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Santa fe, NM– WildEarth Guardians today applauded initial convictions in the trial of six men that stood by Cliven Bundy in an April 2014 standoff with federal law enforcement officers in southern Nevada. Gregory Burleson was convicted on eight counts for his role in the standoff, including assaulting a federal officer, threatening a federal officer, and carrying a firearm in relation to a crime of violence. Todd Engel was convicted of obstruction and interstate travel in aid of extortion. Burleson, Engel and the four other defendants were each charged with ten counts. The jury reached the verdicts this morning while saying it was “hopelessly deadlocked” on all other counts against the six defendants. The judge ordered the jury to continue deliberating.

“There is at least some initial justice here, with one of the men convicted on the primary charges associated with using a gun to threaten and assault federal officials,” said Chris Krupp, Public Lands Guardian for WildEarth Guardians. “It’s encouraging the jury hasn’t reached any not guilty verdicts. The jurors apparently aren’t buying into the Bundys’ twisted version of reality,” stated Krupp.

The six men on trial were designated “least culpable” by federal prosecutors and tried separately from 11 other defendants in the case.

A trial for the six defendants deemed most culpable—including Cliven Bundy and his sons Ammon and Ryan—is currently scheduled to begin on June 26.

Since the early 1990s, Cliven Bundy has refused to pay the BLM for his cattle’s grazing on public lands near his ranch and has defied three court orders to remove his cattle from those public lands. Bundy claims federal public lands in Nevada actually belong to the state and that federal courts lack jurisdiction over Nevada land. His contention matches claims from the American Lands Council and other far-right groups that the states, not the public, are the rightful owners of public lands across the West. These claims have consistently been debunked by legal scholars on both the left and right, most recently in a bipartisan report from the Conference of Western Attorneys General finding no merit to legal claims that the U.S. is obligated to turnover public lands to the states.

The BLM initially rounded up more than 400 Bundy cattle after it had obtained a court order to seize the livestock as payment for more than $1 million in delinquent grazing fees. The agency abandoned the effort, however, when Bundy rallied armed supporters to his cause and claimed they were prepared to take over the country with force.

Bundy’s cattle still graze on public lands that serves as desert tortoise habitat, and the rancher has paid no fines or fees. The desert tortoise is listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act. Livestock trample desert tortoise, compete for food with the tortoise, and degrade their habitat.

“The Bundys are bullies,” said Krupp. “Ryan Bundy said they would do ‘whatever it takes,’ and made a point of leaving what that meant open-ended in order to intimidate federal officials. Like most everyone else, I look forward to the Bundys being behind bars and their cattle finally removed from the public lands we all own.”