Week 1: ‘Battle of Bunkerville’ trial of Bundys begins in Las Vegas

By Brian Seay

From left; Cliven Bundy and his sons Ammon Bundy and Ryan Bundy, together with co-defendant Ryan Payne in this undated combination file photo. (Photo: Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office)
More than three-and-a-half years since the so-called Battle of Bunkerville, Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, his two sons, and a fourth defendant are facing a jury of their peers in a Las Vegas courtroom.
As opening statements kicked off this week, prosecutors said the Bundy camp defied the rule of law by threat of violence and intimidation, while defense attorneys called the nearly weeklong standoff in April 2014 a legal protest against federal government overreach.
“The only thing (Bundy) wanted to do was raise cattle, just like his grandfather did, and his dad did,” defense attorney Bret Whipple said in his opening presentation, according to Reuters.
Cliven Bundy’s cattle, and the lands they roamed, represent the root cause of the Bunkerville standoff, which was the culmination of a decades-long dispute between Bundy and the Bureau of Land Management. Before 1993, Bundy paid the federal government land grazing fees. But then Bundy took issue with the government’s tightened ranch restrictions meant to protect the endangered desert tortoise.
Bundy wrote letters to BLM, questioning its jurisdiction and insisting his family laid

Source: Guns.com