In March, federal prosecutors expect to file another indictment against the alleged conspirators in the armed takeover of a federal wildlife refuge in eastern Oregon that may add new charges and additional defendants.

The potential for new charges in a superseding indictment and naming of other defendants will depend on the federal government's ongoing investigation, according to court records filed late Friday.

Defense lawyers representing 25 people already indicted on a federal conspiracy charge stemming from the 41-day occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge want the government to turn over the evidence they have obtained so far as part of discovery in preparation for a trial.

Further, each defendant wants to be informed whether FBI agents captured any of them on electronic surveillance equipment.

Prosecutors counter that evidence will be turned over 14 days after the defendants are arraigned on the indictment, scheduled for this Wednesday.

U.S. District Court Judge Anna J. Brown also is expected to hear oral arguments Wednesday at 10 a.m. on pretrial matters, including the defense lawyers' joint motion seeking an immediate halt to the FBI's processing of evidence at the Malheur refuge.

Defense lawyers want their own investigators present at the refuge to videotape the federal government's examination of evidence in the case.

The government objects. FBI agents already have located firearms, explosives and a trench of human feces at the site, according to prosecutors.

The government also wants the court to set a trial date sometime in the spring of next year, while defense lawyers are seeking a speedy trial and favor an April start this year.

Federal prosecutors urge the court to classify the federal conspiracy case as a "complex case'' due to the volume and scope of discovery, number of defendants involved, "unique nature'' of crime scene on a 172,000-acre wildlife preserve, and involvement of a handful of defendants in an indictment in Nevada stemming from a 2014 standoff with federal officers at the Bundy ranch.

"The government anticipates that the discovery issues in defendants' case will be some of the most complicated in the history of the district,'' Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ethan Knight, Geoffrey Barrow and Craig Gabriel wrote in a court filing.



-- Maxine Bernstein

mbernstein@oregonian.com

503-221-8212

@maxoregonian