Defendants win small victory in Bunkerville standoff case

A federal judge on Thursday dismissed one count in the sweeping indictment against rancher Cliven Bundy and his supporters — a decision that granted a minor victory to the 18 men accused of organizing a mass assault on law enforcement in April 2014.

The ruling, from U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro, responded to a defense request to dismiss several of the charges contained in the federal indictment that prosecutors announced last year. Her decision, which applies to all the defendants awaiting trial in the case, reduces by 25 years the mandatory minimum sentence the men will face if found guilty on all counts.

Bundy and 17 others face charges in connection with the armed standoff that occurred in Bunkerville in April 2014, when federal agents tried to seize the rancher’s cattle following a decades-long dispute over grazing fees.

Navarro dismissed one count of conspiracy to impede and injure a federal officer. Her ruling does not signal insufficient government evidence in this particular case, but instead results from a 2015 U.S. Supreme Court decision that addressed how violent criminals are prosecuted.

The high court’s majority, in Johnson v. United States, invalidated a criminal statute known as the “residual clause,” striking it down as unconstitutionally vague. The clause allowed federal prosecutors broad discretion in arguing to a judge what sorts of crimes constitute violent felonies, which carry mandatory minimum sentences.

All of the defendants still face a separate count of the conspiracy charge, but in tossing out the other count, the judge effectively ruled that the charge is no longer classified as a “crime of violence” — thereby reducing the mandatory minimum sentence from 82 years to 57 years.

Prosecutors have decided to try the case in three separate trials. The first trial is scheduled to open Monday in Las Vegas.

Contact Jenny Wilson at jenwilson@reviewjournal.com or 702-384-8710. Follow @jennydwilson on Twitter.