Malheur militants might receive only light sentences
Created on Tuesday, 09 February 2016 10:00 | Written by Nick Budnick
... The indictment unveiled last week named 16 people as having committed conspiracy to impede federal officials, based on the weeks-long armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. That charge appears “highly winnable,” says Tung Yin, a criminal law professor at Lewis & Clark.
But it’s also just one of several statutes that could have been charged, lawyers say — many of them carrying stiffer sentences, such as a maximum of 25 years in prison, or worse.
Carrie Leonetti, a former federal public defender who teaches criminal and constitutional law at the University of Oregon, has reviewed how federal sentencing guidelines could be applied in the case, and says those defendants who have no criminal history may well face between six and 12 months behind bars. While the charge may well be appropriate, “it makes me sorry for other types of protesters that don’t get this break,” she says.
Other or additional charges may well be filed later on, Leonetti and other lawyers point out. The federal investigation is not over, and the occupation continues. Once law enforcement has taken control of the refuge, investigators are expected to collect evidence of destruction of federal property, as well as unlawful access to federal computers ...
http://portlandtribune.com/pt/9-news/292551-169479-malheur-militants-might-receive-only-light-sentences
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