LAS VEGAS (CN) – Rather than wait for a second retrial of two co-defendants to conclude, Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy will have his day in court in early October.
U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro on Thursday ordered Cliven Bundy, Ryan Bundy, Ammon Bundy, Ryan Payne and Peter Santilli to go on trial with co-defendants Eric Parker and O. Scott Drexler on Oct. 10.
After two jury trials, Parker and Drexler were acquitted on eight of 10 charges against them for their roles in an April 12, 2014, armed standoff with the Bureau of Land Management.
The jury could not agree on two charges of brandishing firearms to intimidate the BLM into halting a court-ordered roundup of up to 1,000 head of cattle grazing on federally controlled lands.
They acquitted co-defendants Richard Lovelien and Steven Stewart on all 10 charges against them.
The BLM says Cliven Bundy owes $3 million in unpaid grazing fees over the past 20 years.
Cliven Bundy says the federal government has no legal power to control public lands in Nevada.
He and his co-defendants face 15 felony charges and up to 80 years in prison if convicted.
A third trial of remaining defendants Dave Bundy, Mel Bundy, Joseph O’Shaughnessy, Brian Cavalier, Jason Woods and Micah McGuire is scheduled to start about 30 days after the trial of Cliven Bundy and the others.
Two other defendants, Gerald DeLemus of New Hampshire and Blaine Cooper of Humboldt, Arizona, pleaded guilty to reduced charges in August 2016.
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