Five days before jury selection is set to begin, Ammon Bundy's lawyer mocked federal prosecutors for their concise rejection of his last-minute efforts to convince the court to throw out the indictment based on his client's continued challenges of federal control of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge and the court's authority.

On Thursday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Ethan Knight wrote, "This Court has jurisdiction ... because this is a case involving federal criminal charges.''

He added, "Moreover, Bundy's adverse possession theory is fatally flawed because it does not apply to the federal government.''

Attorney Marcus Mumford shot back Friday, describing the government's brief response as that "more indicative" of a "first-year law student'' and reciting a scene from the 1948 classic Western adventure film, "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.''

In a motion to the court, Mumford said the government's response brought to mind the memorable exchange in the film between a bandit, played by Alfonso Bedoya, and Fred Dobbs, played by Humphrey Bogart. When Dobbs asks the bandit where his badge was, the bandit responded, "Badges? We ain't go no badges. We don't need no badges. I don't have to show you any stinking badges!''

Mumford wrote, "The government's response says, essentially, we don't need to prove no stinking subject matter jurisdiction! ... But that's the thing, they do.''

He concluded, "It should not be too much to expect the government to directly address this argument, which was also central to the entire motivation of Mr. Bundy and the centrally disputed element of this pending case.''

Bundy, the leader of the 41-day occupation at the federal wildlife sanctuary who is charged with conspiracy to impede federal officers, intends to argue that he and supporters had attempted to stake claim to the refuge under the adverse possession principle. Part of his defense is that they were engaged in political protest protected by the First Amendment rights to free speech and free assembly and their Second Amendment right to bear arms.

Adverse possession is the occupation of land that someone else has title to with the intention of possessing it as one's own.

U.S. District Judge Anna J. Brown, on more than one occasion, told the parties to the case that neither federal land management policies nor the principle of adverse possession will be on trial.

The matter before the court is strictly whether Ammon Bundy and his co- defendants made an agreement with the intent to impede federal officers from carrying out their work at the refuge through intimidation, threats or force.

The judge said the defendants can raise their intent to stake claim to the property through adverse possession if they testify during the trial, but any evidence on the issue is restricted to the defendants' state of mind. It doesn't absolve them of potential criminal culpability, the judge found.

In other last-minute motions, Ammon Bundy's brother Ryan Bundy late Friday filed a request to dismiss his standby counsel Lisa Ludwig, and urged the court to dismiss the indictment against him, claiming he was entrapped by law enforcement.

The last pretrial conference is set for Tuesday at 10 a.m., with jury selection to start Wednesday.

-- Maxine Bernstein

mbernstein@oregonian.com

503-221-8212

@maxoregonian