Ammon Bundy heads to court today and his own father may have sunk any chance of pretrial release

Cliven Bundy is not helping his son’s cause today, the very day Ammon Bundy is headed before a federal judge:

Three men charged over the armed occupation of federal land in Harney County will appear in federal court on Tuesday.

Ammon Bundy, Peter Santilli and Joseph O’Shaughnessy are seeking release from custody pending trial. Bundy and Santilli were denied release on Friday.

O’Shaughnessy was granted release, but federal prosecutors are fighting to keep him locked up.

Ammon Bundy was previously denied released pending trial because the judge determined he is a danger to the community. He is asking a judge to allow him to leave for Idaho with a GPS enabled ankle bracelet.

Meanwhile, Ammon’s own father may have hurt his cause. Late yesterday he publicly released a certified letter he sent to Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward, Oregon Governor Kate Brown and President Barack Obama. The letter was meant to put Sheriff Ward “on notice”:

Certified letter of delusion from Cliven Bundy

Cliven Bundy is ordering the FBI to leave Burns, Oregon immediately … or else. He also says the standoff will continue and they will not give up the refuge. Given the previous federal judge said there was no chance of release while the standoff is still going on and the fact Ammon Bundy and his wife Lisa Bundy have reached out both directly and indirectly to the remaining four militants at the refuge, pleading for them to leave, this isn’t likely to help Ammon’s case today in federal court. 

Tuesday, Feb 2, 2016 · 8:05:33 PM +00:00 · Jen Hayden

Ammon Bundy had a change of heart about the appearance today, postponing only minutes before they were to see the judge:

"Mr. Bundy request this in order to gather further evidence of his statements and actions encouraging a peaceful protest and civil disobedience,'' his attorneys Mike Arnold and Lissa Casey wrote in a motion filed in U.S. District Court in Portland Tuesday.

He’ll no doubt be reaching out to encourage his old man to shut his pie hole as well.

Tuesday, Feb 2, 2016 · 8:20:12 PM +00:00 · Jen Hayden

Santilli is in the clink for a few days more (at least):

Judge continues Pete Santilli's appealed detention hearing until Thursday #Oregonstandoff

— Conrad Wilson (@conradjwilson) February 2, 2016

 

Tuesday, Feb 2, 2016 · 8:31:09 PM +00:00 · Jen Hayden

More on Santilli’s appearance:

Judge Mosman gave Pete Santilli's lawyers 2 days to provided added context to what govt. called his 'incendiary statements' #oregonstandoff

— Maxine Bernstein (@maxoregonian) February 2, 2016