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[h=4]Oregon wildlife refuge holdouts can't leave without charges[/h]Slain protest leader Robert 'LaVoy' Finicum to be buried Friday in Utah.
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Ammon Bundy and at least 10 of his supporters have been formally indicted, but we don't know what the charges are because the indictment is sealed.
Video provided by Newsy Newslook
Mourners stand near a wooden cross on Highway 395 near Burns, Ore., on Jan. 29, 2016, at the location where Robert "LaVoy" Finicum was shot dead and others were arrested by the FBI in connection with the occupation of a federal refuge.(Photo: Rob Kerr, AFP/Getty Images)
Federal and state officials made it clear Thursday the remaining four protesters occupying a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon won't be allowed to leave the site without facing the same charges 11 others were already arrested for in the 33-day takeover.
Authorities never explicitly suggested the holdouts could walk away, but they tried to defuse the crisis quickly last week after Robert "Lavoy" Finicum, a spokesman for the group,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>was killed in a shootout with the FBI<span style="color: Red;">*</span>at a police roadblock.
The four remaining protesters, however, dug in and refused to leave despite calls from Ammon Bundy, the jailed leader of the group, to end the tense standoff at the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.
A federal grand jury indicted the four remaining protesters and 12 others who defied authorities in connection with the takeover, according to an indictment unsealed Thursday.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>It<span style="color: Red;">*</span>charges 16 people with conspiring to prevent federal officers from performing their duties "by force, intimidation and threats."
The accused co-conspirators are charged with occupying the federal property "while using and carrying firearms,'' threatening violence against anyone<span style="color: Red;">*</span>who tried<span style="color: Red;">*</span>to remove them from the refuge and using social media and other means of communication<span style="color: Red;">*</span>to recruit and encourage others to join.
The indictments allege<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the group carried firearms on the federal property and refused repeated federal orders to leave.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>It said two of the accused met with the Harney County sheriff to warn of "extreme civil unrest" if their demands were not met.
The four still holding out are David Fry, 27, of Blanchester, Ohio; Jeff Banta, 46, of Elko, Nev.; and Sean Anderson, 48, and Sandy Anderson, 47, a married couple from Riggins, Idaho.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Eleven others were arrested last week and the 12th person named in the indictment is Kenneth Medenbach, who was arrested while allegedly driving a stolen vehicle taken from the refuge.
Fry said Wednesday in an interview with the online<span style="color: Red;">*</span>radio station The Watchman News<span style="color: Red;">*</span>that he wants to "get the feds off our butt" and called on the American people to "rise up" and join the protest.
"We are going to be outgunned," he said. "If<span style="color: Red;">*</span>they (the FBI) want to turn it into another Tiananmen Square, then they can. There are going to be consequences. I doubt that, I know they are smart enough<span style="color: Red;">*</span>not to do that, but right now just we just need the American people to rise up in numbers."
Fry said he believed<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the holdouts<span style="color: Red;">*</span>would soon be<span style="color: Red;">*</span>down to one cell phone, provided by the FBI.
"One of the FBI guys put a cell phone, one of the FBI cell phones, in a car up here that I picked up," Fry said. "They're going to cut off all our personal cell phones soon."
Shawna Cox, 59, shown in booking photo provided by the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office, was arrested by U.S. Marshals Jan. 26, 2016 in Oregon in connection with the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Multnomah Sheriff's office, Getty Images)
U.S. Magistrate Judge Janice Stewart<span style="color: Red;">*</span>ruled Wednesday that Shawna Cox, one of the 11 arrested last week, won't be allowed at Finicum's funeral on Friday in her hometown.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Cox, 59, from Kanab, Utah,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>is the only arrestee to be released from jail.
Stewart<span style="color: Red;">*</span>agreed with<span style="color: Red;">*</span>prosecutors that<span style="color: Red;">*</span>since<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Finicum was a co-conspirator in the case, Cox's attendance at<span style="color: Red;">*</span>"a gathering of like-minded people'' could lead to problems,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>The Oregonian<span style="color: Red;">*</span>reported.
