Document text
Drama closes standoff trial Tuesday Aug 15, 2017 at 6:49 PM Aug 15, 2017 at 6:49 PM By Ken Ritter Associated Press LAS VEGAS — In a dramatic end to a contentious trial, defense attorneys declined Tuesday to make closing arguments on behalf of four men accused of wielding assault weapons against federal agents in a 2014 standoff near Nevada anti-government figure Cliven Bundy's ranch. The move left defendants Eric Parker, Steven Stewart and Ricky Lovelien of Montana and Oklahoma essentially mute in answer to 10 felony charges including conspiracy, weapon possession and assault on a federal officer. Defendant Scott Drexler of Idaho testified in his defense on Monday. Parker testified last week, but Chief U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro ordered him off the witness stand and struck his testimony from the record for what she said was a deliberate failure to keep his testimony within bounds of rules she set to keep the focus on what the defendants saw and did during the confrontation, not what they felt or why they acted. The judge said Monday she thought Parker tried to improperly invite jury nullification of charges. Navarro also rejected testimony from five other prospective defense witnesses after hearing previews of what four planned to say and reviewing previous testimony from the fifth. Acting U.S. Attorney Steven Myhre was left Tuesday with nothing to rebut, so he abandoned his plan to have the last word before the jury of eight women and eight men began deliberations. The panel heard five weeks of prosecution testimony. They resume deliberations on Wednesday. Each defendant could face decades in prison if convicted. Myhre and attorneys for Drexler, Parker and Stewart, all of Idaho, each declined outside court to comment. Attorney Shawn Perez, representing Ricky Lovelien of Montana and Oklahoma, said he didn't think the government proved its case, so he felt no closing argument was needed. Defense teams balking at summarizing their cases echoed the refusal in April 2016 of two of Bundy's adult sons and three other defendants to enter pleas following their arrests in the case. They said they didn't recognize authority of the government to prosecute them. A magistrate judge entered not-guilty pleas for them. A first trial for the four current defendants ended with a hung jury in April. That jury found two other defendants guilty of some charges.