John R. Houk
© December 16, 2017
The current practices of federal
agencies provide a few clues. Although the only body authorized under the
Constitution to buy or sell land for government purposes is Congress, the
Bureau of Land Management (BLM) and other federal agencies like the Forest
Service have for several decades deprived private property owners of their land
(and cattle) at below
market prices. The land is then leased back to its owners
for a
yearly fee. Land that predates
the BLM is simply confiscated by way of litigation
[i].
In one such case, a rancher named
Wally Klump contested the BLM's rights to his land owing to the fact that his
ranch
predated the BLM by one
hundred years. When Klump refused to move, he was held in contempt and sent to
federal prison. The result should come as no shock, since internal BLM
documents reveal that humans are viewed as a
"biological resource" for the purposes of "ecosystem management
activities." (
'Sustainable' Poverty: The Real Face of the
Leftist Environmental Agenda; By
John Griffing; American
Thinker; 8/25/10)
Exposing a latent Marxism and Crony Capitalism inherent in
the BLM goes a long way to explaining rancher hostility to this Federal
Agency’s despotism toward private ownership and traditional grazing rights is
so important.
The Bundy family organized a rancher stand-off against the
BLM despotism which was aided none other than by the FBI (
currently embroiled in Leftist cover-ups
of Obama Administration probable crimes). Unsurprisingly, the Dems and
Obama Justice Department have used the full resources of the Federal government
to eradicate the Bundy family no doubt to make an example to other ranchers
resisting BLM despotism.
The Obama DOJ faced a couple of problems.
First in the Bundy led Oregon stand-off trials, all the big
dog defendants were acquitted by a jury with only minor convictions of other
defendants. Immediately after Bundy exonerations in Oregon, the Feds arrested
the Bundys and other rancher allies over their Bunkerville stand-off to protect
the family cattle from BLM confiscation and slaughter because the Bundys
refused to pay exorbitant grazing fees. The fee disagreement was an already
much used BLM despotic tactic to force ranchers to conform to environmental and
crony Capitalist rules and regulations.
The second problem for the Obama DOJ led persecution of the
Bundys and their allies is that juries were acquitting minor participants,
having hung juries or convictions again on minor (yet unfair) obstruction of
justice violations.
And third, the Obama DOJ lost their
Kemosabe ally in
Obama’s Administration ending in January 2017 and the expected Leftist
successor (Crooked Hillary) lost the November 2016 election.
For the Bundys, point three might be the most important. Obama
originally set-up
Daniel Bogden as the Federal
Attorney General in Nevada.
Bogden experienced some swamp draining
by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions. BHO appointed Bogden in 2009. Apparently
Bogden’s replacement Acting U.S. Attorney
Steven Myhre is a part of the Bogden-Swamp.
Federal Judge
Gloria Navarro (
an Obama Appointee) along
with the rest of the prosecution swamp have
lost their Leftist political lifeline. This can be seen when Whistleblowers
don’t fear Obamunist political reprisals.
Perhaps such is the case of Whistleblower BLM Investigator Larry
Wooten. Wooten had put together an 18-page memo that explains how “
the government employees engaged in a host
of policy, ethical and legal violations” against the Bundy
family before and during the Bunkerville stand-off in Nevada. The Bundy Defense
Attorneys just recently saw this exculpatory evidence held back by the
Prosecution. This sent the Obama
appointed Federal Judge Gloria Navarro into enough of a tizzy that she
sent the Jury home until she fully examined the memo.
I am willing to bet you have not read or heard a lick of
this prosecutorial crisis from the Mainstream Media (MSM). Sadly, neither I
have I run into any coverage by the still better disseminating Fox News
channel.
I enjoy reading Brown articles, yet I am certain Leftist too
often dismiss him as a Far-Right Conspiracy Theorist. BUT SURPRISE dear
Leftists, I have a couple of journalists from the
Las Vegas Review-Journal
and
OregonLive.com. I am cross posting both even most of the info is
repeated in both, there are tidbit differences that worth getting the full
story. (
azcentral.com has a decent post as well, but I find their
website a bit difficult to scroll through: “
Federal agent alleges U.S. misconduct,
cover-up in Bundy Ranch trial”.)
JRH 12/16/17
***********************
Memo alleges government
misconduct in Bunkerville standoff case
By Rachel Crosby
December 15, 2017 7:42 pm
The possibility of a mistrial in the Bunkerville standoff
case was amplified this month after defense attorneys received a scathing memo
outlining sweeping allegations of misconduct by federal investigators and
prosecutors.
According to the 18-page memo, obtained late Thursday by the
Las Vegas Review-Journal but first viewed last week by defense lawyers, the
government employees engaged in a host of policy, ethical and legal violations.
