We may never know what the jury was thinking, but this decision seems foolishly wrong to me. What would stop a bunch of homeless drug addicts from coming up with similar convoluted logic to justify camping in your local park, while claiming that the local authorities have no right to remove them?
“The government was not here to find the truth,” Robert L. Salisbury, Mr. Banta’s lawyer, told the jury before deliberations began. “This case is about people wanting to be heard, and they’re just frustrated with our government.”
Well, if Bundy's lawyer cleared the defense table in a fit, refused to sit, refused to stop demanding their immediate release(still facing other charges), I do not find it surprising he was forcibly restrained.
"No, he's released on these charges. He's acquitted. Nevada doesn't have jurisdiction,'' Mumford yelled, standing before the judge. "If there's a detainer, show me.''
I am more concerned with a pattern I perceive. A pattern of Federal Law enforcement CREATING criminals in order to prosecute them. People who express a general idea of doing something, and then have their hand-held by informants and agents until they have crossed over into multi-felon territory. If half the hold-outs at the reserve were somehow under the employ of the federal government, it is difficult for me to imagine a scenario where they don't affect the course of things.We can argue if the government has abused it's power in trying to prosecute someone, or not prosecute another one.