U.S. judge permanently dismisses Bundy case
LAS VEGAS — A federal judge ruled Monday that the federal government could not retry Cliven Bundy and his sons after rebuking prosecutors for withholding evidence during their felony trial stemming from an armed standoff nearly four years ago.
U.S. District Court Judge Gloria Navarro declared a mistrial in the case last month, saying federal prosecutors willfully withheld evidence that lawyers for the Bundys and alleged coconspirator Ryan Payne should have had access to while mounting their defense. She said the attorneys were in violation of the Brady rule, which requires prosecutors to disclose evidence that could be favorable to a defendant, and told them it wasn’t possible to proceed with the case.
On Monday, she dismissed the case “with prejudice,” meaning the government cannot retry the defendants.
Twice this year, Las Vegas juries acquitted or deadlocked on felony charges against Bundy supporters. Ammon Bundy, 42, and Ryan Bundy, 44, both beat federal felony charges in a case stemming from a 41-day standoff at an Oregon wildlife preserve two years ago.
In the most recent case, the four defendants were charged with threatening a federal officer, carrying and using a firearm and engaging in conspiracy — felony counts that could have sent them to prison for decades.
Despite the mistrial, federal prosecutors argued in a legal brief filed Dec. 29 that they didn’t willfully withhold evidence from the defense.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Myhre wrote in his brief that the government shared 1.5 terabytes of information and noted it was “by far, the largest review and disclosure operation in this (U.S. attorney’s office) history.”