?ocid=spartandhp
Published: Jan 3, 2016
Author: staff
Post Date: 2016-01-03 10:50:59 by buckeroo
Keywords: None
Views: 1462
Comments: 16

BURNS, Ore. (AP) — A protest in support of Oregon ranchers facing jail time for arson was followed by an occupation of a building at a national wildlife refuge led by members of a family previously involved in a showdown with the federal government.

Ammon Bundy — the son of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, who was involved in a standoff with the government over grazing rights — told The Oregonian on Saturday that he and two of his brothers were among a group of dozens of people occupying the headquarters of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

Ammon Bundy posted a video on his Facebook page asking for militia members to come help him. He said "this is not a time to stand down. It's a time to stand up and come to Harney County," where Burns is located. Below the video is this statement: "(asterisk)(asterisk)ALL PATRIOTS ITS TIME TO STAND UP NOT STAND DOWN!!! WE NEED YOUR HELP!!! COME PREPARED."

In an interview with reporters late Saturday night that was posted on Facebook, Bundy said he and others are occupying the building because "the people have been abused long enough."

"I feel we are in a situation where if we do not do something, if we do not take a hard stand, we'll be in a position where we'll be no longer able to do so," he said.

Bundy said the group planned to stay at the refuge indefinitely. "We're planning on staying here for years, absolutely," Ammon Bundy said. "This is not a decision we've made at the last minute."

Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward told people to stay away from the building as authorities work to defuse the situation, the Oregonian reported (http://is.gd/bK7d4E).

"A collective effort from multiple agencies is currently working on a solution. For the time being please stay away from that area. More information will be provided as it becomes available. Please maintain a peaceful and united front and allow us to work through this situation," Ward said in a statement.

An Idaho militia leader who helped organize the earlier march said he knew nothing about activities after a parade of militia members and local residents in Burns walked past the sheriff's office and the home of Dwight Hammond Jr. and his son Steven.

Ammon Bundy's father, Cliven Bundy, told Oregon Public Broadcasting on Saturday night that he had nothing to do with the takeover of the building.

Bundy said his son felt obligated to intervene on behalf of the Hammonds.

"That's not exactly what I thought should happen, but I didn't know what to do," he said. "You know, if the Hammonds wouldn't stand, if the sheriff didn't stand, then, you know, the people had to do something. And I guess this is what they did decide to do. I wasn't in on that."

His son Ammon told him they are committed to staying in the building, Cliven Bundy told Oregon Public Broadcasting.

"He told me that they were there for the long run. I guess they figured they're going to be there for whatever time it takes_and I don't know what that means," Cliven Bundy said. "I asked him, 'Well how long can ya, how long you going to stand out there?' He just told me it was for long term."

Beth Anne Steele, an FBI spokeswoman in Portland, told The Associated Press the agency was aware of the situation at the national wildlife refuge. She made no further comment.

Some local residents feared the Saturday rally would involve more than speeches, flags and marching. But the only real additions to that list seemed to be songs, flowers and pennies.

As marchers reached the courthouse, they tossed hundreds of pennies at the locked door. Their message: civilians were buying back their government. After the march passed, two girls swooped in to scavenge the pennies.

A few blocks away, Hammond and his wife, Susan, greeted marchers, who planted flower bouquets in the snow. They sang some songs, Hammond said a few words, and the protesters marched back to their cars.

Dwight Hammond has said he and his son plan to peacefully report to prison Jan. 4 as ordered by the judge.

Dwight Hammond, 73, and Steven Hammond, 46, said they lit the fires in 2001 and 2006 to reduce the growth of invasive plants and protect their property from wildfires.

The two were convicted of the arsons three years ago and served time — the father three months, the son one year. But a judge ruled their terms were too short under federal law and ordered them back to prison for about four years each.

The decision has generated controversy in a remote part of the state.

In particular, the Hammonds' new sentences touched a nerve with far right groups who repudiate federal authority.

