Rebuke of U.S. attorneys in Cliven Bundy case: 'Every prosecutor's nightmare'

By Maxine Bernstein

U.S. District Judge Gloria M. Navarro methodically listed the prosecution's six separate violations of the Brady law, which requires turning over evidence potentially favorable to the defense. The judge further ruled that each violation was willful. If ever there was a time when federal prosecutors needed to make sure they acted with complete integrity it was in the high-stakes Bundy case, legal observers say. The defendants already held a deep suspicion of the government and had successfully rallied followers to their cause. Now, the question becomes whether prosecutors can pursue a new trial, and the judge's finding of deliberate misconduct gives the Bundys a good argument to seek an outright dismissal and walk away free men, legal experts said. In the meantime, the dissection has begun: How could prosecutors have lost sight of due process, one of the basic tenets of the legal system. The judge's rebuke of Nevada's Acting U.S. Attorney Steven Myhre, the lead, and two seasoned veteran Assistant U.S. attorneys, Daniel Schiess and Nadia Ahmed, was remarkable in and of itself. "This is every prosecutor's nightmare,'' said Kent Robinson, a retired federal prosecutor who served six years as chief of the criminal division in Oregon's U.S. Attorney's Office. When a judge makes a finding of misconduct by a prosecutor, the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Professional Responsibility investigates and determines if discipline is warranted, which can range from a reprimand to a suspension...more