A federal judge rejected prosecutors’ requests to overturn her dismissal of the government’s case against Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, his sons, and associate Ryan Payne. (The Daily Caller)
U.S. District Judge Gloria M. Navarro dismissed conspiracy charges against the four men on Jan. 8 after finding that prosecutors had acted “with prejudice” throughout the trial, The Oregonian reported. Federal prosecutors violated federal law and failed to share evidence favorable to the defendants case with the court.
“The Court’s finding of outrageous government conduct was not in error,” Navarro wrote in her 11-page ruling, obtained by The Oregonian. “On the contrary, a universal sense of justice was violated by the Government’s failure to provide evidence that is potentially exculpatory.”
The prosecutors’ request did not make any new arguments or bring forth any evidence that Navarro had not already considered in her decision to dismiss the case.
“The Court gave somber consideration to the ramifications of its Order and found that it was in the interest of justice to dismiss the case with prejudice,” Navarro wrote. “A motion for reconsideration should not be ‘used to ask the Court to rethink what it has already thought.’”
Prosecutors requested the court grant them another chance to try the Bundys and Payne, calling their missteps and violations “inadvertent.”