Judge calls rancher, whose sons were involved in Malheur wildlife refuge occupation, a danger to the community and a flight risk after his arrest

Cliven Bundy was denied bail on Tuesday at US district court in Portland, Oregon, where he is being held in connection with a 2014 standoff between armed militia and federal officers at his ranch in Nevada.

“If he’s released and goes back to his ranch, that’s likely the last the court will see of him,” judge Janice Stewart said, finding Bundy a danger to the community and a flight risk. She said that despite his lack of a criminal history, his refusal to pay grazing fees going back nearly two decades and his fomenting of the armed standoff made it clear that Bundy has little interest in complying with federal court orders.

Oregon standoff: Cliven Bundy faces six federal charges over 2014 confrontation Read more

In court on Tuesday, the 69-year-old Bundy wore the same light-blue prison jumpsuit and faded pink undershirt that the former occupiers of the Malheur national wildlife refuge in south-eastern Oregon have worn at their hearings. He also appeared to have a fresh haircut, with his hair high and straight across the back of his head from ear to ear.

Bundy’s sons Ammon and Ryan are among the occupiers being held in connection to the Malheur standoff, which ended in a dramatic surrender on Thursday morning after a 41-day occupation of the federal complex in rural Harney County. Cliven Bundy was arrested at Portland international airport Wednesday night. His lawyer has said he was travelling to visit his sons in prison and family in the Boise, Idaho area, though early reports had it that he was on his way to the refuge in support of the occupiers.

Bundy’s new attorney, Noel Grefenson – who said he had received the government’s memorandum on the bail hearing five minutes before leaving his Salem, Oregon, office Tuesday morning and had yet to read it – claimed the case against his client was thin concerning Bundy’s exact role in the standoff.



Bundy is accused of recruiting hundreds of supporters to his ranch in 2014, where the US bureau of land management was making arrangements for his cattle to be impounded due to unpaid grazing fees and fines dating back to 1998.

The situation drew national attention and escalated into a “a massive armed assault against federal law enforcement officers” on 12 April 2014, according to the complaint filed against Bundy.

On Tuesday, Nevada federal prosecutor Steven Myhre said there were more than 60 guns “raised, brandished, pointed at the officers” during the standoff.

“It’s difficult to find words to represent the level of violence,” Myhre told the court. “Almost to a person, those officers thought they were going to die that day.”

In support of the government’s case that Bundy should not be released on bail ahead of his trial, Myhre argued that Bundy’s “actions and deeds show his violent nature” and that many of the people who came to the standoff at the ranch two years ago were still at large and still “pledged” to support the rancher.

Bundy’s next court date is Friday in Las Vegas, where a preliminary hearing will take place on the six federal charges against him. He stands accused of conspiracy to commit an offense against the US; assault on a federal officer with a deadly weapon; use and carry of a firearm in relation to a crime of violence; interference with commerce by extortion; obstruction of the administration of justice; and aiding and abetting.

Bundy’s attorney said on Tuesday that Bundy and Nevada state representative Michele Fiore, who was instrumental as an intermediary between the FBI and the remaining occupiers last week, were supposed to fly together to Oregon, but that Bundy missed that earlier flight.

He said Fiore was then supposed to pick up Bundy at the airport, but she headed to the refuge once she received word the situation was escalating. “She didn’t know the FBI, as it enlisted her services [as a go-between], was intending to arrest her friend,” Grefenson told the court.

Stewart said: “I fail to see how this is relevant.”