Moments before Ammon Bundy was expected to appear in federal court Tuesday to challenge a magistrate judge's order to keep him in custody pending trial, his attorneys asked to withdraw their challenge at this time.
"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.
Bundy, 40, had been scheduled to go before U.S. District Court Judge Michael W. Mosman at 10 a.m. to challenge the order of Magistrate Judge Stacie F. Beckerman, who ruled Friday that Bundy remained a danger to the community and was a risk of flight and should not be released from custody.
Bundy, the leader of the nearly month-long refuge takeover, is one of 11 defendants accused of a federal conspiracy charge stemming from the armed takeover of the federal wildlife refuge outside Burns in Harney County.
His attorneys' motion Tuesday morning asked that Bundy be allowed to challenge his detention at a later time.
As a result of the motion, his 10 a.m. scheduled hearing was canceled.
Co-defendants Joseph O'Shaughnessy and Pete Santilli are expected to appear in court later Tuesday morning, starting at 10:30 a.m.
Santilli's lawyer Thomas Coan filed a 51-page memo in court, seeking to convince Mosman to release Santilli from jail with conditions.
Federal prosecutors plan to challenge Beckerman's order releasing O'Shaughnessy with conditions. O'Shaughnessy's lawyer Amy Baggio had successfully convinced Beckerman last week that O'Shaughnessy was not among the key players of the occupation, never spent a night at the refuge and even was opposed to it.
-- Maxine Bernstein
mbernstein@oregonian.com
503-221-8212
@maxoregonian