- Feds go aggressive when private landowners adjacent to the Malheur NWR wouldn't sell to the government. Feds diverted water flow that negatively impacted private lands. The private land became useless to the ranchers and thus sold to the Feds
- Feds began barricading roads and arbitrarily revoking grazing rights.
- There were two fires (both starting on the Hammond's land).
- 2001 - Hammond supposedly started to clear an invasive species (I think they even notified authorities about this one per the requirement). A teenage testified that it was to cover up poaching but the trial judge found the testimony to be tainted - and that the damage (for 139 acres) might total $100 in value.
- 2006 - A lightening storm started a fire and the Hammond's attempted to back burn the boundary of their land. About one acre of the NWR was burnt in the process.
- Nine years later (in 2010) the Feds filed a 19-count indictment that included charges under the federal Anti-Terrorism and Effective death Penalty Act.
- At trial, the jury found the Hammonds guilty of maliciously setting fire to public property worth less than $1,000, acquitted them of other charges, and deadlocked on the government’s conspiracy claims. While the jury continued to deliberate, the Hammonds and the prosecution reached a plea agreement in which the Hammonds agreed to waive their appeal rights and accept the jury’s verdict. It was their understanding that the plea agreement would end the case.
- The Feds didn't like the sentence that the Hammond's got so they appealed...after making the plea agreement.
http://www.nationalreview.com/article/429214/oregon-rancher-protests-civil-disobedience-justified
