Prosecutors push ahead with trial for last Oregon occupiers
PORTLAND, Ore. — The U.S. government will push forward with conspiracy charges against the remaining seven people who helped take over a national wildlife refuge in Oregon, just weeks after the stunning acquittal of the first group of defendants.
Prosecutors, who faced a Monday deadline to indicate their next move, said they also would proceed with firearms charges against six of the defendants and planned to add lesser counts that could include trespassing or destruction of property.
That would give jurors the option of a less serious conviction that wasn’t available in the earlier case.
Monday’s filing in U.S. District Court in Portland indicates that the government is not backing down despite the Oct. 27 acquittal of the occupation’s leaders, brothers Ammon and Ryan Bundy, and five others.