BILLY J. WILLIAMS, OSB #901366 

United States Attorney 

District of Oregon 

ETHAN D. KNIGHT, OSB #992984 

GEOFFREY A. BARROW 

CRAIG J. GABRIEL, OSB #012571 

Assistant United States Attorneys 

ethan.knight@usdoj.gov

geoffrey.barrow@usdoj.gov 

craig.gabriel@usdoj.gov

1000 SW Third Ave., Suite 600 

Portland, OR 97204-2902 

Telephone: (503) 727-1000 

Attorneys for United States of America 

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 

DISTRICT OF OREGON 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 

 v. 

AMMON BUNDY, et al., 

 Defendants.

3:16-CR-00051-BR 

GOVERNMENT’S NOTICE OF INTENT 

TO USE EVIDENCE OF OTHER ACTS 

 The United States of America, by Billy J. Williams, United States Attorney for the 

District of Oregon, and through Ethan D. Knight, Geoffrey A. Barrow, and Craig J. Gabriel, 

Assistant United States Attorneys, hereby provides notice pursuant to Federal Rule of Evidence 

404(b) and this Court’s June 17, 2016, Order (ECF No. #726). 

The government does not intend to offer “other crimes” evidence under Rule 404(b). 

Instead, the government will offer extremely limited evidence regarding the events in 

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Government’s Notice of Intent to Use Evidence of Other Acts Page 2

Bunkerville, Nevada, in order to offer the jury a coherent and comprehensible story regarding the 

charged conspiracy. See United States v. Dorsey, 677 F.3d 944, 951 (9th Cir. 2012). Such 

evidence is relevant and admissible under Rule 402 because it is inextricably intertwined with 

the conspiracy charged in this case. United States v. Anderson, 741 F.3d 938, 949 (9th Cir. 

2013) (“Other act” evidence that is “inextricably intertwined” with a charged offense is 

independently admissible and is exempt from the requirements of Rule 404(b)). 

In the alternative, and pursuant to this Court’s June 17, 2016, Order, this filing serves as 

protective notice of the government’s intent to present the same limited evidence regarding the 

events in Bunkerville, Nevada, under Rule 404(b). 

The evidence at trial will show that several defendants repeatedly referred to the events in 

Bunkerville as justification for challenging the federal government and occupying the MNWR. 

On multiple occasions, defendants claimed through social media and press conferences and to 

witnesses that the occupation of the MNWR was “another Bunkerville.” In order to give the 

jury context for what “Bunkerville” refers to, the government will present evidence that: 

Bunkerville is located in Southern Nevada; in March and April of 2014, the Bureau of Land 

Management initiated an operation to execute federal court orders to impound cattle belonging to 

Cliven Bundy that were grazing unlawfully on federal public lands; about a week after initiating 

the impoundment, the BLM suspended operations after receiving information that hundreds of 

people had travelled to Bunkerville, Nevada, with guns, in support of Cliven Bundy and for the 

purpose of forcing the cessation of the impoundment; and after the BLM announced publicly that 

it had stopped the impoundment operations for safety reasons and that it would leave the area, 

hundreds of Bundy supporters, including many openly carrying firearms, converged on the 

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Government’s Notice of Intent to Use Evidence of Other Acts Page 3

impoundment site demanding that the BLM law enforcement officers leave the site immediately 

and release the impounded cattle. This information is relevant to explain to the jury the 

meaning of the defendants’ references to Bunkerville or Bundy Ranch. 

The government will not seek to prove that any defendant committed a crime in 

Bunkerville or that they were part of the alleged conspiracy arising from Bunkerville. That will 

be a matter for a separate jury at a separate trial in a different district. Instead, the government 

will introduce limited information in order to put defendants’ words and actions in context. In 

order to prevent a trial within a trial regarding the events in Bunkerville, the government will file 

a motion in limine to carefully limit the scope of evidence regarding the Bunkerville events. 

 Dated this 11th day of July 2016. 

 Respectfully submitted, 

 BILLY J. WILLIAMS 

 United States Attorney 

 s/ Geoffrey A. Barrow 

 ETHAN D. KNIGHT, OSB #992984 

 GEOFFREY A. BARROW 

 CRAIG J. GABRIEL, OSB #012571 

 Assistant United States Attorneys 

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