A Multnomah County Sheriff's Office photograph of Ammon Bundy.(Photo: AP)
A federal judge denied bail to<span style="color: Red;">*</span>militia ringleader Ammon Bundy, his brother Ryan and three co-defendants following their arrest in connection with the armed occupation of a<span style="color: Red;">*</span>wildlife refuge in Burns, Ore.
Ammon Bundy argued during the federal hearing in Portland on Friday that the defendants should be allowed to post bail and go free<span style="color: Red;">*</span>because their protest was not violent and there was never an armed standoff, according to media reports of the court session.
"My only desire is to be home with family and take care of my wife and children," Ammon Bundy told the judge.
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But Judge Stacie Beckerman said the protest was not peaceful.
"There are no conditions I could impose that would guarantee the safety of the community or that he (Ammon Bundy) would come back to the district of Oregon for trial," Beckerman said, according to Oregon Public Broadcasting.
Bundy, head of an anti-government group, had been holed up at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge since Jan. 2, when he and his followers seized its headquarters south of Burns as part of a long-running dispute over public land use in the West.
A spokesman for the militia group, Robert "LaVoy" Finicum, 56, was shot and killed during the arrest of the Bundy brothers and others Tuesday. The FBI said Finicum was reaching for a firearm he was carrying when he was shot.
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The confrontation came amid increasing calls for law enforcement to take action against Bundy for the illegal occupation of the wildlife refuge.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Many residents of Harney County, where the refuge is located, have been among those demanding Bundy leave.
Eleven people have been arrested in connection with the standoff and four others continue to occupy the refuge amid ongoing<span style="color: Red;">*</span>negotiations with law enforcement.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>After his arrest, Ammon Bundy called on all occupiers to leave the refuge.
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Beckerman ruled Shawna Cox,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the only woman arrested in connection with the protest, would be allowed to go free pending trial, but only after the occupation<span style="color: Red;">*</span>ends.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>
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