WASHINGTON, D.C. – Evidence is mounting that an Obama-nominated federal judge is determined to continue trying Bundy Ranch defendants until they are found guilty.
U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro has decided to force two Bundy Ranch defendants to undergo yet a third trial scheduled to begin on Oct. 10, in what is amounting to a “revenge prosecution” tracing back to former Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid.
In a trial that ended Aug. 22, Steven Stewart of Idaho and Ricky Lovelien of Montana were found not guilty while Idaho residents O. Scott Drexler and Eric J. Parker were acquitted on most charges. But a hung jury deadlocked on assault and weapons charges for these two defendants, voting 11-to-1 on two charges for Drexler and four charges for Parker related to the 2014 Bundy Ranch standoff.
Judge Navarro, the Harry Reid hand-picked candidate that President Obama nominated to the federal bench in 2009, has decided Drexler and Parker will be included among the seven Bunkerville standoff defendants, including rancher Cliven Bundy, scheduled to stand trial on Oct. 10. This trial is expected to last about two months.
On Aug. 29, 2017, Idaho state representative Dorothy Moon, a Republican, wrote to Attorney General Sessions a letter signed by one-third of all Idaho state legislators, including 26 House members, 8 Senate members, and 5 retired lawmakers, requesting that defendants Drexler and Parker not be forced to undergo yet a third attempt to find them guilty being pursued by the U.S. Justice Department in a case being begun under the Obama administration.
A copy of the letter was also addressed to President Trump.
The letter read in part as follows: