DeLemus plea deal includes max prison time of six years

Jerry DeLemus in photo taken during his time with Cliven Bundy sympathizers near the Bundy ranch in southeastern Nevada. (Courtesy photo)

LAS VEGAS, Nev. - Jerry DeLemus, the Rochester man facing up to life in prison for his alleged support of Cliven Bundy during his opposition to federal agents over grazing rights in Nevada, pleaded guilty to lesser charges on Thursday and will now likely face no more than six years in jail.

DeLemus pleaded guilty in a federal courtroom to conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States and to interstate travel in aid of extortion, according to federal court records.
DeLemus' defense lawyer Brian Smith noted that they had not decided what prison sentence they would request yet, however, the facts show that DeLemus didn't reach Bundy's ranch until after the confrontation was over and Bureau of Land Management agents had stood down.

DeLemus, meanwhile, has long said he went to Nevada to defuse the situation, not escalate it.

DeLemus is a longtime Tea Party activist, a Marine veteran and co-chair of Veterans for Trump in New Hampshire.

DeLemus, who is married to state Rep. Susan DeLemus, R-Rochester, was named in a March 3 indictment as a midlevel leader and organizer of the Bundy standoff, who, among other things: recruited, organized, trained and provided logistical support to gunmen and other followers and organized and led armed patrols and security checkpoints from April 12 till the end of May 2014 on and about the disputed grazing lands and Bundy ranch in southeastern Nevada.

The original indictment charged him with conspiracy to commit an offense against the United States, threatening a federal law enforcement officer, assault on a federal officer, obstruction of justice, attempting to impede or injure a federal law enforcement officer, interference with interstate commerce by extortion, and several firearms charges, for which he could have been sentenced to life in federal prison.

He was arrested on March 3 as several FBI vehicles full of armed agents in full tactical gear with weapons drawn swarmed his Rochester condo.

The Bundy standoff was an armed confrontation between protesters and law enforcement that developed from a 20-year legal dispute between the Bureau of Land Management and Nevada cattle rancher Bundy over grazing rights on federal land in southeastern Nevada.

Some 19 suspects have been indicted in the standoff, most of them in jail and awaiting trials in federal court just like DeLemus, who on Thursday became the first to accept a plea deal in the case.