Is the Prosecution Case Collapsing?
by Shari Dovale
The Bunkerville retrial in Las Vegas has several interesting updates today.
The prosecution has stated that they have finished presenting their witnesses, however they will not formally rest their case until the next time they see the jury, which is expected at 9am Thursday morning.
The jury questions for the final witness, Special Agent Willis, were very interesting and seemed to show that the jurors are getting a bit annoyed at the behavior of the judge.
Some examples of the jury questions include a juror wanting to know why the FBI was involved in this case at all, since it was a BLM operation. Judge Navarro refused to ask that question in open court and told the jury that it was not relevant for them to know the answer.
Another question referred to whether or not defendants Drexlar and Stewart had had any direct communications with anyone (outside of the current defendants) prior to April 12, 2014.
AUSA Myhre was at a loss when he heard of this question, knowing that he should object but not quite sure how to do it for the jury. After dancing around the answer, it was a clear “No”.
The reason that the jury has been given the day off is that Judge Gloria Navarro wants the defense to ‘proffer’ their witnesses first to her so that she may rule whether or not their testimony is relevant. Navarro wants to know what they have to say, so she can decide if the jury will be allowed to hear the testimony.
Navarro is making every attempt to shut down the defense before they start. This includes the testimony of Dennis Michael Lynch, former FOX News reporter. Lynch was called by the prosecution in the first trial this past spring, though the testimony did not go quite as well as they had hoped.
Lynch had video, as well as personal testimony, that showed the excessive force by the BLM to the protesters. The prosecution has made the decision not to call him during this trial, as expected, so the defense has called him. Navarro seems to be trying to find a way to keep him from testifying.
Rich Tanasi, attorney for Steven Stewart, wants to put witnesses from the wash up to testify. The prosecution has objected, though the defense argument is that the government has brought into question the mood of the crowd. This point was made several times.
During the arguments, the prosecution made the statement that they had never alleged conspiracy of the 410 people in the wash. However, they forgot the fact that they have been threatening everyone as “Unindicted Co-conspirators”.
They have made the claims during this trial, as well as the previous trial. They used these threats to keep witnesses from testifying. These claims were made outside the presence of the jury.
This goes to show that the prosecution wants to eat their cake and have it too. They use the claim that everyone is an “Unindicted Co-conspirator” to get around heresay objections.
We know that Judge Navarro will grant their motions, effectively shutting down the defense.
Another way that Judge Navarro seems to be going out of her way to help the prosecution is through her insistence that the defense can file a 29A motion early.
Rule 29. Motion for a Judgment of Acquittal
(a) Before Submission to the Jury. After the government closes its evidence or after the close of all the evidence, the court on the defendant’s motion must enter a judgment of acquittal of any offense for which the evidence is insufficient to sustain a conviction. The court may on its own consider whether the evidence is insufficient to sustain a conviction. If the court denies a motion for a judgment of acquittal at the close of the government’s evidence, the defendant may offer evidence without having reserved the right to do so.
Judge Gloria Navarro made every attempt to get the defense to file a “29A” motion today.
A 29A motion is a motion to acquit the defendants on the basis of insufficient evidence. The charges each have several elements, and all elements must be proven before the charge can be sustained.
For example:
COUNT ONE
Conspiracy to Commit an Offense Against the United States
(Title 18, United States Code, Section 371)
a. Assault on a Federal Officer, in violation of Title 18, United
States Code, Section l ll(a)(l) and (b);
b. Threatening a Federal Law Enforcement Officer, in violation of
Title 18, United States Code, Section l 15(a)(l)(B);
c. Use and Carry of a Firearm In Relation to a Crime of Violence,
in violation of Title 181 United States Code. Section 924(c);
d. Obstruction of the Due Administration of Justice, in violation
of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1503;
e. Interference with Interstate Commerce by Extortion, in
violation of Title 18, United States Code, Section 1951; and
f. Interstate Travel in Aid of Extortion, in violation of Title 18,
United States Code, Section 1952
Under (b) it states: Threatening a Federal Law Enforcement Officer. It can be argued that the government did not prove this element as they have multiple videos, Facebook posts, etc that show the defendants desired a non violent resolution. They did not want the altercation with the BLM or FBI.
The government might attempt to argue that the threat was implied. However, it will be up to the defense to argue the point.
The problem with Judge Navarro trying to make the defense file and argue the 29A motion is that the government has not rested it’s case yet. They do not intend to rest it’s case before the jury returns on Thursday.
If the defense files their motion prior to the government resting their case, then they will be giving the prosecution carte blanche to continue presenting evidence against their clients. The prosecution will know every point that the defense can make against them, therefore it will be malpractice for the defense attorneys to file this motion too soon.
But Judge Gloria Navarro is still showing her bias. It is not inconceivable that she will bully the defense in to filing this motion prior to the prosecution completing their case.
She has to see that the government’s case has taken a severe turn towards the South. That could be why she has doubled down against the defense.
Please pay attention to this travesty of justice. This case is a very important case, not just for the other defendants waiting for their turn in court, but to the citizens of this country. Every citizen of this country will be effected by the outcome of this trial.
Neil and Boyd point to a big difference between Soviet Russia and America. Americans are armed, the Russian people were not. The question for we Americans, “who have had it to easy for to long”, is: Do we have the will to fight this “enormous state”? the answer will determine whether or not we will regain our God Given Rights.
