title: plane carrying pence skids off runway at laguardia airport
text: yahoo news portland ore ap  a jury delivered an extraordinary blow to the government thursday in a longrunning battle over the use of public lands when it acquitted all seven defendants involved in the armed occupation of a national wildlife refuge in rural southeastern oregon tumult erupted in the courtroom after the verdicts were read when an attorney for group leader ammon bundy demanded his client be immediately released repeatedly yelling at the judge us marshals tackled attorney marcus mumford to the ground used a stun gun on him several times and arrested him us district judge anna brown said she could not release bundy because he still faces charges in nevada stemming from an armed standoff at his father cliven bundys ranch two years ago the portland jury acquitted bundy his brother ryan bundy and five others of conspiring to impede federal workers from their jobs at the malheur national wildlife refuge  miles southeast of portland even attorneys for the defendants were surprised by the acquittals its stunning its a stunning victory for the defense said robert salisbury attorney for defendant jeff banta im speechless said defendant neil wampler this is a tremendous victory for rural america and it is a welldeserved overwhelming defeat for a corrupt and predatory federal government the us attorney in oregon billy j williams issued a statement defending the decision to bring charges against the seven defendants we strongly believe that this case needed to be brought before a court publicly tried and decided by a jury a bundy daughter bailey logue said family members were savoring the victory and would begin friday to determine their next step first thing were going to get down on our knees and thank our heavenly father and were going to enjoy our families logue said tomorrow were going to figure out what were going to do next messages left for bundy family matriarch carol bundy in bunkerville nevada werent immediately returned the oregon case is a continuation of the tense standoff with federal officials at cliven bundys ranch in  cliven ammon and ryan bundy are among those who are to go on trial in nevada early next year for that standoff while the charges in oregon accused defendants of preventing federal workers from getting to their workplace the case in nevada revolves around allegations of a more direct threat an armed standoff involving dozens of bundy backers pointing weapons including assaultstyle rifles at federal bureau of land management agents and contract cowboys rounding up cattle near the bundy ranch outside bunkerville daniel hill attorney for ammon bundy in the nevada case said he believed the acquittal in oregon bodes well for his client and the other defendants facing felony weapon conspiracy and other charges when the jury here hears the whole story i expect the same result hill told the associated press in las vegas hill also said hell seek his clients release from federal custody pending trial in nevada ammon bundy and his followers took over the oregon bird sanctuary on jan  they objected to prison sentences handed down to dwight and steven hammond two local ranchers convicted of setting fires they demanded the government free the father and son and relinquish control of public lands to local officials the bundys and other key figures were arrested in a jan  traffic stop outside the refuge that ended with police fatally shooting robert lavoy finicum an occupation spokesman most occupiers left after his death but four holdouts remained until feb  when they surrendered following a lengthy negotiation federal prosecutors took two weeks to present their case finishing with a display of more than  guns seized after the standoff an fbi agent testified that  live rounds and nearly  spent casings were found during trial bundy testified that the plan was to take ownership of the refuge by occupying it for a period of time and then turn it over to local officials to use as they saw fit bundy also testified that the occupiers carried guns because they would have been arrested immediately otherwise and to protect themselves against possible government attack the bird sanctuary takeover drew sympathizers from around the west it also drew a few protesters who were upset that the armed occupation was preventing others from using the land they included kieran suckling executive director of the center for biological diversity suckling on thursday called the acquittals extremely disturbing for anyone who cares about americas public lands the rights of native people and their heritage and a political system that refuses to be bullied by violence and racism the bundy clan and their followers peddle a dangerous brand of radicalism aimed at taking over lands owned by all of us i worry this verdict only emboldens the kind of intimidation and rightwing violence that underpins their movement suckling said one of ammon bundys attorneys morgan philpot had a different perspective after watching mumford get tackled by marshals his liberty was just assaulted by the very government that was supposed to protect it by the very government that just prosecuted his client  unjustly as the jury found theres another oregon trial coming up over the wildlife refuge authorities had charged  occupiers with conspiracy eleven pleaded guilty and another had the charge dropped seven defendants chose not to be tried at this time their trial is scheduled to begin feb