The gubernatorial candidate was found guilty of being in contempt of court Thursday after he refused to complete 40 hours of community service related to a July 2021 conviction. Bundy had argued that his stops made during his gubernatorial campaign satisfied his court-mandated community service.
Ada County Magistrate Judge Annie McDevitt sentenced Bundy to 10 days in jail along with a $3,000 fine. He was immediately handcuffed and taken to the Ada County Jail on Thursday.
“You didn’t just blow it off. Rather, you took the time and effort to blatantly disrespect the court’s order, making a mockery of the sentence you received,” McDevitt told Bundy. “You were given an opportunity to go complete public service — you could have done it.”
“You did not do public service that was selfless, that was to serve others, but rather, you did it for your own campaign — which is by design to get you elected as governor, which is a paid political position in the state of Idaho,” McDevitt said.
In a roughly 20-minute presentation Thursday, Welsh showed multiple videos and documented Bundy’s well-known history with the criminal justice system in recent years, saying that Bundy has “repeatedly shown contempt for the laws of the state of Idaho.”
“He has a repeated pattern of interpreting the law however he believes it should be interpreted,” Welsh said during Thursday’s sentencing. “And even worse than that, he’s a leader in showing others how he believes the law should be interpreted and encouraging them to follow his lead.”
Bundy first came to national attention in 2015 over a case concerning grazing rights on federal land.
In 2016 Bundy took part in the armed occupation of a wildlife refuge in Oregon.
More recently, Bundy has been arrested in Idaho over refusal to wear a mask on several occasions.
