Homemade Sovereignty · Episode 5 of 7 · 45 min
How Two Sheriffs Decided the Bundy Standoff and Malheur Occupation
In April 2014 armed civilians took positions above federal agents near Bunkerville, Nevada, and the BLM backed down. Two years later the same movement seized the Malheur refuge in Oregon and failed. The difference was the local sheriff, and the later trials ended in acquittals and a dismissal that the movement read as vindication.
Who's who
- Cliven Bundy+2 more episodesNevada rancher who stopped paying BLM grazing fees in 1993
- Ammon Bundy+2 more episodesLed the January 2016 Malheur occupation; acquitted in October 2016
- Ryan Bundy+2 more episodesLed the Malheur occupation; acquitted in October 2016
- Doug GillespieClark County sheriff who kept deputies out of the impoundment
- David WardHarney County sheriff who refused to arrest federal agents
- Robert LaVoy Finicum+1 more episodeOccupation spokesman killed at a January 26, 2016 highway stop
- Gloria NavarroFederal judge who dismissed the Bunkerville case with prejudice
Where it happens
- Bunkerville, Nevada+2 more episodesSite of the April 2014 standoff with BLM agents
- Interstate 15 overpass, NevadaArmed civilians took positions above federal agents
- Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, Oregon+2 more episodes187,000-acre refuge occupied for 41 days in 2016
- Harney County, OregonCommunity and sheriff rejected the occupation
- Highway 395, OregonWhere leaders were stopped and Finicum was killed
Timeline
- 1993Cliven Bundy stops paying BLM grazing fees
- April 2014Armed standoff at Bunkerville; BLM retreats and releases the cattle
- January 2016Ammon and Ryan Bundy lead occupation of Malheur refuge headquarters
- January 26, 2016FBI and Oregon State Police stop leaders; Finicum is killed
- October 27, 2016Oregon jury acquits Ammon and Ryan Bundy and five co-defendants
- January 8, 2018Judge Navarro dismisses Bunkerville case with prejudice for prosecutorial misconduct
Still debated
Investigators said Finicum was reaching for a loaded handgun, while his family and supporters call the shooting an ambush. The acquittals and dismissal addressed prosecutorial overreach rather than endorsing county supremacy, though both readings circulate, and Sheriff Gillespie's motives (principle, caution, or de-escalation) are debated.