Pardons for Ranchers Who Sparked the Takeover of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge

President Donald Trump pardoned Dwight and Steven Hammond Tuesday [July 10, 2018]. The two Oregon ranchers whose prison sentences sparked the armed takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge [located roughly 30 miles south of the city of Burns in Oregon's Harney Basin].

The mandatory-minimum sentence for the charge of arson brought against the ranchers was five years in prison. But, a federal judge went against the guidelines and delivered them a much lighter sentence. Dwight was sentenced to three months and Steven was sentenced to a year in prison, with three years of post-prison supervision each. Prosecutors appealed their punishment and won. The Hammonds were re-sentenced to five years in federal prison in 2016.

In an official release about the pardon, The White House says the Hammons were imprisoned for a fire "that leaked onto a small portion of neighboring public grazing land." The White House said, "Justice is overdue for Dwight and Steven Hammond, both of whom are entirely deserving of these Grants of Executive Clemency."  (KOMO 4 News, July 10, 2018)
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The trial judge imposed a light sentence in the original case, realizing that perhaps the arson that the Hammonds had been accused of was an accident or that there were other mitigating circumstances. The government's appeal of that sentence to force a mandatory-minimum of five years in prison caused many question the government's motives and intent in this case.