Ammon Bundy’s lawyer reacts to ethics complaint

The list of charges against Ammon Bundy is long. The case is not even on trial yet, and it’s already controversial. Bundy’s lawyers have come under fire.

The latest and most prominent is an ethics complaint filed by the Clatsop County District Attorney Josh Marquis with the Oregon State Bar.

In it, Marquis wrote that Bundy’s lawyer, Mike Arnold, “constantly holds news conferences (…) to convey his client’s opinions, defenses, attacks on the federal government,” which “cannot be for any other purpose than reaching and influencing the (potential) juror.”

Bundy’s co-counsel Lissa Casey is not mincing words in responding to the allegations.

“I was shocked to find out that the chief law enforcement officer of Clatsop County doesn’t know the law,” Casey said.

Marquis mentioned several videos Arnold’s law firm posted on YouTube, in particular one of a Feb. 12 press conference in which Arnold and Casey appear together with Nevada legislator Michelle Fiore.

Maquire said in the letter: “This particular video (…) features out-of-state legislators arguing the merits of the case yet to be tried.”

Casey said the Arnold Law firm did nothing wrong.

“Free speech should be respected by those in public office,” Casey said.

Marquis is a member of the Oregon State Bar and said he did not file this in his role as district attorney but rather as a concerned lawyer.

“I still think it’s a moral, if not ethical obligation on my part,” Marquis said.