Heroes or criminals? Trump pardons 2 Oregon ranchers

SALEM, Ore. (AP) — Rugged individualists to some, dangerous arsonists to others, a father and son who were convicted of intentionally setting fires on public land in Oregon were pardoned Tuesday by President Donald Trump.

The move came years after the convictions of Dwight and Steven Hammond, part of a family in the high desert of eastern Oregon known for its generosity and community contributions.

“Our family is grateful to the president and all who worked to make this possible,” the Hammond family said in a statement.

Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, a well-known figure in the battle over public land, welcomed the pardons, saying the Hammonds were victims of federal overreach.

“Now we’ve finally got a president of the United States who is paying attention to what is going on,” Bundy said.

Jamie Rappaport Clark, president of the group Defenders of Wildlife, countered that the Hammonds were convicted of arson, a serious crime. “Whatever prompted President Trump to pardon them, we hope that it is not seen as an encouragement to those who might use violence to seize federal property and threaten federal employees in the West,” Clark said.

Federal prosecutors painted sinister portraits of the Hammonds at their trial.

Witnesses testified that a 2001 arson fire occurred shortly after Steven Hammond and his hunting party illegally slaughtered deer on federal Bureau of Land Management property. One said Steven Hammond handed out matches with instructions to “light up the whole country,” and another testified that Hammond barely escaped the roaring flames.

The fire burned 139 acres of public land and destroyed all evidence of the game violations, the U.S. attorney’s office said.

The jury also convicted Steven Hammond for a 2006 blaze that prosecutors said began when he started several back fires, violating a burn ban, to save his winter feed after lightning started numerous fires nearby.

The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 called for mandatory five-year sentences for the convictions. But U.S. District Judge Michael R. Hogan said such a lengthy sentence “would not meet any idea I have of justice, proportionality ... it would be a sentence which would shock the conscience to me.”

Hogan instead sentenced Dwight Hammond to three months in prison and Steven Hammond to a year and one day.

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