No prison for Ariz. man in Nev. rancher standoff case

LAS VEGAS (AP) – An Arizona man won’t serve prison time for his federal convictions in a 2014 armed standoff involving Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy and U.S. land management agents.

Blaine Cooper’s attorney, Matthew Lay, said Cooper was sentenced Thursday in Las Vegas to 20 months already spent in custody before and after pleading guilty in August 2016 to conspiracy and assault on a federal officer.

Cooper was freed a year ago, before the Las Vegas trial against Bundy, his sons and another defendant collapsed and federal criminal charges were dismissed.

Lay says Cooper also faces a combined three years of supervised release for his Las Vegas case and a 2016 conspiracy plea in Portland in the armed takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Eastern Oregon.

Cooper is 38, from Humboldt, Arizona.

A spokeswoman for the U.S. attorney’s office in Las Vegas declined to comment.