Cliven Bundy wants his attorney removed from Nevada standoff case

Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy is trying to fire his longtime attorney less than a month before going to trial on charges that he led an armed standoff against federal authorities in 2014.

Bundy's attorney filed a motion in a Las Vegas federal court on Thursday asking for permission to withdraw because his client wants him off the case.

"The attorney-client relationship has been disrupted," Las Vegas defense lawyer Brett Whipple said in his motion. "(Bundy) will either need to discuss with the court his right to represent himself or the appointment of substitute counsel."

Whipple noted the "rapidly approaching" Oct. 10 trial date but offered no explanation about why Bundy is seeking his removal.

"It is unknown ... at this time whether or not defendant Bundy seeks to represent himself at trial, or if he has some other intent in regards to securing alternative counsel," Whipple wrote.

Cliven Bundy has been in federal custody since February 2016.

The motion came hours after a contentious hearing Thursday in which a lawyer for Bundy's son Ryan, who is also a defendant in the standoff case, asked to withdraw.

U.S. District Court Judge Gloria Navarro said she was inclined to deny the motion after Ryan Bundy objected to the hearing via phone from his Nevada prison, where he has been incarcerated for about 18 months. He also asked the court to release him from custody pending trial.

Court records show Ryan Bundy demanded the right to appear in court Thursday rather than participate by telephone. But the U.S. Marshals Service reported that he "would not comply with the facility's conditions for transportation of prisoners."

Ryan Bundy already represents himself. Las Vegas lawyer Angela Dows, who is assigned to serve as his standby attorney during trial, said she and Ryan Bundy have differences that cannot be resolved.

She said in a Sept. 13 motion that Bundy sent her a five-page letter that contained language she considered "repugnant." She said she had a "fundamental disagreement" with him.

"Bundy is not solely focusing on the defense of his own case and instead potentially focusing on what I can only describe as collateral arguments that will perhaps not have a positive effect upon his defense at trial," Dows wrote.

Ryan Bundy hung up the phone on the judge before the conference ended. Navarro refused to release him and scheduled an Oct. 3 conference to determine if he is competent to waive his right to counsel.

Neither Whipple nor Dows responded to interview requests Thursday.

Bizarre legal saga

The motions are the latest twist in a bizarre legal saga. The Bundy Ranch standoff represents one of the most high-profile land-use cases in modern Western history, pitting cattle ranchers, anti-government protesters and militia members against the Bureau of Land Management.

Last year, the government charged 19 people for their roles in the Nevada standoff. Two men took plea deals. Trials for the remaining defendants were broken into three tiers based on their alleged levels of culpability in the standoff.

But federal prosecutors have so far been unable to secure a clear victory against the defendants, whom they accuse of conspiring to prevent a lawful roundup of Cliven Bundy's cattle in a dusty wash below Interstate 15 about 70 miles north of Las Vegas..

A jury in April deadlocked on charges against four defendants. It convicted two others on multiple counts. But jurors could not agree on conspiracy charges — a key component of the government's case — against any of the six.

The government launched its retrial of the four defendants in July. But a second federal jury did not return any guilty verdicts last month after four days of deliberation.

Jurors acquitted two of the defendants. It returned not-guilty verdicts on the most serious charges against the other two defendants and deadlocked on weapons and assault charges against them.

Navarro ordered the two defendants — Eric Parker and O. Scott Drexler, both of Idaho — tried a third time on the outstanding charges.

Rather than trying them separately, she ordered them to stand trial alongside five others accused of leading the standoff, including Cliven, Ryan and Ammon Bundy, Ryan Payne and Pete Santilli.

For decades, the BLM repeatedly ordered Bundy to remove his cattle from federal lands and in 2014 obtained a court order to seize his cattle as payment for more than $1 million in unpaid grazing fees.

Hundreds of supporters from every state in the union, including members of several militia groups, converged on his ranch about 70 miles north of Las Vegas.

The standoff was hailed as a victory by militia members. Ammon and Ryan Bundy cited their success at Bundy Ranch in their run-up to the siege of an Oregon wildlife refuge in 2016, also in protest of BLM policies. An Oregon federal jury acquitted Ammon and Ryan Bundy and five others in October.

No arrests were made in the Bundy Ranch case until after the Oregon siege ended.

It was unclear if the motions Thursday could delay the start of the next trial.

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