Hammond arson case

The Hammond arson case was a court case culminating from 20-year-long legal disputes between Harney County, Oregon ranchers Dwight, 73, and Steven Hammond, 46, and federal officials. In 2012, both Hammonds were charged with several counts in relation to two fires in 2001 and 2006, and eventually convicted of two counts of arson on federal land. They were sentenced and served their time, but in 2015, these sentences were vacated by the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which then remanded re-sentencing. The Hammonds were subsequently re-sentenced to five years in prison.

By late 2015, the Hammond case had attracted the attention of Ammon and Ryan Bundy, who planned a protest against the re-sentencing, though the Hammonds rejected their assistance. However, the protest still went into effect on January 2, 2016, and resulted in the Bundys and associates staging a 40-day armed occupation of the headquarters area of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

Background

Location

Main articles: Harney County, Oregon and Malheur National Wildlife Refuge

Harney County is a rural county in eastern Oregon. The county seat is the city of Burns. Although it is one of the largest counties by area in the United States, its population is only about 7,700, and cattle outnumber people 14-to-1. About 75 percent of the county's area is federal land, variously managed by the United States Bureau of Reclamation (USBR), the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and the United States Forest Service (USFS). Besides ranching and farming, forestry and manufacturing are important industries in the county.

The Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, located in Harney County, was established in 1908 by President Theodore Roosevelt, a conservationist. Located in the Pacific Flyway, and currently encompassing 187,757 acres (760 km²), it is "one of the premiere sites for birds and birding in the U.S.," according to the Audubon Society of Portland. Tourism, especially birding, injects US$15 million into the local economy annually.

Cattle ranching in Harney County

Cattle ranching in Harney County predates the 1908 establishment of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, with some cattle trails, including those used by the Hammond family, dating back to the 1870s. Disputes between cattle ranchers and the federal government over management of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge have gone on for "generations" and the situation has regularly deteriorated to taunts and threats directed at federal officials from ranchers since at least the early 1970s.

In an effort to address concerns of neighboring landowners and interests, the recent completion of a 15-year management plan for the refuge heavily involved various stakeholders, including ranchers, in its development process. The plan was completed in 2013 and won praise from some area ranchers for its collaborative approach.

Early conflicts with federal land managers

In June 1994, the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge manager notified Dwight Hammond that his permit to graze his cattle and grow hay on the refuge was revoked. Two months later, Hammond and his son Steven obstructed the completion of a fence on the refuge boundary to keep their cattle out of the refuge's marsh and wetland, prompting their arrest by federal agents. According to federal officials, the fence was needed to stop the Hammonds' cattle from moving onto the refuge after the ranchers had repeatedly violated the terms of their special permit, which limited when they could move their cattle across refuge property. Officials also reported that Dwight Hammond had made death threats against refuge managers in 1986, 1988, 1991, and 1994. Following their release from jail on recognizance, a rally attended by 500 other cattle ranchers was held in support of the Hammonds in Burns, and then-U.S. Representative Robert Freeman Smith from Oregon wrote a letter of protest to the United States Secretary of the Interior, Bruce Babbitt. Charges against the Hammonds were later dropped.

In 1999, Steven Hammond started a fire with the intent of burning off juniper trees and sagebrush, but the fire escaped onto BLM land. The agency reminded Hammond of the required burn permit and that if the fires continued, there would be legal consequences.

Arson case

Fires for which the Hammonds were convicted

Both Dwight and Steven Hammond later set two fires, one in 2001 and one in 2006, that would lead to convictions of arson on federal land:

• The 2001 Hardie-Hammond fire began, according to Probation Officer Robb, when hunters in the area witnessed the Hammonds illegally slaughter a herd of deer. Less than two hours later, a fire erupted and forced the hunters to leave the area, allegedly also to conceal evidence of the illegal killing of the deer. Later, Steven's nephew Dusty Hammond testified that his uncle told him to start lighting matches and "light the whole countryside on fire." Dusty also testified that he was "almost burned up in the fire" and had to flee for his life. The Hammonds have claimed they started the fire to stop invasive plants from growing onto their grazing fields.
• The 2006 Krumbo Butte fire started out as a wildfire, but several illegal backburns were set by the Hammonds with the intent to protect their winter feed. The backfires were set under the cover of night without warning the firefighting camp that was known to be on the slopes above. According to the indictment, the fires threatened to trap four BLM firefighters, one of whom later confronted Dwight Hammond at the fire scene after he had moved his crews to avoid the threat. Two days later, according to federal prosecutors, Steven Hammond threatened to frame a BLM employee with arson if he didn't stop the investigation.

Mid-trial pre-sentencing agreement

In 2012, the Hammonds were tried in federal district court on multiple charges. During a break in jury deliberations, partial verdict were rendered finding the Hammonds not guilty on two of the charges, but convicting them on two counts of arson on federal land. Striking a plea bargain, in order to have the four remaining charges dismissed and for sentences on the two convictions to run concurrently, the Hammonds waived their rights to appeal their convictions. This was with their knowledge that the trial would proceed to sentencing where the prosecution intended to seek imposition of the mandatory five-year minimum sentences.