The document, dated Nov. 27, was penned by Bureau of Land
Management investigator Larry Wooten, who had been tasked with assessing how
the agency handled the 2014 armed standoff at Cliven Bundy’s ranch in
Bunkerville. Wooten previously testified before the federal grand jury that
returned indictments against the Bundys.
In his whistleblowing memo, which Wooten sent directly to
the U.S. Department of Justice as a “last resort,” the investigator described
pervasive misconduct by his fellow investigators, saying it reminded him of
middle school. He argued that the behavior was so common and inappropriate that
it could be “considered exculpatory and subject to trial discovery.”
Prosecutors handed over the memo last week, prompting
defense lawyers to file a motion early Monday to dismiss the case, which
already had been delayed a week over concerns that prosecutors
were not sharing
evidence with the defense in a timely manner. The memo is sealed
and not part of the public court record.
Wooten said he repeatedly tried to report the allegations to
his supervisors, who largely dismissed his observations. In February, Wooten
was removed from the investigation after complaining to the U.S. attorney’s
office in Nevada, according to the memo.
In reference to the ongoing Bundy case, Wooten said
investigators openly referred to the Bundys and their supporters using several
different profanities and sexually inappropriate terms. In an office
presentation, Wooten’s supervisor also included altered and degrading photos of
the defendants, according to the memo.
‘Clear prejudice’
Wooten went on to accuse agency officers of bragging about
roughing up Dave Bundy, one of Cliven’s sons, in April 2014, citing comments
about the officers grinding Dave Bundy’s face into the ground so much so that
Dave Bundy had “little bits of gravel stuck in his face,” Wooten said.
“The misconduct caused considerable disruption in our
workplace, was discriminatory, harassing and showed clear prejudice against the
defendants, their supporters and Mormons,” Wooten wrote, later adding that, on
two occasions, his supervisor asked him, “You’re not a Mormon, are you?”
He added that, for a period of time, one of his supervisors
“instigated” the monitoring of jail calls between the defendants and their
wives “without prosecutor or FBI consent,” though he noted that Steve Myhre,
Nevada’s acting U.S. attorney and the lead prosecutor on the case, quickly put
a stop to the practice.
In the memo, Wooten also described misconduct separate from
the Bundy case, which extended to “citizens, cooperators from other agencies
and even our own employees.”
He added that supervisors openly talked about other
employees’ mental health and often shared derogatory opinions of higher level
supervisors, and he noted that he filed a separate formal complaint to the BLM
in reference to those allegations.
In reference to when the U.S. attorney’s office had Wooten
pulled from the case, Wooten said a supervisor subsequently violated his
privacy by ransacking his office and by seizing case files, investigative notes
and personal documents, including medical records. Those items have not been
returned, he said.
“I am convinced that I was removed to prevent the ethical
and proper further disclosure of the severe misconduct, failure to correct and
report, and cover-ups by (BLM) supervisors,” Wooten wrote.
Wooten went on to accuse Myhre, the case’s lead prosecutor,
of relying on inaccurate talking points throughout his prosecution strategy and
adopting a “don’t ask, don’t tell” attitude in reference to BLM misconduct.
Wooten added that, prior to the investigation, he held Myhre
“in the highest of regards,” but after Wooten’s attempts to report sweeping
misconduct went unheard and got him kicked off the case, he now believes Myrhe
is clouded by “extreme” personal bias and “a desire to win at all costs.”
“Not only did Mr. Myhre in my opinion not want to know or
seek out evidence favorable to the accused, he and my supervisor discouraged
the reporting of such issues and even likely covered up the misconduct,” Wooten
wrote.
The U.S. attorney’s office in Nevada declined to comment
Friday.
U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro is expected to reconvene
court at 8 a.m. Wednesday.
‘Totally unusual’ case
It remains unclear if the explosive memo provides the
defense a clear path to a mistrial.
UNLV law professor Ruben Garcia, who teaches professional
responsibility, said the allegations, if true, are possible ethical violations
that the State Bar of Nevada may investigate.
But for the purpose of the pending trial, Garcia said the
decision is up to the judge.
“She’ll have to decide what is worthy of a dismissal, based
on her standards and federal criminal standards,” he said.
Veteran Las Vegas defense attorney Tom Pitaro said the more
common approach in situations of late discovery is to grant the defense extra
time to analyze the new evidence and adjust their strategy. But, he added,
given the extensive allegations and applicable case law, “Who knows?”
“This case of course has become so unique — just totally
unusual,” he told the Review-Journal on Friday.
