President pardons two Oregon ranchers

Father, son convicted of arson on public land

SALEM, Ore. — Two imprisoned ranchers who were convicted in 2012 of intentionally setting fires on public land in Oregon will be freed after President Donald Trump pardoned them Tuesday.

The move by Trump raised concerns that others would be encouraged to actively oppose federal control of public land.

The imprisonment of Dwight and Steven Hammond prompted the armed occupation of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon in 2016, led by two sons of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy.

The dozens of armed people who occupied the refuge near the Hammond ranch for 41 days said the Hammonds were victims of federal overreach.

Bundy and his sons Ammon and Ryan faced trial themselves after an armed standoff at their Nevada ranch in 2014 that was sparked by land-grazing fees. A federal judge in January dismissed the charges against them.

Cliven Bundy said he was glad Trump pardoned the Hammonds.

“Finally, an elected official did something,” Bundy said. “He can’t give them back their life.”

The Hammonds were being held at a federal detention center south of Los Angeles. It wasn’t immediately clear when they’d be released.

The Hammond family, well known in eastern Oregon, had been embroiled for years in a legal dispute over several fires that damaged federal property.

Dwight and his son Steven Hammond were convicted of arson and faced a mandatory minimum sentence of five years, mandated by the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996.

U.S. District Judge Michael R. Hogan instead sentenced Dwight Hammond to three months in prison and Steven Hammond to a year and one day. However, in October 2015, a federal appeals court ordered them to be resentenced to the mandatory minimum.

In a statement Tuesday, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders called that decision “unjust.”