At the very least, you'd expect the Bundy militiamen who occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon for over 40 days to be convicted on federal weapons charges, but a jury of their nincompoop peers cleared them of weapons charges last night.
The Bundy brothers and occupiers Jeff Banta and David Fry also were found not guilty of having guns in a federal facility. Kenneth Medenbach was found not guilty of stealing government property, and a hung jury was declared on Ryan Bundy's charge of theft of FBI surveillance cameras.
The Bundy militia's armed takeover of the refuge was literally live-streamed to the entire world. There are countless photos and videos of them carrying and firing their weapons on federal property. FBI agents testified at trial that they recovered over 16,000 rounds of live ammunition and over 1,300 rounds of spent shell casings from the property.
The overwhelming evidence of their guilt apparently didn't sway a biased jury that I can only assume held sympathetic feelings toward the defendants' cause. There's certainly no legal explanation why they would clear the militiamen of weapons charges. The law was not justly applied here.
This verdict caught me by surprise for all the reasons I listed above. The evidence that these men illegally carried their weapons into federal property is abundant. It's not as if they tried to hide it, either. Their very-armed takeover was the whole point of their operation.
At the end of the day, these are all white men and women who were cleared by a jury of white men and women. I doubt anyone could honestly say a black or Latino militia would be allowed to walk away from similar charges and an abundant amount of evidence to their guilt.
If it's any consolation, ringleader Ammon Bundy won't be going anywhere. Ammon is still facing charges for his participation in the armed standoff at the Bundy ranch in Nevada.