RYAN AND AMMON BUNDY APPEAL TO A HIGHER COURT SEEKING FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT TO PRETRIAL RELEASE

For centuries, at least five, English and American law was that bail was an automatic right except in capital offenses. It is well settled law that accused were presumed innocent until proven guilty and that pre trial prison was a form of punishment that usurps the right to a presumption of innocence. Ammon and Ryan Bundy are finally challenging what they should have challenged from the beginning, the absolute, unequivocable right to be free until convicted. What is happening to the Bundys can happen to any of us. If you are not terrified, you should be. United States v. Melendez-Carrion, 790 F.2d 984, 988, 1003 (2d Cir. 1986) (noting that detention to prevent future crime “can constitutionally occur only after conviction. The Due Process Clause reflects the constitutional imperative that incarceration to protect society from criminals may be accomplished only as punishment of those convicted for past crimes and not as regulation of those feared likely to commit future crimes, all guarantees of liberty entail risks, and under our Constitution those guarantees may not be abolished whenever government prefers that a risk not be taken.” People v. Tinder, 19 Cal. 539, 542 (1862) (“In all other cases,[except for capital cases] the admission to bail is a right which the accused can claim, and which no Judge or Court can properly refuse.”) Hudson v. Parker, 156 U.S. 277, 285 (1895) (“The statutes of the United States have been framed upon the theory that a person accused of crime shall not, until he has been finally adjudged guilty in the court of last resort, be absolutely compelled to undergo imprisonment or punishment, but may be admitted to bail, not only after arrest and before trial, but after conviction and pending a writ of error.” United States v. Barber, 140 U.S.164, 167 (1891) (“But in criminal cases it is for the interest of the public as well as the accused that the latter should not be detained in custody prior to his trial . . . . Presumptively they are innocent of the crime charged, and entitled to their constitutional privilege of being admitted to bail . . . .”) Street v. State, 43 Miss. 1, 10, 24–25 (1870) (“But in the United States the accused has a constitutional right to bail in all ‘except in capital cases’ . . . Under the [B]ill of [R]ights, bail before conviction is a matter of right (and not of discretion) for all offenses, except those that are capital