Malheur Refuge manager takes stand in Bundy trial

PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The manager of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge took the stand on Thursday in the trial of seven members who took over the refuge.

The refuge manager is very important in the case because the Bundys and five others are charged with conspiring to block federal workers from doing their job, through fear, intimidation and force. He told jurors he had warned refuge workers to keep away just before the occupation began.

He said he was worried for their safety with the rising tensions and threats against federal workers.

The manager also said when he saw video of Ammon Bundy in court he noticed that the occupier said he had taken over the refuge and would be there for several years. In the video, he called for others to come armed to the refuge and convinced the manager to keep his workers away.

During the hearing on Thursday morning, jurors viewed pictures of occupiers with rifles and trucks blocking the entrances and exits to the refuge.

The occupiers did say that they planned on hurting no one.

At the start of the hearing, Ammon Bundy showed up wearing his jail clothes.

In a prepared statement, Bundy said he was showing himself as the “political prisoner” he is. Bundy, his brother Ryan, plus Jeff Banta, Neil Wampler, Kenneth Medebach, David Fry and Shawna Cox are all on trial about the takeover that began January 2.

All 7 defendants have pleaded not guilty to impeding federal employees from carrying out their work at the refuge through intimation, threats or force.

Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward is expected to continue testifying. He spent all of Wednesday on the stand answering questions from prosecutors.

At one point, Sheriff Ward said an email he received from defendant Neil Wampler warned the sheriff to protect residents from an abusive government or “see your county invaded by the most determined and organized – and armed – citizens alive in this country.”

A second message from Wampler warned: “We ain’t playin!”

The sheriff said he’s no cheerleader for the federal government, but he examined the Hammond case and determined he had no right to defy the U.S. court system.

Ward told jurors Ammon Bundy repeatedly promised to give him evidence that would prove the Hammonds’ innocence, but never did.

The trial started Tuesday with the federal government laying out their case against the group that took over the refuge for 41 days starting in January.

During opening statements, occupiers said it was their goal to help local landowners deal with an overreaching federal government that abused their rights for decades.

The trial could go until November.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.