Idaho sheriff has a legal obligation to serve Ammon Bundy. He should uphold it | Opinion

A dangerous situation is unfolding in Gem County.

According to filings recently submitted by St. Luke’s Health System, Gem County Sheriff Donnie Wunder is refusing to serve court papers on Ammon Bundy, whom the hospital is suing after Bundy disrupted services at the hospital over a child protective services case. Gem County has also indicated that private process servers could face trespassing citations.

This comes after Gem County deputies served court papers on Bundy on April 6. Bundy wrote an account of what happened that day on his website.

“I came out the door near him and chased him out of the storage area demanding that he get in his vehicle and leave,” Bundy wrote. “He did, but the second deputy wanted to confront me. Nose to nose I demanded that he leave my property immediately and never come back.”

Wunder wrote that Bundy had trespassed process servers from his property and that he had become threatening when deputies served him.

“I talked with Mr. Bundy via telephone on April 10th,” Wunder wrote in a letter to St. Luke’s attorneys. “Mr. Bundy expressed to me that he feels like he is being harassed by all the papers that have been served on him (by mail and personal service). Mr. Bundy went on to say that he is at his breaking point. By the tone in his voice, I believe he is. In my opinion, if this continues, there is a potential for someone … getting hurt.”

In a follow-up email, Gem County Prosecutor Erick Thomson confirmed that the sheriff would no longer execute service on Bundy, and that private process servers were at risk of being cited for trespassing.

The issue was first brought to light by Devin Burghart, executive director of the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights, which has long followed Bundy’s People’s Rights Network. Bundy has been refusing to participate in court hearings, Burghart pointed out, and earlier this month, he made a threatening post on social media warning officials to “come no more upon” him.

“(Bundy) is making it impossible for the folks at St. Luke’s who are trying to seek justice in this case to try to get a fair hearing,” Burghart said. “That makes it very difficult for those who believe in the rule of law to believe that justice can be served.”

Sheriff Wunder’s concerns about the safety of his deputies are understandable. Bundy has a history of standoffs with law enforcement, and according to Burghart’s research, there were more than 33,000 people in Bundy’s network as of fall 2021 (St. Luke’s attorneys cite the figure of 60,000 in their filings). There is real danger involved here, and it needs to be taken seriously.

But the problem can’t be wished away just because it is dangerous. It will not become less dangerous by being neglected.

In fact, the current situation is largely a result of repeated failures to hold Bundy accountable for his actions.

Because federal prosecutors in Nevada committed prosecutorial misconduct during the Bunkerville standoff trial, Bundy was allowed to walk.

When Bundy and his cohort broke through doors to flood the Idaho House gallery unmasked during the height of the pandemic, they were rewarded by being allowed to stay.

Bundy forced his way into public health district meetings, shutting them down, without facing any consequences.

“I don’t know why they’ve failed to enforce the law against Bundy. Frankly, it’s baffling to me and our organization that he hasn’t been brought to justice for his many, many abrogations of the law over the years,” Burghart said in an interview. “It’s given him carte blanche to escalate his harassing and threatening behaviors.”

The failures of accountability have to end somewhere.

If they don’t, Bundy will have made a mockery of the law and law enforcement, and made up a blueprint for anyone who wants to avoid legal sanctions: act threatening enough and wild enough, and the consequences will simply evaporate.

St. Luke’s attorneys summed this situation up well: “... Tolerating an extremist’s chilling effect on service of process would set a dangerous precedent in Idaho. It would encourage militants to intimidate those they harm into silence and inaction, as well as reinforce the notion that extremists like Bundy may freely operate outside the law. They may summon hundreds of armed disruptors to shut down a hospital and endanger the lives of everyone within it — then escape liability by holing up in a compound with threats to law enforcement and anyone else who attempts to set foot on the property to serve legal process.”

It’s deal with Bundy’s threats now or deal with countless Bundy copycats down the line.

The sheriff has a legal mandate — not an ability but a requirement — to serve court papers on Bundy. He should do his job, or resign from his post and allow someone else to do it.

Statesman editorials are the unsigned opinion of the Idaho Statesman’s editorial board. Board members are opinion editor Scott McIntosh, opinion writer Bryan Clark, editor Chadd Cripe and newsroom editors Dana Oland and Jim Keyser.