Prosecutors ask to retry gunmen before Bundys go to trial

Federal prosecutors said this week they want to retry the first group of defendants in the Bunkerville standoff case before moving forward with the trial of rancher Cliven Bundy and others charged as leaders of the 2014 armed protests. Acting U.S. Attorney Steven Myhre disclosed the decision, which still needs a judge’s approval, in a Wednesday court filing. The proposed schedule update follows the mistrial declared last month when jurors deadlocked on 50 of the 60 counts against the first six men tried in the case. U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro set a new trial date of June 26 — the same day the second trial was scheduled to open in federal court in Las Vegas. “After the jury reaches verdicts as to all of the Trial 1 defendants, the remaining trials will follow,” Myhre wrote in his recent filing. The U.S. attorney’s office declined to comment on whether prosecutors plan to retry all or only some of the defendants in the first group. The government’s request to retry the first group before moving forward with any of the other defendants is sure to enrage the 71-year-old Bundy and others who are incarcerated while awaiting trial. Immediately after the mistrial, lawyers representing the men in the second group started filing motions voicing concerns about speedy trial rights. Attorneys who represent Bundy and others in the second group submitted court filings requesting that their clients keep the June 26 trial date, even if that means lumping the two groups together. But Myhre rejected that suggestion in Wednesday’s filing...more