Judge issues warrant for Ammon Bundy’s arrest after he refuses to wear a mask for trial
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BOISE — Anti-government activist Ammon Bundy refused to wear a mask while entering the Ada County courthouse for his jury trial Monday morning, resulting in a warrant for his arrest.
Bundy is seen on a Facebook video outside the Ada County courthouse where he showed up for his jury trial on misdemeanor charges of trespassing and resisting arrest. Bundy was arrested in August after Idaho State Police removed him from the Capitol during a special legislative session.
The Idaho Supreme Court issued an order last year requiring masks for anyone entering any courthouse statewide and because Bundy refused Monday, he was not allowed inside.
After not appearing for the 8:15 a.m. trial, Magistrate Judge David Manweiler issued a warrant for his arrest.
“I will also seek to have specific conditions placed on their release should they be arrested and appear before a magistrate at an arraignment relative to their order to comply with a mask requirement,” Manweiler said according to CBS2 Boise. “I want to ensure in the future if they fail to comply with the court’s mask requirement, should it still be in effect, for the next in-person hearing, that the court will have the right to hold them in custody until they purge themselves of that event.”
Before the scheduled trial, video shows several protesters outside of the courthouse holding signs supporting Bundy and expressing their discontent with the mask requirement.
The charges stemmed from the Aug. 25 incident when the state accused Bundy of trespassing at Capitol after refusing to leave during a series of protests. Troopers were forced to wheel Bundy out in a chair to a patrol car that drove him to the Ada County Jail.
After bailing out of jail, ISP arrested Bundy again on similar charges the following day after troopers carried him outside. Last week prosecutors dropped the charges in this case while the ones from the earlier incident remained.
Before the second incident, the state gave Bundy a no trespassing notice banning him from the Capitol for a year.
A judge entered a not-guilty plea on Bundy’s behalf in October after he refused to enter one himself.
Watch video of the incident here. (Warning: It contains strong language.)