4 holdouts at OR refuge have diverse backgrounds

Demands by the defense lawyers to release the document immediately were denied by U.S. Magistrate Judge Janice Stewart, who is overseeing the case.

Ammon Bundy and at least 10 of his supporters have been formally indicted, but we don’t know what the charges are because the indictment is sealed.

Authorities arrested 11 people last week on a criminal complaint charging them with felony conspiracy. Barrow also stated that the federal indictment pertains to those arrested alongside the road after the LaVoy Finicum shooting and “others”, possibly others still occupying the OR wildlife center.

Four occupiers remain holed up at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge south of Burns, saying they will not leave without assurances they won’t be arrested.

The indictment claims that in November 2015, “defendants and conspirators” recruited and encouraged other individuals, in person and on social media, “to participate and assist” in the occupation.

It accuses Ammon Bundy, the leader of the monthlong armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge outside Burns, and the other key players of conspiring to prevent employees of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service from working at the refuge, taking over the property armed with firearms and intimidating the people of Harney County. They are David Fry, 27, of Blanchester, Ohio; Jeff Banta, 46, of Elko, Nevada; and Sean Anderson, 48, and Sandy Anderson, 47, a married couple from Riggins, Idaho.

The occupation began January 2, with the group demanding the federal government turn public lands over to local control.

During the preliminary hearings Wednesday, prosecutors are expected to offer evidence to establish probable cause for the arrests. Prosecutors say the group was ready to use violence to hold on to the refuge.

Defense attorneys have said their clients engaged in civil disobedience and are being punished for political speech.

Occupation spokesman Robert “LaVoy” Finicum, 54, was shot and killed by state police after he sped away from the stop, rammed into a snowbank and then emerged from his truck initially with his hands up but then reached twice into the inner pocket of his jacket, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation. This abruptly changed last week when the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Oregon State Police moved to arrest Bundy while he and others were traveling outside the refuge.

Shawna Cox, an occupier, was allowed to go back home to Utah while the charges pending against her worked their way through the justice system.