Prosecutors oppose defense bid to remove judge from Bundy case

Federal prosecutors filed court papers Tuesday ripping into the efforts of Cliven Bundy and his lawyers to disqualify Chief U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro from his criminal case.

Prosecutors argued that the Bundy defense team offered no proof of bias, but rather a “mishmash of inferences drawn from speculation and innuendo.”

They urged Navarro not to recuse herself from the high-profile case.

“Conspiracy theories should not support recusal motions and the court should refuse the invitation to engage in them here in order to draw inferences that run counter to everyday experience,” prosecutors wrote.

They added that “no reasonable person with knowledge of all the facts” would question Navarro’s impartiality in the case, which charges Bundy and 18 other defendants in the April 12, 2014, armed standoff with law enforcement near Bunkerville.

Bundy and his lawyers earlier this month sued Navarro, President Barack Obama, U.S. Sen. Harry Reid and one of Reid’s sons, accusing them of conspiring to deny Bundy a fair trial. Reid’s communications director, Kristen Orthman, was added as a defendant in the lawsuit on Tuesday.

The lawsuit cites several reasons to oust Navarro, including her refusal to allow nationally known lawyer Larry Klayman to join Bundy’s defense team.

In separate court papers in the criminal case, Klayman and lead Bundy lawyer Joel Hansen also alleged that Reid asked the Clark County district attorney to prosecute Bundy and his family on local charges and that raises a potential conflict for Navarro because her husband is a prosecutor in the office.

Federal prosecutors countered that there is no merit to either that claim or the claim that Obama and Reid, a Nevada Democrat, were “surreptitiously signaling” to Navarro their wishes for the outcome of the Bundy case. Obama appointed Navarro to the bench at the recommendation of Reid, now the Senate minority leader.

“Cliven Bundy’s actions, including pursuing a frivolous civil lawsuit against the presiding judge and questioning her partiality on frivolous grounds do not require recusal,” prosecutors wrote.

Prosecutors also accused Klayman of lying when he said in the criminal case papers that his application to practice in the case was pending.

They contended it is clear that Navarro twice has refused to let him in the case and Klayman’s misstatements may be grounds to strike the defense papers from the court record.

Navarro is to announce on Wednesday whether she will take herself off the case.

Contact Jeff German at jgerman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135. Find @JGermanRJ on Twitter.