Attorney General Sessions reviewing Bundy prosecution

LAS VEGAS (AP) – An official says U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions is looking into the troubled prosecution of a family of ranchers in an armed standoff against federal agents in 2014.

A Justice Department spokesman, Ian Prior, said in an email Thursday that Sessions has ordered a review of the case against Cliven Bundy, sons Ryan and Ammon Bundy, and Montana militia leader Ryan Payne.

Ammon Bundy’s lawyer, Morgan Philpot, welcomed the development.

He points not only to a mistrial declared Wednesday in Las Vegas but to a whistleblower memo by a former U.S. Bureau of Land Management investigator made public last week.

It alleges bias, misconduct and possible legal violations by government agents who planned and headed a roundup of Bundy cattle on public land ahead of the standoff.