Sentencing hearing, appeals of the sentence, and re-sentencing

At sentencing, the federal prosecutors requested the five-year mandatory minimum under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA). U.S. District Judge Michael Robert Hogan independently decided that sentences of that length "would shock the conscience" and would violate the constitutional prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. On his last day on the bench before retiring, October 31, 2012, Hogan instead sentenced Dwight Hammond to three months' imprisonment and Steven Hammond to a year and a day's imprisonment, which both men served. In what was described by one source as a "rare" action, the government (represented by the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Oregon, led by U.S. Attorney Amanda Marshall) successfully appealed the sentence to the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. It upheld the mandatory-minimum law, writing that "given the seriousness of arson, a five-year sentence is not grossly disproportionate to the offense." The court vacated the original sentence and remanded for re-sentencing. The Hammonds filed petitions for certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court, which the court denied in March 2015. In October 2015, Chief Judge Ann Aiken re-sentenced the pair to five years in prison (with credit for time served), ordering that they return to prison on January 4, 2016.

Both of the Hammonds reported to Federal Correctional Institution, Terminal Island in California on January 4, as ordered by the court. A few days earlier, the Hammonds also paid the federal government the remaining balance on a US$400,000 court order for restitution related to the arson fires.

On January 25, it became known that Susan Hammond, the wife of Dwight Hammond, signed a document for participation in a so-called "citizen grand jury" and claimed that the paper would clear her husband of wrongdoing. The author of the paper was Joaquin Mariano DeMoreta-Folch, a Tea Party activist. The self-styled "citizens grand jury" has no legal standing, but is rather linked to the fringe sovereign citizen movement, a conspiratorial movement which rejects federal authority.

Aftermath of re-sentencing

Bundy in 2014.

After the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the Hammonds' appeal in March 2015, the Hammonds' case returned to federal district court where they were re-sentenced to the statutory minimum of five years, with credit for time served. Meanwhile, the Oregon Farm Bureau circulated a petition seeking clemency from President Barack Obama.

About this time, the Hammonds' case attracted the attention of Ammon Bundy—a former car fleet manager from Phoenix, Arizona; and the son of anti-government protester Cliven D. Bundy, the central figure of a standoff with the BLM in 2014—and Ryan Payne. In November 2015, Bundy and his associates began publicizing the Hammonds' case via social media.

Over the ensuing weeks, Bundy and Payne met for approximately eight hours with Harney County Sheriff David Ward to detail plans for what they described would be a peaceful protest in Burns, as well as also requesting the sheriff's office protect the Hammonds from being taken into custody by federal authorities. Though Ward said he sympathized with the Hammonds' plight, he declined Bundy and Payne's request. Ward then said that he subsequently received death threats by email. Unbeknownst to Ward, Bundy and Payne were simultaneously planning a takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. By late fall, local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies had become aware that members of anti-government militias had started to relocate to Harney County, and the USFWS began circulating a photograph of Ammon Bundy with instructions for staff to "be on the lookout."

Despite several early meetings with Bundy and Payne, the Hammonds eventually rejected their offers of assistance, with Hammond attorney W. Alan Schroeder writing that "neither Ammon Bundy nor anyone within his group/organization speak for the Hammond family."

By early December 2015, Bundy and Payne had set up residence in Burns. The same month, they organized a meeting at the Harney County Fairgrounds to rally support for their efforts. At the meeting, a "committee of safety" was organized to orchestrate direct action against the Hammond sentences. According to that group's website, the Harney County Committee of Safety considers itself "a governmental body established by the people in the absence of the ability of the existing government to provide for the needs and protection of civilized society" (during the American Revolution, committees of safety were shadow governments organized to usurp authority from colonial administrators).

2016 occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge

Main article: Occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge

On January 2, 2016, an armed group affiliated with the private U.S. militia movement held a peaceful march in protest of the Hammonds' prison sentences. Afterwards, several members of the group, consisting of Bundy, Payne, Jon Ritzheimer, and armed associates separated from the protest crowd at some point during the day and proceeded to the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, 30 miles (48 km) away. The militants settled into the refuge and set up defensive positions. The Hammonds were convicted of arson on federal land, sentenced to five years' imprisonment, and sought clemency from the U.S. president.

Bundy said he began leading the occupation after receiving a divine message ordering him to do so. The militant group demanded that the federal government of the United States cede ownership of the refuge, and expressed willingness to engage in armed conflict. For a time, the government and police did not engage directly with the militia.

Dwight and Steven Hammond disavowed the occupation of the refuge. They voluntarily reported to begin serving the remainder of their respective prison sentences.

On January 26, Bundy and four other militants were arrested on U.S. Route 395 about 48 miles (77 km) north of the occupation. One militant was lightly wounded during the arrest, and another, Robert "LaVoy" Finicum, was shot and killed by law enforcement officers while he was reportedly reaching for his gun. Several other arrests followed, and on February 11, the occupation ended when the last four militants surrendered to police. A total of 26 people, including Bundy and Payne, were charged under federal law with a single count of felony conspiracy, though more charges may be brought in due course.