LAS VEGAS (AP) - The Latest on the trial of six men accused of wielding weapons to stop federal agents from rounding up cattle near Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy’s property in 2014 (all times local):
1:35 p.m.
A federal jury in Las Vegas has begun deliberating the fate of the first six defendants to stand trial in an armed standoff with federal agents near Cliven Bundy’s ranch three years ago.
After two months of testimony and a day and a half of closing arguments, verdicts aren’t expected until next week.
One by one, most of the defendants’ supporters left the courtroom gallery on Thursday as Acting Nevada U.S. Attorney Steven Myhre (MI’-ree) finished his summation.
Myhre says the standoff wasn’t about free speech, protests or the right to have firearms.
He says it’s about a threat the six men armed with assault-style rifles posed to federal agents who Myhre says thought they were going to die.
Defense attorneys told the jury the government didn’t prove conspiracy and other charges, including assault on a federal officer.
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11:15 a.m.
Defense attorneys have ended summations in the Nevada trial of six men accused of wielding weapons during the standoff with federal agents near Cliven Bundy’s ranch three years ago.
Federal prosecutors are beginning final closing arguments Thursday in the case alleging conspiracy and assault on federal officers.
Attorneys for the defendants told the jury the government didn’t prove conspiracy and other charges, asking jurors to consider whether their clients were exercising constitutional rights to protest.
Verdicts aren’t expected until next week in the first of three trials stemming from the armed standoff that ended a Bureau of Land Management roundup of Bundy cattle from public land about 80 miles (129 kilometers) northeast of Vegas.
The trial represents the latest turn in a long-running dispute over land policy in the U.S.
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8:50 a.m.
A federal court jury in Nevada will hear three more defense attorneys and a prosecutor before beginning deliberations in the trial of six men accused of wielding assault-style rifles in cattleman Cliven Bundy’s dispute with federal agents three years ago.
Summations are due to finish Thursday in Las Vegas in the first trial stemming from an armed standoff that ended a government roundup of Bundy cattle from public land northeast of Las Vegas.
Three defense attorneys told jurors Wednesday their clients exercised constitutional rights to protest and bear arms, and should to be acquitted of charges including conspiracy and assault on a federal officer.
A prosecutor cast the standoff as a crime of violence at the point of a gun that stopped agents from carrying out lawful court orders to impound Bundy cattle.
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