Ammon Bundy and a handful of militiamen from other states arrived last month in Burns, some 60 miles from the Hammond ranch.

In an email to supporters, Ammon Bundy criticized the U.S. government for a failed legal process.


How is it possible for a court to issue punishment and that punishmnet is fulfilled and then issue another punishment without any reason for the same charge.

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#1. To: buckeroo (#0) (Edited)

How is it possible for a court to issue punishment and that punishmnet is fulfilled and then issue another punishment without any reason for the same charge.

I wondered the same but realized that if they originally got three years on a charge but had been charged as terrorists, the prosecutors could have spent the three years appealing the ruling on the sentence and the validity of the terrorism charge to higher courts who kept stalling. So the three years pass, the father and son get out of prison on the original charge but some judge finds that the terrorism charge was justified and reinstated it and, since the terrorism charge has an automatic five- year minimum sentence, they would have to return to prison.

It's a perverse result. Our constipated court system operates way too slowly from top to bottom. It's disgraceful but profitable for the lawyers.

It sounds like Ammon Bundy has gone full John Brown at the wildlife center.

Another Waco or Ruby Ridge in the making?

Tooconservative  posted on  2016-01-03   10:58:12 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#2. To: buckeroo (#0)


Ammon Bundy schedules 11 am PST news conference to explain the occupation of federal wildlife refuge in Oregon - @LesZaitz


The D&R terrorists hate us because we're free, to vote second party
"We (government) need to do a lot less, a lot sooner" ~Ron Paul

Hondo68  posted on  2016-01-03   13:05:52 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#3. To: TooConservative (#1)

It sounds like Ammon Bundy has gone full John Brown at the wildlife center.

Ammon Bundy is a domestic terrorist and should be hunted down like Osama bin Laden.

Willie Green  posted on  2016-01-03   13:16:49 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#4. To: Willie Green (#3)

Ammon Bundy is a domestic terrorist and should be hunted down like Osama bin Laden.

He's kind of a crackpot and probably poses no danger at present. He isn't going anywhere.

He'll probably end up in prison now. Or dead.

Tooconservative  posted on  2016-01-03   13:29:49 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#5. To: TooConservative (#1)

Another Waco or Ruby Ridge in the making?

Most Americans have realized the USA is living a nitemare with an unrestrained police state acting under the colour of law. I think you agree, too. So your point, "It's a perverse result. Our constipated court system operates way too slowly from top to bottom. It's disgraceful but profitable for the lawyers" is a good one to claim.

It is unreasonable that a fine or penelty that has been applied and completed by the defendents can be later upgraded to a more stringent punishment for the same "crime." I want to point out, that the charge of "arson" was unfair to begin with.

The Hammonds should have used the jurisrudence system for years to defend themselves, if at all possible. Here is the caveat: the jurisprudence system is so damned expensive, it doesn't protect the little guy.

buckeroo  posted on  2016-01-03   13:35:24 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#6. To: Willie Green (#3)

Ammon Bundy is a domestic terrorist and should be hunted down like Osama bin Laden.

As always, you are out of your fuckin' mind.

buckeroo  posted on  2016-01-03   13:36:21 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#7. To: buckeroo (#0) (Edited)

Interesting take on the situation from Travis McGee (Matt Bracken) over at Free Republic

'Bring your guns and come': Militiamen including Cliven Bundy's three sons take over

Mike Vanderboegh at Sipsey Street Irregulars has the correct take on this, IMHO.

Perfect timing for the regime. Federal provocateurs, sociopaths and idiots with a John Brown complex are writing checks that they expect the rest of us to cash in our blood.

I was first apprised of this a few minutes ago by folks on the ground out in Oregon. They report that Payne, Ritzheimer and every other “tiger-talking” fruit, nut and federal provocateur previously identified from the Bundy standoff were now in possession of the building and daring the Feds to do anything about it.