Finicum, a<span style="color: Red;">*</span>54-year-old rancher from<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Cane Beds, Ariz.,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>died Jan. 26 in the showdown with the FBI<span style="color: Red;">*</span>near the site of the takeover of the refuge.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>The FBI, which released video footage of the death, said agents opened fire after Finicum<span style="color: Red;">*</span>refused to surrender and twice reached<span style="color: Red;">*</span>inside his jacket, where he carried a loaded weapon.
Finicum and other protest<span style="color: Red;">*</span>leaders were stopped by FBI and Oregon state troopers while<span style="color: Red;">*</span>en route<span style="color: Red;">*</span>to a<span style="color: Red;">*</span>community meeting.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>A makeshift memorial sprung up at the site of the shooting, the Associated Press reported.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>A copy of the U.S. Constitution, a large wooden cross and American flags were placed there.
Tony Atencio of Burns, Ore., on Jan. 30, 2016, holds a photo of rancher Robert ``LaVoy'' Finicum at a rally against Finnicum's slaying by law enforcement officers in connection with the takeover of a federal wildlife refuge<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Nick K. Geranios, AP)
In early January, reporters asked<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the soft-spoken<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Finicum<span style="color: Red;">*</span>if he was prepared to die rather than go to jail.
“Absolutely,” he<span style="color: Red;">*</span>told NBC’s Tony Dokoupil<span style="color: Red;">*</span>three<span style="color: Red;">*</span>days<span style="color: Red;">*</span>after the occupation began. “I have been raised in the country all my life. I love dearly to feel the wind on my face, to see the sun rise, to see the moon in the night. I have no intention of spending any of my days in a concrete box.”
Finicum's funeral will be<span style="color: Red;">*</span>held in Kanab,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>about 30 miles north of Cane Beds near Utah's southern border. About<span style="color: Red;">*</span>100<span style="color: Red;">*</span>friends, family and supporters held a candlelight vigil for him Monday in nearby Washington City.
“It really lifts our<span style="color: Red;">*</span>hearts to see so many memorials being done. Please, continue,” Finicum’s daughter, Challice Finicum Finch, said, according to<span style="color: Red;">*</span>St. George News.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>“I just want everyone to know that my dad loved life ... From the bottom of my heart, thank you everyone. Thank you.”
The occupation in rural Oregon began Jan. 2, when<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the self-styled militia — all from out of state<span style="color: Red;">*</span>— took over the federal facility and<span style="color: Red;">*</span>demanded<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the federal government turn public lands over to local control. They were also protesting two local residents' convictions involving arson on federal land.
Evangelist Franklin Graham joined talks this week to the end the protest, according to Todd Shearer, a<span style="color: Red;">*</span>spokesman for the North Carolina-based organization he leads,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>The Oregonian<span style="color: Red;">*</span>reported. The spokesperson confirmed that Graham, son of Billy Graham, spoke<span style="color: Red;">*</span>by phone with federal representatives and the four holdouts.
In Utah,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Finicum's cousin, David Cluff, disputed the circumstances surrounding his relative's death<span style="color: Red;">*</span>in an interview with KUTV-TV.
"It really hasn't swayed my opinion of who's at fault in this situation,"<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Cluff said, referring<span style="color: Red;">*</span>to footage released by the FBI of the shooting.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>"To see how this event has unfolded has been really tragic and really hard for us."
In Washington City, Utah, near Finicum's home, Katin Young, who<span style="color: Red;">*</span>attended the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>candlelight vigil,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>said she sees the same thing every time<span style="color: Red;">*</span>she views the footage: "That he's murdered."
"I don't see him reaching for a gun," she<span style="color: Red;">*</span>said. "He reaches down like he's reaching for a wound."
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