The Bundy Gang Is Found Not Guilty
A federal jury delivered a resounding acquittal today for the anti-government militants who occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in January, finding Ammon Bundy and his six co-defendants not guilty of conspiring to keep federal employees from doing their jobs.
Supporters of the Arizona-based rancher and his anti-government movement wept, hugged and waved American flags in the streets outside downtown Portland's federal courthouse.
The verdict is a stunning defeat for U.S. Attorney for Oregon Billy Williams, whose legal team was unable to prove that Bundy and his allies broke any laws by turning an Eastern Oregon bird refuge into an armed fortress.
It followed the dismissal Wednesday of a juror who had previously worked for the federal Bureau of Land Management, a potential conflict that could have resulted in a mistrial.
The "not guilty" verdict capped a six-week trial filled with testimony over the political beliefs Ammon Bundy and his co-defendants claimed were the motivation for the 41-day armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.