My initial reaction was to observe that at least afterward we’ll know who the federal snitches are because they will be the only ones who survive the raid to take back the building. My understanding is that this premeditated action has been condemned by the Oregon Three Percenters and other groups but the fact of the matter is that these people are writing checks that they expect the rest of us to cash in our blood. And the Hammonds themselves are disavowing this action in the strongest terms.

For the regime, this could not come at a better time. The old Roman adage “cui bono” applies here. There is nothing on the talking heads channels as yet, but by Monday, when Obama meets with his Attorney General on the subject of citizen disarmament, you can bet the farm that this will play right into that narrative. Perfect timing. You’ve got to give the federal handlers of these pukes credit. This is precisely the sort of offensive action on the part of the “militia terrorists” that they needed.

A Threeper source on the ground relates:

“The stupid has gone so far that I don’t know if it can come back. These f-cking morons have no idea what they’ve done. The sheriff has retreated to a ‘staging area’. These guys are about to get obliterated. MSM just picked it up outside local area. It’s now regional (San Fran etc.)”

LATER: Another source says that the Feds are staging, bringing in various SRTs. This is just beginning.

I’ll have updates as I get them, but for now it looks like 2016 is going to start out with a huge propaganda victory for the regime.

http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com/2016/01/perfect-timing-for-regime-federal.html

My take: A federal provocateur is leading a band of lunatics, trying to nudge them into a situation where one of the loons will snipe a LEO or FLEA. Then the MSM will brand every patriot, RKBA advocate, threeper etc as a “militia murderer.” Please don’t fall for this transparent charade. Don’t be a fool or a patsy. Don’t be “Jimmy Shifflett” in this dangerous game.

The back channel chatter I am hearing indicates that this operation is intended to become Obama’s ‘Enemies Foreign And Domestic” moment. Instead of a contrived stadium massacre by a “militia nut” patsy, it is going to be a battle royale by “militia murderers” against the heroic LEOs and FLEAs. This is intended to result in dead LEOs and FLEAs, leading to draconian anti-RKBA executive orders by Obama. Please, folks, don’t be a fracking MORON. Don’t be JIMMY SHIFFLETT. Don’t be a TOOL for Obama and his gun grabbing plans.

“Truth is treason in the empire of lies.” - Ron Paul

In a Cop Culture, the Bill of Rights Doesn’t Amount to Much

Americans who have no experience with, or knowledge of, tyranny believe that only terrorists will experience the unchecked power of the state. They will believe this until it happens to them, or their children, or their friends.
Paul Craig Roberts

Deckard  posted on  2016-01-03   13:41:42 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#8. To: hondo68 (#2)

Ammon Bundy schedules 11 am PST news conference to explain the occupation of federal wildlife refuge in Oregon - @LesZaitz

As this issue unfolds, please ensure ample capability for LF to tune in on new data. I want to thank you for your earlier report. It shows a problem with the state and federal governments.

buckeroo  posted on  2016-01-03   13:49:35 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#9. To: Deckard (#7) (Edited)

I have a lot of problems with Matt (Travis Mcgee). At tymes, he is a self-aggrandizing idiot trying to make issues out of thin aire; he is a mere self promoted eBOOK author based on his own dime using a laptop computer. BFD!

buckeroo  posted on  2016-01-03   13:57:32 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#10. To: buckeroo (#8)

Maybe Ammon will announce a challenge to Donald Trump for the GOP nomination?


The D&R terrorists hate us because we're free, to vote second party
"We (government) need to do a lot less, a lot sooner" ~Ron Paul

Hondo68  posted on  2016-01-03   13:59:15 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#11. To: buckeroo (#5)

The Hammonds should have used the jurisrudence system for years to defend themselves, if at all possible.

I'm sure they had lawyers representing them at each successive court. Admittedly, they were at a disadvantage, given the resources and influence of federal prosecutors and the doormat-like quality of most federal judges.

