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THE JACKBOOT FILE: “I spent an entire month at that trial,” Jeanette says. “Of the 30 officers who testified, only one went off their script and told the truth. But I learned a lot. I learned that the LOOKING FOR JUSTICE FBI was in charge of the entire operation. It was the FBI who ordered no body cameras, The real story of LaVoy Finicum has yet to be told. no audio and no video. The FBI’s 40-year trainer testified that multiple protocols were By Patricia Aiken broken on multiple levels of government that night. An FBI supervisor who was in charge at the first stop when LaVoy’s truck and he mainstream media has had nearly alleges: “These defendants were mentally pre- ’s driver were pulled over tes- four years to correct the lie that rancher disposed and committed to using excessive tified that the occupants of the truck were in Tand therapeutic foster parent LaVoy lethal force, to solve a political dispute. The compliance with the orders being given to Finicum was reaching for a loaded handgun result has been both haunting and tragic,” them. Then ‘Oregon State Police Officer #1’ when he was gunned down by government contending the defendants engaged in “wide- fired a round into LaVoy’s truck.” agents on U.S. Hwy. 395 outside Burns, Ore. spread and systemic corruption” and “pre- Jeanette continues: “The supervisor testi- In the snow, with his hands in the air, LaVoy meditated targeting.” fied that shot escalated the entire situation. It was shot three times in the back. Yet the false The preliminary hearings are being held was at that time that Shawna Cox turned on narrative persists, with Wikipedia the ugliest in Portland; however, Finicum lawyers have her camera. I also learned that ‘Officer #1’ and rejecting numerous corrections. RANGE been successful in moving the trial venue radioed ‘Officer #2’ a mile ahead at the kill readers will recall that the occupation of the from the liberal stronghold to more rural zone: ‘You’re going to have to kill Finicum.’ Malheur National Wildlife Refuge by Ammon Pendleton. A judge has yet to rule on which There wasn’t even a warrant. A warrant wasn’t Bundy, LaVoy Finicum and signed the next morning others was in response to the after LaVoy was murdered. federal government sending My husband was never ranchers Dwight and Steven given due process, which is Hammond back to prison. every American’s right.” Their crime? Burning less Even so, this grandmoth- than 150 acres of brush on er of 35 is cautiously opti- land they have range rights to mistic about her wrongful in order to save their ranch death suit. “Faith in peo- and range from a wildfire. ple” and the jury system is The Hammonds were con- what she’s counting on. victed under the Antiterror- © THE . ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. “This isn’t just about ism and Death Penalty Act of LaVoy. Due process matters 1996. [Check “Enemies of the to each of us.” State,” rangemagazine.com.] The occupants of LaVoy’s LaVoy’s widow, Jeanette, truck that fateful night were and eldest daughter, Thara Shawna Cox, Ryan Bundy Tenney, have spent the years and Victoria Sharp. Shawna since attempting to maintain and Ryan do not share any his honor and integrity. optimism about the federal Jeanette is on the road two to three weeks a defendants will be dismissed. Jeanette expects court system. They were terrorized by likely month touring the country speaking and the court to open discovery and possibly set more than 100 rounds of ammo fired into the showing the documentary “LaVoy: Dead Man an upcoming trial date in January 2020. truck that are now known to have been non- Talking,” produced by filmmaker Mark Herr, FBI elite forces member Joseph Astarita lethal. Ryan took a bullet in his shoulder. Both the president for the Center for Self-Gover- has already been tried and acquitted on Shawna and Ryan have withdrawn from their nance. With assistance from Mark, she’s rais- charges of lying about firing his weapon. The civil cases. In spite of an epic win in Portland, ing funds to take her husband’s wrongful FBI stated there were only six lethal shots Shawna explains: “We just can’t get any evi- death case to trial. Defendants are the United fired. It wasn’t until the Deschutes County dence admitted. I don’t feel like we can win.” States, FBI, BLM, Daniel P. Love, Salvatore Sheriff’s Department conducted an indepen- Thara has written “Liberty Rising: One Lauro, former senator , FBI dent investigation, syncing the FBI videos Cowboy’s Ascent: The murder of LaVoy agent in charge Greg Bretzing, Officer Joseph with Shawna Cox’s video, that two other Finicum as told by his daughter.” Her inten- Astarita, Gov. Katherine Brown, Sen. Ron lethal shots were found which pointed to tion was to preserve the history for her chil- Wyden, Harney County Sheriff Astarita. Astarita testified he couldn’t recall if dren’s future adult questions, provide a and Commissioner Steven Grasty, plus the he fired and another officer lied that he may works-cited resource for people who have Center for Biological Diversity and John Does have fired and also couldn’t recall, which put questions, and finally, the most pressing mat- 1-100, to cover unnamed officers. The suit reasonable doubt in the minds of the jurors. ter, to fund-raise for the obligatory fees of the

