Rep. Raul Labrador (R-ID) is planning to retire from Congress to make a run for the Idaho governorship next year, but he has some unfinished business to handle before he leaves Washington D.C. for good.
Earlier this month, Labrador penned a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions expressing serious concern with the Bundy ranch case that has lingered since the legendary 2014 stand-off with the feds.
“Recently 53 current and former members of the Idaho Legislature wrote to you expressing serious concerns about the treatment of four Idaho residents in cases related to ‘The Bunkerville Stand-Off’ trials,” Labrador said in his letter. “Specifically, the legislators are concerned about the decision of the U.S. Attorney for the District of Nevada to try Eric Parker and O. Scott Drexler for a third time. They raise legitimate doubts about whether a third trial is in the best interest of justice or the American taxpayers.”
Parker and Drexler were participants in the stand-off between patriots and federal agents at the Bundy ranch in Clark County, Nevada back in 2014. They traveled from their native Idaho to Nevada to participate in the stand-off. The feds, disgraced from being unable to convict the men in two separate court cases and desperate to make examples of the patriots, are going to try them yet again. Labrador and many elected officials in Idaho feel this is an abuse of federal power.
“The failure to secure guilty verdicts in two different trials with two different juries should serve as evidence of the weakness of the government’s case and should be taken into account as a third trial is contemplated. There is a strong possibility that a miscarriage is being committed,” Labrador said.
Idaho State Rep. Dorothy Moon (R-Stanley) expressed similar sentiments as Labrador while using even stronger words in a letter she penned to federal officials.
“This prosecution sends a chilling message to the public who are concerned about federal overreach in their daily lives that is inharmonious to well-established constitutional guarantees,” Moon said. “The percentages of jurors causing the hung verdicts in these trials should send a clear signal to the government prosecutors of the jury’s reticence to further prosecute these defendants as has clearly been received by the public.”
Labrador finished up his letter by implying that Sessions should intervene and bring an end to this politically-motivated witch hunt of the Obama administration.
“As a former U.S. Attorney you are personally familiar with the many factors a U.S. Attorney must weigh in deciding whether or not to bring a case to trial,” Labrador said in a direct appeal to Sessions. “Your background provides you with unique insight, which is why I wanted to bring this letter to your attention.”
“I urge you to carefully examine the important issues raised in this letter and provide a response in a timely manner.”