I do agree that the arson charge is questionable and there is no intent to commit terrorism. This second terrorism charge simply can't be justified as anything other than prosecutors run amok and federal judges failing to rein them in.

Tooconservative  posted on  2016-01-03   14:00:35 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#12. To: Deckard (#7)

idiots with a John Brown complex

I see that Travis beat me to the obvious John Brown comparison by a few hours.     : )

Tooconservative  posted on  2016-01-03   14:03:36 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#13. To: hondo68 (#10) (Edited)

Your resource (Les Zaitz) is a an excellent website: http://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2016/01/militia_continue_occupation_of.html#incart_most-commented_pacific-northwest-news_article

buckeroo  posted on  2016-01-03   14:16:42 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#14. To: Deckard (#7)

Interesting take on the situation from Travis McGee (Matt Bracken) over at Free Republic

From RationalWiki.org:

Matthew Bracken is a patriot from the Free Republic forums and former Navy SEAL who has written several self published novels.
  • Enemies Foreign and Domestic
  • Domestic Enemies: The Reconquista
  • Foreign Enemies and Traitors

Bracken's novels are part of a recent glut of self-published apocalypse fiction incorporating libertarian, populist, survivalist, xenophobic and ultra-conservative themes and rhetoric. Bracken is strictly a conservative, although due to the genre he is writing in his books are unfortunately read by the same people who eagerly devour the obscure novels by John Ross, Neo Andersen, Boston T. Party, David Crawford and James Wesley Rawles. The typical reader of this sort of fiction is someone with libertarian leanings who doesn't entirely "get" libertarianism (especially its non-violent aspects, its liberal positions on social issues, and its wonky roots in Austrian economic theory), and conflates it on several points with militarism, nationalism and nativism.

In short, Mr. Bracken can be called the lobotomized racist's attempt to mimic Tom Clancy. He knows his audience and knows how to push all their patriotic, flag waving, paranoid, anti-Mexican, anti-Muslim, nationalist, violence-fetishist buttons. A key piece of evidence is in those dumb book titles. "Enemies", "foreign" and "traitors" are spat out as epithets and the order simply rearranged for each new book.

On the positive side, at least Bracken's novels give these people something to read other than The Turner Diaries, and giving someone one less reason to read The Turner Diaries is probably doing society a favor, however small.
ROTFLMAO!

Willie Green  posted on  2016-01-03   14:57:18 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#15. To: Willie Green (#14)

Deckard thinks that Free Republic is a credible source? Amazing.

Roscoe  posted on  2016-01-03   15:18:24 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


#16. To: hondo68 (#10)

I found some background data that might interst you:

HISTORY: (aa) The Harney Basin (were the Hammond ranch is established) was settled in the 1870’s. The valley was settled by multiple ranchers and was known to have run over 300,000 head of cattle. These ranchers developed a state of the art irrigated system to water the meadows, and it soon became a favorite stopping place for migrating birds on their annual trek north.

(ab) In 1908 President Theodor Roosevelt, in a political scheme, create an “Indian reservation” around the Malheur, Mud & Harney Lakes and declared it “as a preserve and breeding ground for native birds”. Later this “Indian reservation” (without Indians) became the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

(a) In 1964 the Hammonds purchased their ranch in the Harney Basin. The purchase included approximately 6000 acres of private property, 4 grazing rights on public land, a small ranch house and 3 water rights. The ranch is around 53 miles South of Burns, Oregon.

(a1) By the 1970’s nearly all the ranches adjacent to the Blitzen Valley were purchased by the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and added to the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge covers over 187,000 acres and stretches over 45 miles long and 37 miles wide. The expansion of the refuge grew and surrounds to the Hammond’s ranch. Being approached many times by the FWS, the Hammonds refused to sell. Other ranchers also choose not to sell.

(a2) During the 1970’s the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), in conjunction with the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), took a different approach to get the ranchers to sell. Ranchers were told that, “grazing was detrimental to wildlife and must be reduced”. 32 out of 53 permits were revoked and many ranchers were forced to leave. Grazing fees were raised significantly for those who were allowed to remain. Refuge personnel took over the irrigation system claiming it as their own.

