Bunkerville verdict
During a retrial of four men in the 2014 Bunkerville standoff, jurors acquitted two men on all counts while clearing two others of most charges.
Steven Stewart, of Idaho, and Ricky Lovelien, of Montana, were found not guilty of the following:
■ Conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States
■ Conspiracy to impede or injure a federal officer
■ Assault of a federal officer
■ Use and carry of a firearm during and in relation to a crime of violence (three counts)
■ Threatening a federal law enforcement officer
■ Obstruction of the due administration of justice
■ Interfering with interstate commerce by extortion
■ Interstate travel in aid of extortion
Eric Parker and Scott Drexler, both of Idaho, were found not guilty of most charges, but jurors did not reach a decision on all counts. Parker still faces charges of assault of a federal officer and threatening a federal law enforcement officer along with two counts of conspiracy. Drexler faces one count of assault and one count of conspiracy.
could see his 6-month-old grandson for the first time, Leventhal said.
During the second trial, Navarro barred the defense from referencing constitutional rights to freely assemble and bear arms. She also prohibited mention of alleged misconduct or excessive force by law enforcement.
Shortly after the verdict, defense attorneys spoke privately with jurors, who told them they had voted 11-1 in favor of acquittal on all charges.
“This has been a long time coming,” the lawyer told reporters. “We knew it was going to happen eventually. As much as we were shut down to bring anything up, the jury saw through it.”
During closing arguments last week, prosecutors pointed to social media posts in which the four men discussed the activities in the rural Nevada town, about 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas. On a video played for jurors, rancher
Cliven Bundy spoke to a crowd outside his ranch, encouraging his followers to do what they needed to do to retrieve his cattle from the Bureau of Land Management.
Defense attorneys for each of the men opted not to give closing statements.
The defendants, charged as gunmen, were accused of driving from other states to Bunkerville in April 2014 to support Bundy, who is accused of conspiring to thwart the federal government’s roundup of roughly 1,000 cows from public land.
Earlier this year, another jury convicted two other defendants but deadlocked on all counts against the four who were being retried.
Contact David Ferrara at dferrara@reviewjournal. com or 702-380-1039. Follow @randompoker on Twitter. Review-journal writer Blake Apgar contributed to this report.