Oregon juror in Bundy brothers' trial blames prosecution's weak conspiracy case for acquittal

One of the Oregon jurors who acquitted the Bundy brothers and their bird sanctuary-seizing brethren says the verdict was no endorsement of their actions. Juror No. 4, in a Friday email to the Portland Oregonian newspaper, said the panel’s decision reflected how miserably federal prosecutors failed to prove their conspiracy case against the seven men. “Inference, while possibly compelling, proved to be insulting or inadequate to 12 diversely situated people as a means to convict,” wrote Juror No. 4. The juror — who maintained his anonymity in the email — said the panel later spoke with federal trial Judge Anna Brown and questioned the prosecution strategy against the seven occupiers of the federal land. The jury was told that alternate charges, including criminal trespass, didn’t carry what the government considered significant jail time. “We all queried about alternative charges that could stick and were amazed that his ‘conspiracy’ charge seemed the best,” he wrote...more