As they prepare for a second trial of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge occupiers, prosecutors want the court to reconsider and let refuge employees and Harney County residents testify about the community alarm at the armed seizure.
Defendants, in turn, want the court to allow them to use the principle of adverse possession — staking claim to a property as their own — as a defense to the new misdemeanor trespass charge they face.
The defendants also will ask a judge to restrict prosecutors from bringing dozens of guns into the courtroom during trial if they haven’t been traced specifically to the defendants charged, according to court documents filed this week.
Seven defendants are set for trial Feb. 14. Occupation leader Ammon Bundy, brother Ryan Bundy and five others were acquitted Oct. 27 of federal conspiracy, weapons and other charges in the 41-day occupation of the federal wildlife refuge in southeastern Oregon.
Both prosecutors and defense lawyers clearly have closely examined what was allowed — and wasn’t allowed — as evidence during the first trial and are working on their strategies before the second trial starts.
These defendants face additional misdemeanor charges, including trespass, tampering with government vehicles or equipment, and destruction or removal of government property, as well as the felony charge of conspiring to impede federal employees from doing their job at the refuge through force, intimidation or threats. Six of the seven also are charged with the felony of possessing a firearm in a federal facility.
The defendants on trial next month are Jason Patrick of Bonaire, Georgia; Duane Leo Ehmer of Irrigon; Dylan Anderson of Provo, Utah; Sean Anderson and his wife, Sandra Lynn Anderson, of Riggins, Idaho; Darryl W. Thorn of Marysville, Washington; and Jake Ryan of Plains, Montana.
Legal experts say prosecutors were hampered during the first trial because of the court ruling that the “subjective fears” of refuge employees and local residents were “irrelevant” and couldn’t be shared with jurors.
As a result, refuge employees offered dry testimony about disorganized files and the mess they found when they returned to their offices after the occupation ended.
“The government will seek to revisit this issue with additional case law to support the relevant of this evidence to defendants’ intent,” according to a joint status report filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Portland.
Further pretrial motions are anticipated.
