The Latest: Summations begin for Bundy standoff defendants

LAS VEGAS – The Latest on the trial of six men accused of wielding weapons to stop federal agents from rounding up cattle near Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy’s property in 2014 (all times local):

4:40 p.m.

A defence attorney for an Idaho man standing trial in an armed standoff involving Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy told a federal jury that his client came to Nevada to exercise his First Amendment right, using the Second Amendment.

A lawyer for another defendant from Idaho told jurors Wednesday that unlike in big cities where protesters use signs, some people in the rural West protest with guns.

And in the end, he added, no one got hurt in the April 2014 standoff.

Both attorneys asked the jury to acquit their clients, Steven Stewart and Eric Parker, of all 10 charges — including conspiracy, weapon and assault on a federal officer.

Closings are due to resume Thursday morning.

Then, a jury that has heard two months of testimony gets to begin deliberating.

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1:15 p.m.

A federal prosecutor is telling a jury that even though no shots were fired, federal agents were the victims of a conspiracy and a crime of violence by gunmen supporting Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy’s call to free his cattle in April 2014.

Prosecutor Nicholas Dickinson said Wednesday that the six men standing trial on weapon, assault on a federal officer and other charges came to southern Nevada from Idaho, Arizona and Montana to show force, not protest.

He says each had guns — not peaceful protest signs — and they gloated afterward about defeating the government.

Dickinson says federal officers who were outnumbered by armed and unarmed Bundy supporters near Bunkerville ended what he called “an impossible situation” by withdrawing and letting the cows go free.

Defence closing arguments are next as the two-month trial nears a verdict.

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10:45 a.m.

Prosecutors are asking a federal jury in Las Vegas to convict six men of conspiracy, weapon, assault on a federal agent and other charges in an armed standoff with federal agents near Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy’s property in 2014.

After two months of testimony, closing arguments began Wednesday — on the third anniversary of the standoff outside Bunkerville involving states’ rights advocates who dispute federal control of vast lands in the West.

The defendants are from Arizona, Idaho and Oklahoma.

The government says they followed a Bundy plan to defy federal court orders to either pay grazing fees or remove cows from scenic and environmentally sensitive rangeland 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas.

Defence attorneys say the trial isn’t about cows, and the government hasn’t proved its case.

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6:30 a.m.

A federal jury in Las Vegas is set to hear closing arguments in the trial of six men accused of wielding weapons to stop federal agents from rounding up cattle near Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy’s property in 2014.

After two months of testimony, summaries from both sides come Wednesday — on the third anniversary of the standoff outside Bunkerville involving states’ rights advocates who dispute federal control of vast lands in the West.

Prosecutors characterize the defendants from Arizona, Idaho and Oklahoma as followers of a Bundy plan to defy federal court orders to either pay grazing fees or remove cows from scenic and environmentally sensitive rangeland 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas.

Defence attorneys say the trial isn’t about cows, and the government hasn’t proved conspiracy, weapon, assault on a federal agent and other charges.