(a3) By 1980 a conflict was well on its way over water allocations on the adjacent privately owned Silvies Plain. The FWS wanted to acquire the ranch lands on the Silvies Plain to add to their already vast holdings. Refuge personnel intentional diverted the water to bypassing the vast meadowlands, directing the water into the rising Malheur Lakes. Within a few short years the surface area of the lakes doubled. Thirty-one ranches on the Silvies plains were flooded. Homes, corrals, barns and graze-land were washed a way and destroyed. The ranchers that once fought to keep the FWS from taking their land, now broke and destroyed, begged the FWS to acquire their useless ranches. In 1989 the waters began to recede and now the once thriving privately owned Silvies pains are a proud part of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge claimed by the FWS.

(a4) By the 1990’s the Hammonds were one of the very few ranchers that still owned private property adjacent to the refuge. Susie Hammond in an effort to make sense of what was going on began compiling fact about the refuge. In a hidden public record she found a study that was done by the FWS in 1975. The study showed that the “no use” policies of the FWS on the refuge were causing the wildlife to leave the refuge and move to private property. The study showed that the private property adjacent to the Malheur Wildlife Refuge produced 4 times more ducks and geese than the refuge did. It also showed that the migrating birds were 13 times more likely to land on private property than on the refuge. When Susie brought this to the attention of the FWS and refuge personnel, her and her family became the subjects of a long train of abuses and corruptions.

(b) In the early 1990’s the Hammonds filed on a livestock water source and obtained a deed for the water right from the State of Oregon. When the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) found out that the Hammonds obtained new water rights near the Malhuer Wildlife Refuge, they were agitated and became belligerent and vindictive towards the Hammonds. The US Fish and Wildlife Service challenged the Hammonds right to the water in an Oregon State Circuit Court. The court found that the Hammonds legally obtained rights to the water in accordance to State law and therefore the use of the water belongs to the Hammonds.*

(c) In August 1994 the BLM & FWS illegally began building a fence around the Hammonds water source. Owning the water rights and knowing that their cattle relied on that water source daily the Hammonds tried to stop the building of the fence. The BLM & FWS called the Harney County Sheriff department and had Dwight Hammond (Father) arrested and charged with “disturbing and interfering with” federal officials or federal contractors (two counts, each a felony). He spent one night in the Deschutes County Jail in Bend, and a second night behind bars in Portland before he was hauled before a federal magistrate and released without bail. A hearing on the charges was postponed and the federal judge never set another date.

(d) The FWS also began restricting access to upper pieces of the Hammond’s private property. In order to get to the upper part of the Hammond’s ranch they had to go on a road that went through the Malhuer Wildlife Refuge. The FWS began barricading the road and threatening the Hammonds if they drove through it. The Hammonds removed the barricades and gates and continued to use their right of access. The road was proven later to be owned by the County of Harney. This further enraged the BLM & FWS.

(e) Shortly after the road & water disputes, the BLM & FWS arbitrarily revoked the Hammond’s upper grazing permit without any given cause, court proceeding or court ruling. As a traditional “fence out state” Oregon requires no obligation on the part of an owner to keep his or her livestock within a fence or to maintain control over the movement of the livestock. The Hammonds intended to still use their private property for grazing. However, they were informed that a federal judge ruled, in a federal court, that the federal government did not have to observe the Oregon fence out law. “Those laws are for the people, not for them”.

(f) The Hammonds were forced to either build and maintain miles of fences or be restricted from the use of their private property. Cutting their ranch in almost half, they could not afford to fence the land, so the cattle were removed.

(g) The Hammonds experienced many years of financial hardship due to the ranch being diminished. The Hammonds had to sale their ranch and home in order to purchase another property that had enough grass to feed their cattle. This property included two grazing rights on public land. Those were also arbitrarily revoked later.