That is indeed the question, Robert. The consequences of fighting this “enormous state” which is projected to Deficit Spend over $420 billion for 2017, 2018, 2019 means effectively putting an end to life in the USA as it is now…people have gotten it into their head they have a “Right To A Job”…drying up this loose fiscal monetary system and accounting mismanagement without having a strong country-wide Agrarian and Husbandry based culture will mean the vast majority will be begging The State to save them…and the State WILL give them something to do….and thus “The Fight” will be taken out of them.
Which bears sharing this item from William Blackstone’s “Commentaries on the Laws of England”:
“But the statute of king Charles II., which prescribes a thing seemingly as indifferent, (a dress for the dead, who are all ordered to be buried in woollen,) is a law consistent with public liberty; for it encourages the staple trade, on which in great measure depends the universal good of the nation. So that laws, when prudently framed, are by no means subversive, but rather introductive, of liberty; for, as Mr. Locke has well observed, where there is no law there is no freedom. But then, on the other hand, that constitution or frame of government, that system of laws, is alone calculated to maintain civil liberty, which leaves the subject entire master of his own conduct, except in those points wherein the public good requires some direction or restraint.”
“The State”, being England under King Charles II, actually made a statute mandating people be buried in Wool so as to give people something to do (e.g. stimulate the staple trade) by raising sheep and harvesting wool.
So along with the question of “Will the people fight?”…also goes the question “Will they not fight if they are given something to do?” (e.g. Shovel Ready Job, Raise Sheep, Grants Of All Sorts, Subsidies)
The last paragraph: https://fedlaws.xyz/
Neil, the situation places a skull numbing seriousness on how fickle our future looks…and really, even though an armed populace is a good thing, I would not count on arms as a guarantee…all arms do is get us in the fight. Two of the greatest insults a person can say to a mature adult with wits are “You Did Not Build That” and “Shovel Ready Jobs”…which Obama did largely unrefuted…and was elected to two terms by Americans at large…which means they macerated in the insults like masochists.
The Gulags were full of staunch believing Communists…it was not rebels who were sentenced to the Gulags as “politicals”…the Gulags were baseline money makers for the USSR (lumber, mines, manufacturing)…all they needed was human bodies (Fellow Communists is the point) to fill those “Shovel Ready Jobs”. They did it to their own countrymen.
And what mature person needs to be told that a composite product they manufacture from pieces from different places in the world is indictable by the phrase “You did not build that”…or even worse to fain acceptance of that phrase as “Wisdom” or “High Knowledge”. Composite products have been manufactured with pieces from far away regions since before the Bronze Age…thousands and thousands of years ago…what ninny does not understand that?
How many staunch Americans would accept a “Shovel Ready Job” or accept being whipped by a wet noodle as chastisement for not worshiping other humans (society) since they were participants in creating the parts of the composite product you manufactured? Too many; too many.
But I digress a little…yes, armed resistance to tyranny is better than acquiescing your wits, allegiance, and soul.
Bravo Boyd, for your very apt literary reference! we’re in a hell of a situation when we make comparisons with Stalinist Russia! My own Solzhenitsyn period was long ago…Gulag…The first Circle…August 1914..One day in the life of Ivan dienisovitch…but I do recall S’s bitter regret about the mass arrests: “If only we had met the NKVD goons with clubs and knives, they would have hidden in their jails, and not come out”. The Govt criminals here,backed by their liberal/totalitarian allies, would have us in Gulag,But of course they know they’ll have to disarm the population first.
Sounds like entrapment of a sort for a Judge to encourage the Defense to file a motion which will impair their case and result in malpractice.
In any event, it is just plain nasty.
The tangled web of lies woven by these Govt hacks is catching up to them, and as Shari has said, they now want to have their cake and eat it too. Possible, folks, courtesy of Judge Navarro. Ludicrous fabrications have become the norm. Maybe, finally,and at last,Navarro’s intrusion into this 29A motion – a prerogative reserved for the defense – will be the last straw for the defense team and they will actually show some backbone. Having bullied and spat upon (No other way to describe it) the defense lawyers throughout the trial, she may now have gone too far. Hopefully Marchese and co will feel that honor is now involved, band together,man up, and say NO! WE WILL NOT COMPLY! When the Govt breaks the law, there is no law. Gigantic stakes are involved here folks, for the continued liberty movement and for anyone who stands up to Govt abuse. Success for Navarro and her gang in this conspiracy – and yes, that’s what it is, a conspiracy – will mean a green light for every armed federal goon.
There are many words to try and slight or dismiss the danger: hyperbole, trite, cliche, exaggeration.
But the consequences of bad government are very real…and patentable…just read the last paragraph of “The Gulag Archipelago”…everyone sent to the Gulag did have at the least a farce of a trial…including plea-bargains.
“The naively trusting little newspaper reader goes into the courtroom conscious that he is in the right. His reasonable arguments are carefully rehearsed, and he lays them before the somnolent, masklike faces on the bench, never suspecting that sentence has been passed on him already that there are no courts of appeal, no proper channels and due procedures through which a malignant, a corrupt, a soul-searingly unjust verdict can be undone. There is – only a wall. And its bricks are laid in a mortar of lies. We called this chapter “The Law Today.” It should rightly be called “There Is No Law.” The same treacherous secrecy, the same fog of injustice, still hangs in our air, worse than the smoke of city chimneys. For half a century and more the enormous state has towered over us, girded with hoops of steel. The hoops are still there. There is no law.” – Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn “The Gulag Archpelago
I agree completely Neil… very well said