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Aerial video released by the FBI on Jan. 28, 2016, shows Robert LaVoy Finicum stepping out of his white pickup truck in heavy snow, hands up, at a state police/FBI roadblock on January 26, near Burns, Ore. Authorities said the 54-year-old rancher, who acted as a spokesman for the occupiers at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, was reaching for a weapon when he was killed. His friends in the car said he was shot in the back and only reaching for the pain on his left side. Finicum was right handed. OPPOSITE: Robert “LaVoy” Finicum, center, a rancher from Arizona, talks to reporters at the refuge near Burns, Ore., on Jan. 5, 2016. civil case. Thara says her siblings “are each Interior. I feel this change allowed me to get he quietly left without her. He explained later healing in their own ways but feel trauma- the grazing permit back. I had to pay fines that he had left her at home for her safety. tized whenever they go to the ranch” which is they’d levied against LaVoy and there was an When I went to Oregon, after LaVoy hugged located on the Arizona Strip, 50 miles north issue with a water permit. When we pur- and thanked me for coming, he immediately of the Grand Canyon. The wedding of chased the property the deed included 50 per- took me upstairs and showed me where to youngest daughter Tean (tee- stay if there was any trouble. ann) last year stirred mixed “You’re going to have to kill Finicum.” Our children went to Oregon to emotions. Tean, 21, and her hus- spend a few days with him but band, Philip Cluff, work the There wasn’t even a warrant. after hearing that a raid was ranch while Jeanette is away. being planned, LaVoy sent them “Before my husband was killed, in Sep- home for their safety within two hours of tember of 2015, he sent a statement to the U.S. their arrival. He never wanted women on the Department of Interior notifying them that he front line.” VIA INTERNET was no longer going to sign a contract with the With LaVoy murdered and the Bundys BLM. The current contract was in force until and their supporters in prison shortly after, a May of 2019. They refused to acknowledge the stand against the BLM would have been nei- regulation that heirs have a two-year period to ther prudent nor practical. Everyone must acquire the permits. They told me, ‘That per- choose their battles. The Finicums have cho- mit died with your husband. Mrs. Finicum, sen the wrongful death legal battle to preserve you may own it but you can’t run your cows cent of the water in a spring. The BLM tried due process for everyone. on it.’ I continued to graze my cattle until that to say that we only had 50 percent of the Dwight and Steven Hammond served July but my children pled with me, ‘Mom, we water for seven months. I own this water 12 three years and four years, respectively, in don’t want to lose you too.’ months out of the year. I’m glad I stuck to my federal prison until they received a full par- “Initially, I moved the cattle to a feedlot guns and they took the seven-month lan- don from President . This which, of course, was expensive. Had it not guage off the permit.” restored their 10-year grazing permit; howev- been for so many Americans sending me Although LaVoy agreed with Bundy’s er, several environmental groups quickly filed truckloads of hay, I wouldn’t have been able constitutional stance and had notified the suit against the BLM in federal court oppos- to survive that time. I am forever grateful. government that he would no longer contract ing the reinstatement. A federal judge After that I was able to move them to my sis- with the BLM, Jeanette feels that LaVoy would ordered no grazing on so-called federal land ter-in-law’s range. The change in the adminis- not have wanted her to take on the BLM. known as the Mud Creek Allotment, but tration following President Trump’s election “Even back in 2004, one of our daughters allowed for cattle to “quickly and methodi- put Ryan Zinke at chief of the Department of wanted to go to Bunkerville with LaVoy, but cally trail through’’ that area to the Hardie