(h) The owner of the Hammond’s original ranch passed away from a heart attack and the Hammonds made a trade for the ranch back.

(i) In the early fall of 2001, Steven Hammond (Son) called the fire department, informing them that he was going to be performing a routine prescribed burn on their ranch. Later that day he started a prescribed fire on their private property. The fire went onto public land and burned 127 acres of grass. The Hammonds put the fire out themselves. There was no communication about the burn from the federal government to the Hammonds at that time. Prescribed fires are a common method that Native Americans and ranchers have used in the area to increase the health & productivity of the land for many centuries.

(j) In 2006 a massive lightning storm started multiple fires that joined together inflaming the countryside. To prevent the fire from destroying their winter range and possibly their home, Steven Hammond (Son) started a backfire on their private property. The backfire was successful in putting out the lightning fires that had covered thousands of acres within a short period of time. The backfire saved much of the range and vegetation needed to feed the cattle through the winter. Steven’s mother, Susan Hammond said: “The backfire worked perfectly, it put out the fire, saved the range and possibly our home”.

(j1) The next day federal agents went to the Harney County Sheriff’s office and filled a police report making accusation against Dwight and Steven Hammond for starting the backfire. A few days after the backfire a Range-Con from the Burns District BLM office asked Steven if he would meet him in town (Frenchglen) for coffee. Steven accepted. When leaving he was arrested by the Harney County Sheriff Dave Glerup and BLM Ranger Orr. Sheriff Glerup then ordered him to go to the ranch and bring back his father. Both Dwight and Steven were booked and on multiple Oregon State charges. The Harney County District Attorney reviewed the accusation, evidence and charges, and determined that the accusations against Dwight & Steven Hammond did not warrant prosecution and dropped all the charges.

(k) In 2011, 5 years after the police report was taken, the U.S. Attorney Office accused Dwight and Steven Hammond of completely different charges, they accused them of being “Terrorist” under the Federal Antiterrorism Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996. This act carries a minimum sentence of five years in prison and a maximum sentence of death. Dwight & Steven’s mug shots were all over the news the next week posing them as “Arsonists”. Susan Hammond (Wife & Mother) said: “I would walk down the street or go in a store, people I had known for years would take extreme measures to avoid me”.

(l) Shortly after the sentencing, Capital Press ran a story about the Hammonds. A person who identified as Greg Allum posted three comments on the article, calling the ranchers “clowns” who endangered firefighters and other people in the area while burning valuable rangeland. Greg Allum, a retired BLM heavy equipment operator, soon called Capital Press to complain that he had not made those comments and request that they be taken down from the website. Capital Press removed the comments. A search of the Internet Protocol address associated with the comments revealed it is owned by the BLM’s office in Denver, Colorado. Allum said, he is friends with the Hammonds and was alerted to the comments by neighbors who knew he wouldn’t have written them. “I feel bad for them. They lost a lot and they’re going to lose more,” Allum said of the ranchers. “They’re not terrorists. There’s this hatred in the BLM for them, and I don’t get it,” The retired BLM employee said. Jody Weil, deputy state director for communications at BLM’s Oregon office, indicated to reporters that if one of their agents falsified the comments, they would keep it private and not inform the public.

(m) In September 2006, Dwight & Susan Hammond’s home was raided. The agents informed the Hammonds that they were looking for evidence that would connect them to the fires. The Hammonds later found out that a boot print and a tire tracks were found near one of the many fires. No matching boots or tires were found in the Hammonds home or on their property. Susan Hammond (Wife) later said; ” I have never felt so violated in my life. We are ranchers not criminals”. Steven Hammond openly maintains his testimony that he started the backfire to save the winter grass from being destroyed and that the backfire ended up working so well it put out the fire entirely altogether.