The 2014 standoff came after a years long legal dispute over
grazing fees. Cliven Bundy had long contested the fees, which had been imposed
for his continued, illegal use of federal land for cattle grazing.
In response, federal agents began rounding up and impounding
the rancher’s cattle, but stood down after Bundy and a group of armed
supporters protested the roundup and forced a shutdown of Interstate 15,
garnering national media attention. The charges Cliven Bundy and his sons
currently face stem from the standoff.
“The purpose of this narrative is not to take up for or
defend the actions of the subjects of this investigation,” Wooten noted in the
memo. “This investigation further indicated that instead of Cliven Bundy
properly using the court system or other avenues to properly address his
grievances, he chose an illegal, uncivilized, and dangerous strategy in which a
tragedy was narrowly and thankfully avoided.”
+++++++++
Updated Dec 15, 11:11 PM; Posted Dec 15,
1:36 AM
A scathing memo from the lead investigator who assessed how
federal officers handled the 2014 armed standoff with Nevada rancher Cliven
Bundy accuses agents of far-reaching misconduct, recklessness and unrestrained
antipathy toward the family.
The 18-page document, obtained Thursday by The
Oregonian/OregonLive, is dated Nov. 27.
Prosecutors shared it last week with defense lawyers for
Bundy, his two sons and co-defendant Ryan Payne as they were in the midst of
their conspiracy trial, but it's not part of the public court record.
The memo prompted Cliven Bundy's lawyer to file a motion
early Monday to dismiss the case, already in disarray over concerns raised
previously about the government's failure to promptly share evidence with the
defense.
The judge sent the jury home for more than a week as she
tries to sort out the claims and prosecutors scramble to save their case.
The memo comes from Larry Wooten, who had been the lead case
agent and investigator for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management after the tense confrontation
outside the patriarch's ranch near Bunkerville. Wooten also testified before a
federal grand jury that returned indictments against the Bundys. He said he was
removed from the investigation last February after he complained to the U.S.
Attorney's Office in Nevada.
Then last month he sent a whistleblower email to the U.S.
Department of Justice, alleging a "widespread pattern of bad judgment,
lack of discipline, incredible bias, unprofessionalism and misconduct, as well
as likely policy, ethical and legal violations among senior and supervisory
staff'' at the Bureau of Land Management's Office of Law Enforcement and Security.
Wooten wrote that supervisory agents with the bureau
repeatedly mocked the defendants in an "amateurish carnival atmosphere''
that resembled something out of middle school, displayed "clear
prejudice'' against the Bundys, their supporters and Mormons, and prominently
displayed degrading altered booking photos of Cliven Bundy and other defendants
in a federal office and in an office presentation.
The memo described "heavy handedness'' by government
officers as they prepared to impound Cliven Bundy's cattle. He said some
officers "bragged about roughing up Dave Bundy, grinding his face into the
ground and Dave Bundy having little bits of gravel stuck in his face.'' Dave
Bundy, one of Cliven Bundy's sons, was arrested April 6, 2014, while
videotaping men he suspected were federal agents near his father's ranch.
Wooten contends that supervisory agents failed to turn over
required discovery evidence to the prosecution team that could help the defense
or be used to question the credibility of a witness, as required by law.
The top agents also "instigated'' the monitoring of
jail phone calls between defendants and their wives without consent from the
U.S. Attorney's Office or the FBI, Wooten wrote, though the memo noted that
Steven Myhre, Nevada's acting U.S. attorney who is leading the prosecution of
the Bundys, stopped the practice.
Myhre couldn't be reached for comment late Thursday. On
Friday morning, Trisha Young, a spokeswoman for the Nevada U.S. Attorney's
Office, said the office declined to comment.
Cliven Bundy, sons Ammon and Ryan Bundy and Payne are
accused of conspiring to block federal agents from enforcing court orders to confiscate
family cattle on public land after Cliven Bundy failed to pay grazing fees and
fines for years.
They're also accused of using or carrying a firearm in a
crime of violence, threatening a federal law enforcement officer, obstruction
of justice and extortion. Their trial began Nov. 14 in Las Vegas.
Wooten accused Dan Love, the former special agent-in-charge
of the cattle roundup for the Bureau of Land Management, of intentionally
ignoring direction from the U.S. Attorney's Office and his superiors "in
order to command the most intrusive, oppressive, large scale and militaristic
trespass cattle impound possible.'' He described Love as immune from
discipline, though Love eventually was fired from the bureau for misconduct in
an unrelated case.
Wooten said he learned from other agency supervisors that
Love had a "Kill Book'' as a "trophy,'' in which he essentially
bragged about "getting three individuals in Utah to commit suicide,''
following a joint FBI-BLM investigation into the alleged trafficking of stolen
artifacts.
