USDC Oregon Case 3:16-CR-00051-BR 

Motion to Modify Release Conditions 1

Tiffany A. Harris OSB 02318

Attorney at Law

811 SW Naito Pkwy, Suite 500

Portland, Oregon 97204

t. 971.634.1818 f. 503.721.9050

tiff@harrisdefense.com

Attorney for Shawna Cox

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE DISTRICT OF OREGON

PORTLAND DIVISION

 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff,

v. 

 SHAWNA COX.

Defendant.

3:16-CR-00051-BR-7

MOTION TO MODIFY

RELEASE CONDITIONS 

Defendant Shawna Cox, through counsel Tiffany A. Harris, hereby moves the Court for 

an order modifying her conditions of release to eliminate the condition of home detention. This 

is a limited request. If granted, Ms. Cox would still be subject to conditions of GPS location 

monitoring, a curfew, geographic restrictions on travel, and a host of other conditions, which are 

not being challenged at this time. The proposed modification would simply eliminate the

condition of a home detention schedule, allowing Ms. Cox to meet employment, religious, 

family and other obligations outside of her home without having to submit a schedule in advance 

to pretrial services. 

Ms. Cox’s pretrial services officer in Utah supports this request. Mike McFarland, of the 

Portland office, also supports this request. The Government was notified of this request and 

pretrial service’s recommendation that it be granted, on March 15, 2016. Since that time, the 

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Motion to Modify Release Conditions 2

Government has asked pretrial services to justify and defend its recommendation. As of today, 

the Government does not support the requested modification.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Ms. Cox will turn 60 this summer. She has no criminal history. She spent nearly all of 

her life in the areas around Kanab, Utah and neighboring Fredonia, Arizona, less than 10 miles 

away. She has 13 children and 42 grandchildren. Currently, Ms. Cox owns a home in Kanab 

with her husband. Together, they own and operate several small businesses including a car 

dealership and a handful of rental properties in rural southern Utah. Mr. Cox has a heart 

condition that required recent surgery. 

Ms. Cox was a former secretary of the Kanab Chamber of commerce, a PTA volunteer, 

Boy Scout leader, and Little League coach while her children were growing up and attending 

local schools. Prior to Ms. Cox’s release pending trial, over 120 of Ms. Cox’s neighbors, 

renters, friends and business associates sent letters attesting to her character and central role in 

the social safety net and civic life of Kanab. 

At the detention hearing, the Court ordered Ms. Cox released with conditions. The 

Court’s February 1, 2016 order includes conditions of GPS location monitoring, geographical 

restrictions on travel, a prohibition against possessing firearms and a home detention schedule 

that allows Ms. Cox to leave home for purposes of employment, medical appointments, religious 

services and other activities with advance permission from her pretrial services officer. 

After his recent heart surgery, Mr. Cox is still not as mobile or active as he has been in 

the past. Therefore, Ms. Cox is the one who is primarily responsible for assisting tenants with 

repairs, emergencies and maintenance on the family owned rental properties. It has been a 

hardship for Ms. Cox to adhere to a pre-approved home detention schedule because her 

livelihood depends upon her ability to address situations that are unplanned and unpredictable. 

Despite these difficulties, Ms. Cox has performed well on supervised release, has no record of 

violations, and has the support of every pretrial services officer who has interacted with her since 

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Motion to Modify Release Conditions 3

her release. 

On February 5, 2016, Ms. Cox, sought emergency leave to attend the funeral of Robert 

LaVoy Finicum. When the court granted the defense’s motion but imposed conditions on Ms. 

Cox’s attendance at the funeral, Ms. Cox complied with the Court’s order. She has appeared by 

phone at every status conference held in this case to date, even when her appearance was 

voluntary.

When Ms. Cox first appeared for her pretrial services interview in Portland, the 

interviewing officer encouraged her to establish a track record of compliance and then, in a 

month’s time, to request that the current release conditions be relaxed. It has now been seven 

weeks.

ARGUMENT

Ms. Cox’s current conditions of release are among the most restrictive, if not the most 

restrictive available to the Court. To the extent that they were ever justified by the ongoing or 

dynamic nature of the protest at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, those justifications no 

longer exist. The FBI made its last arrests in this case almost six weeks ago. The protest has 

ended. Circumstances have changed.

In the interim, Ms. Cox has demonstrated that she will make scheduled court 

appearances, comply with court orders and adhere reliably to release conditions. The Bail 

reform Act requires the Court to release defendants subject to the least restrictive condition, or 

set of conditions, necessary to protect the public and secure the defendant’s attendance at trial. 

18 U.S.C. § 3142(c)(1)(B). Understanding that its initial approach was a cautious and guarded 

one, pretrial services invited Ms. Cox to return to this Court for a reassessment of her release 

conditions, after a period of compliance in the community. Ms. Cox has now demonstrated, and 

Pretrial Services agrees, that the current conditions of release are no longer the least restrictive 

necessary to assure community safety or Ms. Cox’s attendance at trial. The Court should 

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Motion to Modify Release Conditions 4

eliminate the condition of home detention and replace it with a nightly curfew to be established 

by pretrial services. 

CONCLUSION

The Court should grant Ms. Cox’s request to modify adjust the current conditions of 

release. The Bail Reform Act and Constitution require it.

DATED this 22nd day of March, 2016.

Respectfully submitted,

/S/ Tiffany Harris

Tiffany A. Harris 

Attorney for Defendant Shawna Cox

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