Ammon Bundy Lawyers Challenge Decision to Keep Him Jailed

“After an exchange of gunfire Tuesday that left one man dead and another injured, the two brothers who orchestrated the armed occupation of a remote central OR wildlife refuge were taken into custody while traveling outside the area, along with six of their followers”. They contend government prosecutors failed to provide “clear and convincing evidence” those steps would not suffice.U.S. Magistrate Judge Stacie Beckerman said last week that Bundy, 40, presents a danger to the community and he might fail to return for future court proceedings.

Four people occupying an OR wildlife refuge held their position Saturday and posted live videos describing their situation and reiterating their demand that they be allowed to leave without being arrested.

Mourners gather Sunday, Jan. 31, 2016, at roadside memorial for rancher LaVoy Finicum near Burns, Oregon.

As of Sunday night, four holdouts were still at the refuge, in spite of requests from the group’s arrested leader Ammon Bundy that they “stand down”. Cliven Bundy sent a notice to the Harney County Sheriff to remove all federal and state policing agents out of Harney County. Ammon Bundy will be back in court Tuesday.

The remaining occupiers say they want to be allowed to leave without facing arrest.

Controversial cattle rancher Cliven Bundy is preparing to lead a fight against the government again.

But the anti-government group appears resurgent after the arrest of 11 members and the death of a 12th.

At the same time, locals tired of the 30-day-old occupation countered with calls for the protesters to “go home”, as shown in video posted online by KOIN-TV and the Twitter account Occupied Burns. They connected Finicum’s death and the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge to their local struggles to open up federal forests for logging. Police then say Finicum reached into his jacket pocket and that’s when they shot him. The county has in fact been in an economic tailspin for decades, one of the biggest blows the closing of a lumber mill many blame on what they say are overly restrictive policies by the U.S. Forest Service.

All face a felony conspiracy charge of using intimidation to prevent federal employees from their work at the refuge.

The four occupiers still holed up at the refuge headquarters – identified by the Oregonian as Sandy and Sean Anderson, Jeff Banta and David Fry – have been negotiating their surrender with Federal Bureau of Investigation officials.

Speaking through his lawyer after his first court appearance last week, Ammon issued a statement that said: “To those who remain at the refuge, I love you”. Both said police were shooting at them before they plowed into the snowbank.

“Somebody has to stand up, and it happened to be my sons that stood, and they will stand. They’re not gonna’ give up”, Cliven Bundy told 8 News NOW on January 19.

The militants, calling themselves Citizens for Constitutional Freedom, came to the frozen high desert of eastern OR to decry what they call onerous federal land restrictions and to object to the prison sentences of two local ranchers convicted of setting fires.