(n) During the trial proceedings, Federal Court Judge Michael Hogan did not allow time for certain testimonies and evidence into the trail that would exonerate the Hammonds. Federal prosecuting attorney, Frank Papagni, was given full access for 6 days. He had ample time to use any evidence or testimony that strengthened the demonization of the Hammonds. The Hammonds attorney was only allowed 1 day. Much of the facts about the fires, land and why the Hammonds acted the way they did was not allowed into the proceedings and was not heard by the jury. For example, Judge Hogan did not allow time for the jury to hear or review certified scientific findings that the fires improved the health and productivity of the land. Or, that the Hammonds had been subject to vindictive behavior by multiple federal agencies for years.

(o) Federal attorneys, Frank Papagni, hunted down a witness that was not mentally capable to be a credible witness. Dusty Hammond (grandson and nephew) testified that Steven told him to start a fire. He was 13 at the time and 24 when he testified (11 years later). At 24 Dusty had been suffering with mental problems for many years. He had estranged his family including his mother. Judge Hogan noted that Dusty’s memories as a 13-year-old boy were not clear or credible. He allowed the prosecution to continually use Dusty’s testimony anyway. When speaking to the Hammonds about this testimony, they understood that Dusty was manipulated and expressed nothing but love for their troubled grandson.

(p) Judge Michael Hogan & Frank Papagni tampered with the jury many times throughout the proceedings, including during the selection process. Hogan & Papagni only allowed people on the jury who did not understand the customs and culture of the ranchers or how the land is used and cared for in the Diamond Valley. All of the jurors had to drive back and forth to Pendleton everyday. Some drove more than two hours each way. By day 8 they were exhausted and expressed desires to be home.

On the final day, Judge Hogan kept pushing them to make a verdict. Several times during deliberation, Judge Hogan pushed them to make a decision. Judge Hogan also would not allow the jury to hear what punishment could be imposed upon an individual that has convicted as a terrorist under the 1996 act. The jury, not understanding the customs and cultures of the area, influenced by the prosecutors for 6 straight days, very exhausted, pushed for a verdict by the judge, unaware of the ramification of convicting someone as a terrorist, made a verdict and went home.

(q) June 22, 2012, Dwight and Steven were found guilty of starting both the 2001 and the 2006 fires by the jury. However, the federal courts convicted them both as “Terrorist” under the 1996 Antiterrorism Act. Judge Hogan sentenced Dwight (Father) to 3 months in prison and Steven (son) to 12 months in federal prison. They were also stipulated to pay $400,000 to the BLM. Hogan overruling the minimum terrorist sentence, commenting that if the full five years were required it would be a violation of the 8th amendment (cruel and unusual punishment). The day of the sentencing Judge Hogan retired as a federal judge. In his honor the staff served chocolate cake in the courtroom.

(r) On January 4,, 2013, Dwight and Steven reported to prison. They fulfilled their sentences, (Dwight 3 months, Steven 12 months). Dwight was released in March 2013 and Steven, January 2014.

(s) Sometime in June 2014, Rhonda Karges, Field Manager for the BLM, and her husband Chad Karges, Refuge Manager for the Malheur Wildlife Refuge (which surrounds the Hammond ranch), along with attorney Frank Papagni exemplifying further vindictive behavior by filing an appeal with the 9th District Federal Court seeking Dwight’s and Steven’s return to federal prison for the entire 5 years.*

(t) In October 2015, the 9th District Court “resentenced” Dwight and Steven, requiring them to return to prison for several more years. Steven (46) has a wife and 3 children. Dwight (74) will leave Susan (74) to be alone after 55 years of marriage. If he survives, he will be 79 when he is released.

(u) During the court preceding the Hammonds were forced to grant the BLM first right of refusal. If the Hammonds ever sold their ranch they would have to sell it to the BLM.

(v) Dwight and Steven are ordered to report to federal prison again on January 4th, 2016 to begin their re-sentencing. Both their wives will have to manage the ranch for several years without them.

buckeroo  posted on  2016-01-03   16:34:26 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply  


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