The shooting of Robert “LaVoy” Finicum on a snowy Oregon highway on Jan. 26, 2016, was one of those instant American dramas in which every photo, every eyewitness account and every millisecond of video become forensic evidence in a public debate over whether someone deserved to die at the hands of police.

In classic fashion, two sides examined the same evidence and saw two different things. To the government, Finicum, 55, was reaching for a loaded gun in his jacket after speeding away from a traffic stop, and the shooting by Oregon State Police troopers was justified.

To thousands of antigovernment activists across the country, the Arizona rancher was a folk hero who became a martyr when, in their view, he was ambushed — shot in the back without a gun in his hand — by overaggressive law enforcement officials who were trying to crush the armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

But when it came to one mysterious piece of evidence in the case, the two sides were bothered by the same question: Where did the bullet hole in the roof of Finicum’s truck come from?

The government offered an answer Wednesday when a member of the FBI’s elite Hostage Rescue Team was indicted on suspicion of shooting twice at Finicum during the chaotic encounter and then lying about it to state and federal investigators.

The agent, W. Joseph Astarita, stone-faced and wearing a dark gray pinstriped suit, entered a plea of not guilty to five counts of lying and obstruction in a two-minute arraignment before U.S. Magistrate Judge Janice M. Stewart in federal court in Portland.

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-fbi-oregon-shooting-20170628-story.html

An FBI special agent lied about his involvement in the fatal shooting of a protester who helped lead an armed takeover of an Oregon wildlife refuge, according to a federal indictment on obstruction of justice charges.

A grand jury in Portland has charged W Joseph Astarita with three counts of making false statements, alleging that he lied when he claimed he did not fire his weapon during the attempted arrest of LaVoy Finicum, a key figure in the Oregon militia standoff at the Malheur national wildlife refuge in 2016.

The charges, revealed in federal court records on Wednesday, raise fresh questions about the death of Finicum and the FBI’s response to the high-profile protest in rural eastern Oregon, which was led by ranchers and rightwing activists, who seized federal property to protest government land regulations.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/jun/28/lavoy-finicum-oregon-standoff-fbi-agent-charged-lying

American Standoff: Aftermath is a new short form series that delves deeper into the personal lives of the characters and key issues surrounding the 2016 Malheur Standoff.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSW7hb5WprA

American Standoff: Aftermath is a new short form series that delves deeper into the personal lives of the characters and key issues surrounding the 2016 Malheur Standoff.

Episode 1: Finicum

After the death of Lavoy Finicum, the BLM cancelled the Finicum Ranch Grazing Permit. More than a year later, Lavoy's widow Jeanette is still trying to get the permit reinstated.



Episode 2: Recall

In May 2016, Harney County resident Kim Rollins succesfully collected enough signatures to validate his petition to force a recall vote of Judge Steve Grasty.

Ammon Bundy was tortured in the Pahrump Federal prison this week. He was shackled and placed in a 3 foot by 3 foot shower stall, and left for 13 hours with no food and water. He was told that they originally intended to keep him cuffed and stuffed in that stall for 72 hours, with no food and no water. They then intended to remove him from the stall, take him to medical and insert an I.V. so as to keep him from dying.

The plans were cut short when several swat team members, dressed in full tactical gear, forcefully removed him from this shower stall and stripped him naked. They proceeded to “inspect” his naked body as he lay on the floor.

He was not able to raise his arms above his head, as instructed, due to the pain he had been in for the previous 13 hours. They had to help him comply.

His legs were bleeding from the shackles and he had trouble walking. Again, they had to help him.

He was thrown into Solitary Confinement, still without his clothing. Later, a guard stuffed his undergarments through the hole in the door.

Ammon is of the firm belief that if he had been left in that stall for the full 72 hours it would have probably killed him. Hear his words in this video:



https://redoubtnews.com/2017/05/feds-turn-bundy-martyr/

Two men were found guilty of federal charges on Monday in connection to the 2014 standoff between family and supporters of Cliven Bundy’s Nevada ranch and federal agents who were attempting to round up cattle near the location.

Jurors were deadlocked on charges against four other men in the first of three federal trials surrounding the case. Bundy and two of his sons are set to stand trial this summer.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/04/24/bundy-ranch-trials-2-convicted-mistrial-declared-for-4-others.html

A prosecutor last week described the defendants as lawbreaking gunmen who answered Bundy's call to prevent federal Bureau of Land Management agents from seizing his cattle in a decades-long dispute over grazing rules and unpaid fees.

Defense attorneys portrayed the men as law-abiding citizens spurred by reports of scuffles between federal agents and Bundy family members to protest government heavy-handedness.

Cliven Bundy, two sons and two other accused leaders of the conspiracy are due for trial after the first trial concludes.

http://www.usnews.com/news/nevada/articles/2017-02-13/testimony-beginning-in-trial-for-6-in-bundy-ranch-standoff

Defense lawyers for the four Oregon standoff defendants set for trial this week want Pete Santilli, who awaits prosecution in Nevada, to be flown to Oregon to testify on their behalf and to impeach another co-defendant, Blaine Cooper, now expected to be a government witness.

Jury selection starts Tuesday morning for the remaining four defendants accused of federal conspiracy, weapons and depredation of government property charges stemming from the 41-day seizure of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge last winter.

U.S. District Judge Anna J. Brown already has issued orders for occupation leaders Ammon Bundy, who was acquitted of all charges, and Ryan Payne, who has pleaded guilty to a conspiracy charge, to be flown from Nevada to Oregon to testify for the defense.

http://www.oregonlive.com/oregon-standoff/2017/02/oregon_standoff_defendants_see.html