The prosecution in the Bundy Case continues to run into stumbling blocks, over the issue of discovery – evidence they’re not showing to the defense.
Judge Gloria Navarro has said this puts the trial on the edge of dismissal.
“What Judge Navarro began to talk about this past week was the fact there were documents and questions that the prosecution could have provided and could have answered to the defense that apparently were not turned over," said Nevada Public Radio contributor John L. Smith, "The prosecution has argued from the very start that they have done their discovery duty. They followed the law. It is not their job to turn over every last shred of evidence.”
Smith explained that the evidence must be pertinent to the trial and to the charges.
"You don’t have to throw it all in but what you have to do is play fair,” he said.
The defense argues that the prosecution has not been fair and without fairness, it cannot provide an adequate defense.
The evidence in that discovery has to do with why the Bundys felt threatened in the first place.
"The defense has argued from the start that one of the reasons why the Bundys took to the internet to call for help, including militia help – that meant armed help – which is a big part of the charges that they’re facing is that people who were armed showed up and there were threats just by bringing your weapon it translates into a kind of threat of intimidation. And they were arguing that they saw that they believed to snipers on the hillside and the prosecution essentially laughed it off,” Smith said.
But now it turns out an FBI agent did say in a memo that he was on the hillside and he was armed.
Smith believes the public will learn a lot about that evidence this week and decision about what happens next could come soon.
If the judge does declare a mistrial, Smith is not so sure the prosecution will start the whole process again.
“The challenge will be whether there is really an appetite for that after this. Whether it becomes one of those things they write off," he said.
Senator Harry Reid's UFO Adventures
In a story in the New York Times and Politico it was revealed that former Nevada Senator and former Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid had been quietly funding a UFO office at the Pentagon from 2007 through 2012.
Smith said not only was Reid interested in some of the strange phenomenon that pilots and other Defense Department personnel had noticed and recorded over the years, but a big donor was as well.
Bob Bigelow owed the Budget Suites of America. He used that fortune to create Bigelow Aerospace, which is not only working on technology for space travel and living in space, it is also looking for signs of UFOs and extra-terrestrials.
Smith pointed out the stories weren't just about the effort to find explanations for unexplained things but they're also about how money moves around in Washington, D.C.
“Clearly, it takes a lot of clout to fund a project a friend and ally is interested in following,” he said.
The stories also give credence to people who have said we are not alone in the universe.
“It is one of those things that’s easy to laugh off once you find a Pentagon office open and spending millions – at least from a fiscal standpoint – you gotta take it seriously,” he said.
John L. Smith, contributor
