Judge issues guilty verdicts on 9 of 11 misdemeanor charges against four Oregon standoff defendants
By Maxine Bernstein | The Oregonian/OregonLive
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on March 21, 2017 at 4:49 PM, updated March 22, 2017 at 12:55 AM

A federal judge on Tuesday found four men guilty of trespassing and other misdemeanor charges for their roles in the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge last winter.

U.S. District Judge Anna J. Brown issued her rulings in court against Jason Patrick, Duane Ehmer, Darryl Thorn and Jake Ryan -- the final four defendants in the Malheur case to go on trial.

Shortly afterward, Patrick was taken into custody by deputy U.S. marshals after the judge ordered that he be placed on electronic monitoring as he awaited sentencing.

Patrick, described by prosecutors as an organizer of last winter's occupation, chose to go to jail instead. He stood, removed his blue blazer, took off his belt, emptied his pockets, placed his pack of cigarettes on the defense table and was handcuffed. He turned to his mother in the courtroom gallery and said, "I love you,'' before he was led out.

A jury returned verdicts against the four on separate felony charges on March 10, finding each guilty of at least one felony.

The judge decided the misdemeanor charges based on testimony presented during the trial, additional evidence presented in court while the jury was deliberating and arguments made in court briefs from prosecutors and defense attorneys.

In a 40-page written ruling, Brown found it "highly improbable'' that the occupiers would have allowed refuge employees or an "unsympathetic federal official'' to go onto the property during the takeover. She also said no formal notice of trespass or official demand to leave was needed to find the defendants guilty of trespass.

Brown concluded that all participants in the occupation knew the refuge was federal government property and knew they didn't have any authority over the wildlife sanctuary.

"This fact was not only obvious to any reasonable observer, it was fundamental to the purposes of those who took over and continued to control the MNWR,'' Brown wrote. "Indeed, knowing that their actions were not authorized was inherent in the occupiers' efforts to attempt to assert 'adverse possession' over the MNWR and to protest what they described as federal government overreach.''

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