2 men acquitted of all charges in Bunkerville standoff case

Jurors acquitted two defendants of all charges Tuesday in a federal retrial that stems from the 2014 armed standoff in Bunkerville. Montana resident Ricky Lovelien and Idaho resident Steven Stewart were acquitted of all 10 counts they faced. The panel of six women and six men deliberated more than three days. The jury also acquitted Idaho residents Scott Drexler and Eric Parker of most charges but could not agree on other charges against the two men. Acting U.S. Attorney Steven Myhre said prosecutors have not decided when they will retry Drexler and Parker on the remaining counts. During closing arguments last week, prosecutors pointed to social media posts in which the four men discussed the activities in the rural Nevada town, about 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas. On a video played for jurors, rancher Cliven Bundy spoke to a crowd outside his ranch, encouraging his followers to do what they needed to do to retrieve his cattle from the Bureau of Land Management. Defense attorneys for each of the men opted not to give closing statements. The defendants, charged as gunmen, were accused of driving from other states to Bunkerville in April 2014 to support Bundy, who is accused of conspiring to thwart the federal government’s roundup of roughly 1,000 cows from public land...more