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Jeanette Finicum speaks during a rally and married widower Steven at the Utah State Capitol in Salt Lake Skinner last December. Thara City, March 5, 2016. Her husband, says, “We’re happy that she’s LaVoy, was killed at a roadblock on n January 26 of that year in Oregon. She found a companion.” rejects the finding by authorities that the shooting was justified. Patricia Aiken has been writing about the Bundy cases since the BLM raid in Bunkerville on summer allotment, where cattle April 12, 2014. Last fall she trav- can graze at a 30 percent utiliza- eled the glorious West with tion standard. That’s lower than Brady, her Wonder Aussie, and that allowed in the ranchers’ per- © AP OHOTO/RICK BOWMER. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. says that it’s no surprise that the mit, on four of five pastures. The feds and environmentalists want judge’s ruling said no further graz- the West all to themselves—it’s ing is allowed beyond those so spectacular. For 16 stories on Bundy and Finicum, check restrictions. rangemagazine.com and Environmental groups are “Tyranny.” Jeanette thanks launching seemingly indiscrimi- RANGE readers for their sup- nate attacks against many ranches. port and asks for continued help. This undeclared war has sabotaged “Immediately after LaVoy was killed, If you would like to show the costly equipment, opened cattle documentary, “LaVoy: Dead gates for dozens of miles, destroyed the Bureau of Land Management took Man Talking,” in your commu- water sources, and emptied pre- nity, contact Jeanette directly at cious water from tanks onto the our grazing permit. They refused to 928-925-2621. Or go to the ground depriving animals of water acknowledge the regulation that website, http://onecowboystand- (and anything else they can think forfreedom.com, where you can find Thara’s book as well as of) to disrupt and destroy western heirs have a two-year period to LaVoy’s and sign up for a ranching. monthly newsletter that will On a happier note, Jeanette met acquire the permits.” include trial updates.

Bundy Ranch Update country.” the grand jury would have never resulted in On Labor Day weekend, Ammon, who an . Todd’s sister, Kelli Cooper, The Finicum and Hammond names will does not have even a misdemeanor record, maintains several Facebook sites about Todd always be inextricably linked to the Bundy was denied the purchase of a rifle with zero and gives updates on Greg there as well. family. ’s 15-second defense is, explanation. Clearly sore losers, the govern- Dan Love, BLM special agent in charge “I graze my cattle on Clark County, Nevada, ment has also failed to comply with a court of the attack on the Bundy Ranch, after land and I have no contract with the federal order to return Ammon’s possessions includ- criminal investigation for other matters government.” Even the $8,000 invoice from ing several weapons and his wedding ring. within the agency, has been given a full the BLM was not for grazing fees but for Once again, the law doesn’t apply equally to retirement. It was Love’s falsified threat counting his cattle. Of course, Cliven object- everyone, especially the government. assessment, contradicting the FBI’s own, ed, saying, “I can count my own cattle.” You can follow Bundy Ranch and which said the Bundys were no threat in The BLM’s war on the Bundy Ranch Ammon Bundy on Facebook. Nevada that gave the government carte

obviously has never been about money. blanche to run the full militarized operation

“The government has already spent more Political Prisoners against the protesters in Oregon. That oper- than $330 million and is still spending, ation ended in LaVoy Finicum’s death and pushing the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Todd Engel and Greg Burleson are the only incarceration for many, with the first group Appeals to make a decision to put us back two men convicted from the first Bundy trial, which included Ammon and Ryan Bundy in jail.” confusingly known as Tier 3. However, gov- being fully acquitted. Is Love’s retirement The Bundys are disappointed that ernment malice continues with rampant cor- buying his silence, insurance that he doesn’t ranchers continue to kowtow to regulations ruption in the courts, apparent in Todd become another whistleblower? they view as unlawful. Ammon Bundy says: Engel’s appeal. The appellate court’s ruling “It is hard to stand for other people when makes the preposterous claim that the Brady NOTE: Both Todd and Greg very much appre- they will not stand for themselves. The violations were about situations before Engel ciate mail: Todd Engel #18427-023, USP ranchers who continue to allow the federal arrived in Bunkerville and didn’t affect him. Lompoc, U.S. Penitentiary, 3901 Klein Blvd., government to control their property and The Brady violations and whistleblower Lompoc, CA 93436. Gregory P. Burleson will not stand on the Constitution are not memos from former BLM agent Larry #56875408, USP Coleman II, U.S. Peniten- just hurting themselves, they are hurting our Wooten make it clear that full disclosure to tiary, P.O. Box 1034, Coleman, FL 33521.

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