BOISE (Idaho Statesman) — Idaho gubernatorial candidate Ammon Bundy believes his voluntary campaign stops satisfy his court-mandated community service connected to a trespassing conviction in July.
Aaron Welling, the Bundy campaign’s treasurer, wrote to Ada County’s 4th District Court that Bundy has “completed 1,621 hours of public service,” according to a letter submitted last month — on campaign stationery.
On July 1, a jury found Bundy and another man, Aaron Schmidt, guilty of misdemeanor charges of trespassing and resisting or obstructing officers, related to incidents at the Idaho Capitol. Bundy was sentenced to 40 hours of community service and $1,089 in fines.
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Welling’s letter says Bundy paid the court fine on July 17, and the letter was also meant to notify the court of his “public service hours.” Welling further writes that Bundy has traveled the state while encouraging people to “become more active in holding public officials accountable to the People of Idaho.”
The letter says Bundy has held more than 90 public events where he has encouraged people to register to vote. Bundy filed paperwork to run in the Republican primary for Idaho governor last May, just weeks before his guilty verdicts. Bundy said after the trial that he would not appeal his conviction — and then filed an appeal in September.
Court filings show an order from a judge dismissing the appeal was filed on Tuesday.
The trespassing conviction stems from Bundy’s and Schmidt’s arrests at the Idaho Statehouse on Aug. 25, 2020, during a special session of the Legislature.
In April, Bundy was arrested twice in one day for violating an order that banned him from the Capitol for a year, leading to two misdemeanor trespassing charges. That case was still ongoing as of Thursday, with a jury trial tentatively scheduled for Jan. 13, 2022.
An email for comment to Seth Diviney, an attorney representing Bundy, was not returned Thursday.
The post Ammon Bundy to Idaho court: Campaigning should count as community service appeared first on East Idaho News.