Media seeks to challenge standoff ruling

BONNERS FERRY — Media outlets in Nevada are objecting to a federal court order limiting access to discovery materials related to the 2014 rangeland standoff involving Cliven Bundy, U.S. District Court records show.

The Las Vegas Journal Review, Battle Born Media and the Associated Press filed a motion seeking permission to raise the objection on Aug. 29.

Bundy and 13 others — including Boundary County resident Todd Christopher Engel — were indicted on a half dozen charges related to the standoff. Engel, 48, is charged with conspiracy to commit an offense against the U.S., conspiracy to impede to injury a federal officer, threatening a federal officer and other offenses.

Engel and his co-defendants are being held at the Nevada Southern Detention Center in Pahrump while awaiting trial.

The government said it has amassed 1.4 terabytes of digital data and hundreds of thousands of pages of documents and communications posted to the social media networking site Facebook, according to court documents.

The government also sought an order to protect victims, witnesses, law enforcement officers, agents from threats, intimidation and harassment from Bundy’s supporters. It backed up the request with 22 examples of social media posts.

The defendants countered that the government did not show good cause to justify a protective order that shields evidence in the case from the public, court records show. They further argued that the posts are more than two years old and are public information.

United States Magistrate Judge Peggy Leen granted the order in July.

“The government has made a sufficient threshold showing of actual and potential threats, intimidation, and harassment to victims, witnesses, and law officers to show good cause for a protective order restricting dissemination of pretrial discovery,” Leen wrote in 23-page order.

Media in Nevada argue the order is overly broad.

“Intervenors seek to ensure open access to discovery materials in order to provide public information regarding the government’s investigation in this case; this is a bedrock function of media,” Margaret McLetchie, the media’s counsel, said in court documents.