Oregon protester demands pardon for group remaining inside wildlife refuge

This came as protest leader Ammon Bundy and his brother, Ryan Bundy, were ordered held without bail until their trial on felony charges of conspiracy to impede officers of the United States from discharging their official duties through the use of force, intimidation or threats.

Protester David Fry posted the pardon-seeking YouTube video at about 11 a.m. Friday. He sought pardons not just for those remaining at the group’s headquarters inside the Malheur Wildlife Refuge, but for anyone who had participated in the occupation.

Fry rambled for nearly 5½ minutes in the video, discussing pardons delivered by President Bill Clinton and offering thoughts on Clinton’s wife, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.

Fry’s video was the first post to the channel in more than 24 hours. Before Thursday, Fry had posted 10 to 20 videos a day.

On Thursday, Fry said the group would leave if it was guaranteed that no one would be charged with a crime.

“Obviously, that’s not going to happen,” Fry said in the video.

At a press conference Thursday night in Burns, FBI Special Agent in Charge Greg Bretzing said his agency would never promise the protesters a free passage out of town.

Also during the press conference, the FBI showed video of state police fatally shooting Robert “LaVoy” Finicum. In the video, Finicum appears to reach into his jacket before police fired their guns. The FBI said the man had a loaded 9 mm pistol in his pocket.

On Friday, Finicum’s relatives said they didn’t accept the authorities’ assertion that he was armed and added that he posed no threat.

“LaVoy was not ‘charging’ anyone. He appears to have been shot in the back, with his hands in the air,” the Arizona rancher’s family said in a statement through its attorney.

“At this point, we will await the outcome of any investigation, but based on the information currently available to us, we do not believe that LaVoy’s shooting death was justified.”

In court papers seeking detention Friday, federal prosecutors in Portland explained why they believed Ammon and Ryan Bundy and the others arrested this week were flight risks and posed a danger to the community.

“In this case, all defendants deliberately and publicly disregarded repeated orders, requests and pressure to obey the law over a sustained period of time,” prosecutors wrote. “They did so in a manner that endangered, and continues to endanger, the residents of Harney County, Oregon.

“Critically, the alleged crime was not born out of impulse — it was deliberate and designed to undermine authority at every stage.”

Prosecutors expressed concerns that if freed, the defendants would return to the wildlife refuge or another federal facility to “assert their claimed authority over federal lands.” Prosecutors said they have accumulated overwhelming evidence of the defendants’ guilt, much of it documented by their own statements on social media.

All but one of the 11 defendants have no ties to Oregon. Many have long been associated with armed conflicts with the government and have rejected the government’s authority, prosecutors said.

Several eastern Oregonians stood outside the Harney County Courthouse on Friday afternoon to protest the FBI’s involvement in containing the occupation and Finicum’s shooting.

Cattle rancher Monte Siegner, 79, held a sign attached to a large tree branch that read, “Ambushed and Assassinated” in red letters. His son Mitch Siegner, 43, carried a 4-foot American flag.

Mitch Siegner drove to Burns from Riverside, a small ranching community about 60 miles to the southeast, to support his father in the protest. He called Finicum’s death “a shame” and said he doesn’t agree with the federal authorities’ presence in the refuge.

But not all locals support the movement.

“We’re spooked,” said 53-year-old rancher Andy Dunbar, who has a ranch house less than a quarter mile from the Malheur refuge.

Earlier this month, Dunbar said, a large group of militia members tried to drive through his property. Dunbar told the group that it wasn’t welcome on his land and not to come back.

But the group did come back, twice more, Dunbar said. He said the most recent incident, which followed Finicum’s shooting, alarmed him and his family most.

Around 2 a.m. Wednesday, Dunbar saw five trucks and about 30 people no more than 30 feet from his house. Dunbar said he could tell most were armed by the pistols they had holstered on their hips, but added that he didn’t see any rifles.

“That’s when I really did feel threatened,” Dunbar said. “You have five vehicles parked right outside your house with a whole bunch of guys walking around at one time.”

Dunbar said he called 911 but was told no one could be sent.

“It didn’t make me feel very good,” Dunbar said.

The group eventually left without further incident, apparently part of a mass exodus from the refuge after the Bundys’ arrests and Finicum’s death. At least nine occupiers left the compound after law enforcement surrounded it Tuesday evening.

Dunbar said he can see the last of the militia from his property and that they appear to be “hunkered down.”

“I don’t know why they don’t leave,” he said. “It’s stupid for them to stay there at this point.”

Although some of the militia’s message resonates with several local ranchers, himself included, Dunbar said he’s opposed the occupation from the start.

He has another ranch in Frenchglen, Ore., and said he’s worried the militia’s stay at the Malheur refuge could undo decades of progress ranchers have made with federal agencies.

“We’ve spent a lot of time doing it the right way,” he said.

Reuters contributed to this story. Contact Colton Lochhead at clochhead@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4638. Find him on Twitter: @ColtonLochhead. Contact Jeff German at jgerman@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-8135. Find him on Twitter: @JGermanRJ.