Judge grants Ryan Bundy's release to a halfway house on eve of trial

By Maxine Bernstein

In a surprising reversal, U.S. District Judge Gloria M. Navarro late Monday agreed to place Ryan Bundy on GPS monitoring and release him from jail to a halfway house on the eve of the Bunkerville trial. The decision came after a full-day hearing in closed court as defense lawyers raised repeated questions about alleged government misrepresentations of evidence. Among them: Prosecutors claimed Ryan Bundy had been stunned with a Taser during an arrest in Utah about 10 years ago, but a video played in court apparently showed that didn't happen. Prosecutors also cited a sheriff's report that Ryan Bundy disrupted a Utah cattle auction site and threatened to stop the government's seizure of his father's cattle in Nevada "by force" in early April 2014. But Bundy was denied an opportunity during a previous hearing to call the sheriff to rebut the prosecution's allegations. By the end of the day, the judge gave Ryan Bundy, who is representing himself in court, the green-light to be transferred to a local halfway house Monday night. She never explained in open court the reason she changed her mind from last week. The judge, though, ruled that his younger brother Ammon Bundy must remain in custody, along with co-defendants Cliven Bundy, his father, and Ryan Payne. Much of the pretrial hearings Monday and last week focused on federal law enforcement surveillance of the Bundy ranch preceding a retreat by federal agents and rangers on April 12, 2014. They were forced to abandon their cattle impound operation because they were outnumbered by armed Bundy supporters and militia members, prosecutors contend. In a hearing earlier this month, a National Park Service ranger revealed for the first time to the defense under questioning from Ryan Bundy that the FBI had at least one surveillance camera on a hill overlooking the Bundy home, providing live feed to the impound command center...more

 Ryan Bundy, representing himself, gets released, and it was his cross examination of a park service ranger that disclosed the federal surveillance of the Bundy home. I wonder how this makes those "real" attorneys feel? And why is a Park Service employee involved with a BLM grazing permit? How many FLEs and from which agencies were involved? Who at Interior actually called the shots? BLM, the Office of Law Enforcement & Security (which is part of the Secretay's Office), or who else? What role did the now disgraced Dan Love play in all this? From start to finish, what was the total cost of the operation? Has Interior produced an after action analysis and what dtd it find? Have any changes occurred at Interior as a result of this botched operation?