In a shocking outcome, Judge Gloria Navarro declared a mistrial (instead of dismissing charges) in the Bundy Ranch case saying US prosecutors willfully withheld critical evidence from the defense. Prosecutors maintained the FBI was not involved in the standoff and that no video surveillance or sniper teams were used. They charged defendants with making false claims about snipers and videos in order to incite militia groups to their defense. Now we learn that the evidence withheld form the defense proves that all of Bundy’s claims were true and that it was the government that was doing the lying. Judge Navarro set a Jan. 8 hearing to decide whether charges should be dismissed outright. She also set a new trial date, Feb. 26. Acting U.S. Attorney Steven Myhre didn’t immediately say whether he would seek to retry the case.
In a shocking verdict, Judge Gloria Navarro dismissed jurors Wednesday, declaring a mistrial in the Bundy Ranch case saying U.S. prosecutors willfully withheld critical and “potentially exculpatory” evidence from the defense.
As AZCentral.com reports, Navarro cited five key pieces of information that prosecutors did not disclose: records about surveillance and snipers at the Bundy Ranch; unredacted FBI logs about activity at the ranch in the days around the standoff; threat assessments about the Bundys dating to 2012; and internal affairs reports about the BLM.
