Judge rejects prosecutors’ bid to reopen Bundy criminal case

Cliven Bundy walks out of the Lloyd George U.S. Courthouse in Las Vegas a free man with his wife, Carol, on Monday, Jan. 8, 2018, after a federal judge dismissed the case against him, two of his sons and another man in the Bunkerville standoff. K.M. Cannon Las Vegas Review-Journal @KMCannonPhoto

Cliven Bundy walks out of the Lloyd George U.S. Courthouse in Las Vegas a free man with his wife, Carol, on Monday, Jan. 8, 2018. At rear, in a cowboy hat, is their son Ammon Bundy. K.M. Cannon Las Vegas Review-Journal @KMCannonPhoto

Defendants Ammon Bundy, left, and his brother Ryan Bundy, talk to the news media outside the Lloyd George U.S. Courthouse Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2017, after a mistrial was declared in the Bunkerville standoff case involving their father, rancher Cliven Bundy. K.M. Cannon Las Vegas Review-Journal @KMCannonPhoto

Rancher Cliven Bundy address supporters and journalists at Metropolitan Police Department headquarters two days after federal charges were dismissed against him in Las Vegas on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2018. The charges, which were also dismissed for two of his sons and an independent militia member, stemmed from the Bunkerville standoff in 2014. Chase Stevens Las Vegas Review-Journal @csstevensphoto

A lawyer for Bunkerville rancher and states’ rights activist Cliven Bundy is hailing as “the final nail in the coffin” a judge’s decision this week not to let federal prosecutors reopen the criminal case stemming from a 2014 armed standoff with government agents.

Attorney Bret Whipple on Friday characterized the 72-year-old Bundy as relieved following Chief U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro’s ruling that “flagrant misconduct” by prosecutors had irreparably tainted the case.

A spokeswoman for Acting U.S. Attorney Dayle Elieson declined immediate comment.

Prosecutors could appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

Navarro in January dismissed the criminal case against Bundy, two sons and a Montana militia leader after declaring a mistrial in December.

She found federal prosecutors responsible for “deliberate attempts to mislead and distort the truth.”