Journalist Jailed for Reporting on Bundy Ranch Siege Denied Release: “Danger to Community”

May 11, 2016

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By:  TIM BROWN

Reporter Pete Santilli had his hearing in Nevada on Monday on trumped up charges he is facing for his reporting on the Bundy Ranch Siege in 2014. As he left the courtroom in chains, he cried out, “I’m a journalist. This is what they do in Communist China!”
The Law Vegas Review Journal reports:

Peter Santilli, a conservative Internet talk show host, lost another bid for freedom Monday while he faces felony charges in the criminal case stemming from the Bunkerville standoff.

Following a hearing, Chief U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro said she did not buy Santilli’s argument that he was a journalist covering the April 12, 2014, armed confrontation between the Bundy family and law enforcement. He hosts the Internet-based “Pete Santilli Show” from Cincinnati on YouTube.
Navarro ordered Santilli to remain behind bars after finding that he is a danger to the community and that he cannot be relied on to make his court appearances.

His lawyer, Chris Rasmussen, argued that Santilli’s free speech rights were being violated and sought the defendant’s release with conditions.

But First Assistant U.S. Attorney Steve Myhre countered that the case was not about free speech, but rather about the armed assault of federal agents.

Sadly, Myhre is fantasizing about what he claims. There was no assault on federal agents. In fact, it was federal agents who assaulted protesters at Bundy Ranch. It was federal agents who attempted to corral citizens into “First Amendment Zones” to squelch their rights protected under the First Amendment. It was federal agents who burned property and cattle. It was federal agents who killed cattle that belonged to the Bundys. It was armed federal agents and snipers who surrounded the protesters in Bunkerville.