Wooten said his supervisor took photos in a secure command
post at FBI headquarters in Las Vegas of an "Arrest Tracking Wall,'' where
photos of Cliven Bundy and co-defendant Eric Parker were marked with an
"X'' over them, and emailed out the photos, although no photos were
allowed to be taken in that area.
Wooten called prosecutors in the Bundy case and told Myhre
and Assistant U.S. Attorney Nadia Ahmed, as well as FBI special agent Joel
Willis, of his fears that his supervisors weren't sharing key witness
statements with them.
On Feb. 16, Wooten said he asked Myhre if statements that
Love made, such as "Go out there and kick Cliven Bundy in the mouth (or
teeth) and take his cattle'' or "I need you to get the troops fired up to
go get those cows and not take any crap from anyone'' would be considered
evidence that must be shared with the defense. He said that Myhre replied, saying something like "we do now''
or "it is now.''
Two days later, Wooten said his supervisor took him off the
investigation and another Bureau of Land Management agent confiscated files
from his office and from a safe in his office.
The material included computer hard drives, collected
emails, text messages, case notes and "lessons learned,'' Wooten wrote.
"These items were taken because they contained
significant evidence of misconduct and items that would potentially embarrass
BLM Law Enforcement Supervision,'' the memo said. "I am convinced that I
was removed to prevent the ethical and proper further disclosure of the severe
misconduct.''
Wooten said his supervisor told him that Myhre
"furiously demanded'' that he be removed and that Myhre had mentioned
something about the bureau's failure to turn over all crucial evidence to his
office.
Wooten noted that he was ordered not to contact the Nevada
U.S. Attorney's Office.
He said he believed Myhre "adopted an attitude of
'don't ask, don't tell''' or "preferred ignorance'' when it came to
potential information from the federal land management agency that would have
been helpful to the Bundy defense.
He also said prosecutors relied on inaccurate talking
points, particularly not disclosing at previous trials the fact there were
government snipers on surveillance outside the Bundy Ranch before the April 12,
2014, showdown.
"Not only did Mr. Myhre in my opinion not want to know
or seek out evidence favorable to the accused, he and my supervisor discouraged
the reporting of such issues,'' Wooten wrote.
Wooten said he had held Myhre in the highest regard, but
believes his judgment is "clouded'' by personal bias and a "desire to
win the case at all costs.''
Wooten, now working as a bureau agent in Idaho, sent the
memo to an associate deputy U.S. attorney general who serves as the U.S.
Department of Justice's national criminal discovery coordinator. He obtained
the lawyer's contact information during a training by the U.S. Attorney's
Office in Boise, Idaho.
"I have tried to resolve these issues through my chain
of command but I have failed,'' he wrote in the memo.
But he felt it was "his obligation'' to report his
findings, describing his memo as a "last resort.''
He didn't return phone calls or messages Thursday night.
Cliven Bundy's lawyer Bret O. Whipple declined any comment
on the memo, and would only describe the new information received as
"quite a development,'' one he hadn't seen in his 20-plus years of legal
work.
"In my mind, I think the case should be dismissed by
next Tuesday,'' Whipple said. "I think I can get my client home for
Christmas.''
"Not only did Mr. Myhre in my opinion not want to know
or seek out evidence favorable to the accused, he and my supervisor discouraged
the reporting of such issues,'' Wooten wrote.
Wooten said he had held Myhre in the highest regard, but
believes his judgment is "clouded'' by personal bias and a "desire to
win the case at all costs.''
Wooten, now working as a bureau agent in Idaho, sent the
memo to an associate deputy U.S. attorney general who serves as the U.S.
Department of Justice's national criminal discovery coordinator. He obtained
the lawyer's contact information during a training by the U.S. Attorney's
Office in Boise, Idaho.
"I have tried to resolve these issues through my chain
of command but I have failed,'' he wrote in the memo.
But he felt it was "his obligation'' to report his
findings, describing his memo as a "last resort.''
He didn't return phone calls or messages Thursday night.
Cliven Bundy's lawyer Bret O. Whipple declined any comment
on the memo, and would only describe the new information received as
"quite a development,'' one he hadn't seen in his 20-plus years of legal
work.
"In my mind, I think the case should be dismissed by
next Tuesday,'' Whipple said. "I think I can get my client home for
Christmas.''
-- Maxine Bernstein
_______________________
Will Bundy Prosecution MISCONDUCT be Given Pass by Judge Navarro?
John R. Houk
© December 16, 2017
____________________
Memo alleges government misconduct in Bunkerville standoff case
____________________
BLM investigator alleges misconduct by feds in Bundy ranch standoff
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