Some updates on the Ammon Bundy civil trial for defamation against St. Luke's Hospital as well as some new info on what got Bundy arrested last year over trespassing at St. Luke's. As a recap, Bundy had organized a protest for a man named Rodriguez whose child was taken to the hospital who apparently contacted Idaho's Health and Welfare unit about potential negligence Or it could have been that the H&W unit had the child taken to the hospital - contradictions exist in the news sources) This protest eventually led to Ammon confronting hospital employees and trying to blockade the entrance to the hospital and his arrest for trespassing (for which he pled guilty at his trial).
On Monday (May 1st, 2023) Bundy filed a motion with the federal district court in Idaho to have the defamation trial moved to federal court. His reasons are that his federal civil rights are being violated, apparently in Bundy's belief that the hospital and the county court are piling on due to the hospital's multiple filings
The problem is that the county court already issued a default judgment against Bundy last week (April 24). Why? Is this just more evidence of the court acting unjustly against Bundy? No. It was because Bundy has failed to appear at any of the court dates/hearings. His non-appearance shouldn't be a surprise since Bundy has been telling anyone and everyone he wasn't going to participate in the trial. And so the court granted St. Luke's motion for a default judgment - for which the hospital is seeking $7.5 million. This is another reason that Bundy cites as cause to move the case to federal court since the requested damages exceed $75,000.
And then the court issued a warrant for arrest against Bundy for civil contempt. But the contempt is not for Bundy failing to appear. The hospital's attorneys have been providing the court evidence that Bundy and/or his co-defendants have been violating the court's restraining orders prohibiting the defendants from threatening, intimidating or harassing witnesses. From what I have read, the violations stem from Bundy and Rodriguez continuing to put up posts on their various websites since the court order that appeared to threaten, and doxxing employees/witnesses, H&W employees, the hospital and their attorneys. The most ominous of the posts is the one called "
Come no more upon me" which is Ammon's message, which I am guessing is meant for the executives and attorneys for St. Luke's. It is labeled as a warning letter, which was probably the final straw causing the judge to issue the warrant.
The only question now is if and when the warrant will be executed. Bundy has defied the Gem County Sheriff's office during the last year or so over the service of court papers to the point that the sheriff's office would not attempt to serve any more papers, citing their observation that the situation was getting to the point that the process servers and deputies were in harm's way. At that juncture, the hospital went to the Idaho State Supreme Court and filed a writ of mandamus asking the court to order the papers served. The sheriff backed down and agreed to serve and the hospital withdrew the writ request. This apparently happened on April 24, with the deputies leaving the paperwork at the front door while being recorded by someone other than Bundy. The deputies advised the camera person that Bundy should be told that he has been served. Whether that meets legal sufficiency standard for a court is not clear, I would think that most judges might find it problematic, especially if the defendant claims he never received the paperwork or the verbal communication. Perhaps Bundy's reluctance to attend court dates might lower the standard required. It also doesn't help that Bundy confirmed on his People's Rights Network website that he saw the deputies and yelled at them to leave his property.
Of course it wouldn't be a sovrun event without the requisite paytriot standoff. On the day of the default judgment and arrest warrant being issued, Bundy send out a text message to his followers that requested them to show up at his home:
EMERGENCY ALERT...Ammon Bundys home in idaho [sic] is currently surrounded by law enforcement. He is calling for people to come to his aid.
Bundy was trying to anticipate the "surrounding" of his home and essentially lied to the recipients about there being a police presence at the residence. In the end it was only one enforcement vehicle that showed up. So much for being surrounded.
Sone links to the information above:
https://www.rawstory.com/ammon-bundy-la ... ral-court/
https://www.ktvb.com/article/news/crime ... a2a78f1b07
https://www.ktvb.com/article/news/local ... 32f511d865
https://www.thedailybeast.com/ammon-bun ... court-loss
https://www.idahostatesman.com/news/loc ... 42131.html