Convictions Upheld Over 2016 National Wildlife Refuge Occupation

The convictions and sentences of four participants in the 2016 occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in eastern Oregon led by Ammon Bundy will stand because the trial court didn’t commit reversible error by excluding jurors for cause without consulting parties or their counsel, the Ninth Circuit ruled.

Duane Ehmer, Darryl Thorn, Jake Ryan, and Jason Patrick argued that the trial court’s jury selection process denied them assistance of counsel and deprived them of their due process rights.

Rejecting the argument, Judge Daniel P. Collins said, “There is no sense in which the Sixth Amendment right to counsel or ...