A jury on Thursday found brothers Ammon and Ryan Bundy, the leaders of an armed group who took over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge for nearly six weeks earlier this year, and five others not guilty of conspiracy to impede federal workers from their jobs.
Additionally, several of the defendants were charged with possessing a firearm at a federal facility, and they were also acquitted on that count. The standoff began on Jan 2., with the participants claiming it was to protest two local ranchers being sentenced to five years in prison for two counts of arson on federal land. The Bundy brothers still face charges in Nevada, where in 2014 they engaged in another standoff, this time with federal agents who attempted to take their father's cattle after they grazed on public land for years without a permit.
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