Not Tired of Winning Yet LXXVIII
You may or may not recall this story from not so long ago, but I certainly remember it. It was a gross and vindictive miscarriage of justice by the power mad creatures of the Left.
The Hammonds were just pardoned by Trump
Originally, federal prosecutors charged the Hammonds in 2010 with burning more than 45,000 acres of federal land near their ranch in Diamond, Oregon, in blazes dating back to the 1980s.
Dwight and Steven Hammond were ultimately convicted of setting a fire in 2001 that consumed 139 acres of federal property, while the younger rancher was also found guilty of lighting a “back burn” that spread onto an acre of public land in 2006.
A federal judge originally imposed prison terms of three months for Dwight Hammond and a year for Steven Hammond after finding the five-year mandatory terms required under federal law “really would shock the conscience.”
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned that decision and the ranchers were required to serve the full five years behind bars.
Their return to prison in early 2016 sparked protests that led to the armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns.
While many of the Hammonds’ supporters didn’t approve of the takeover, they saw the Obama administration’s pursuit of longer prison sentences as vindictive. That sentiment was echoed in Trump’s pardon announcement, which called the appeal “overzealous.”
“I think the president recognized they’re good and decent men and got a raw deal on the sentencing,” said Nathan Jackson, a rancher and president of OCA. “The wheels of justice turn slowly but they do turn. … These guys were railroaded and now they’re getting out, and that is what is right and just.”
The Hammonds were charged under a federal anti-terrorism statute, which caused many in agriculture to question the judgment of the prosecutors.
My comment: one more little bit of federal corruption done by Obama, undone by Trump.
About John C Wright
John C. Wright is a practicing philosopher, a retired attorney, newspaperman, and newspaper editor, and a published author of science fiction. Once a Houyhnhnm, he was expelled from the august ranks of purely rational beings when he fell in love; but retains an honorary title.
