Ammon Bundy Has A New Lawyer (Almost)

Ammon Bundy has a new lawyer.

Almost.

Bundy, the ostensible ringleader of the armed takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, had been represented by Mike Arnold since the day he was arrested.

Arnold and his associate, Lissa Casey, drew much attention to themselves through their tactic of using Facebook and social media to crowdsource research.

The crowdsourcing, combined with courthouse step press conferences, drew a series of complaints to the Oregon Bar Association, most of which have been dismissed.

On Wednesday, though, Arnold and Casey withdrew and J. Morgan Philpot filed papers that he would be Bundy's new lawyer.

Philpot, a native of Molalla, is a former Utah state legislator who is once again running for office there.

He also had an unsuccessful run for the governor's office in Utah in 2011.

While he is a member of the bar associations in both Oregon and Utah, he is not yet been approved to practice in federal court in Oregon so Bundy will have to wait a bit longer to use him.

"We are committed to doing everything necessary to bring a full and legitimate defense for Ammon, and to secure his acquittal," Philpot said in a statement. "Of course, at this point we are focused on the Oregon charges, but we will also being assisting where we can in Nevada."

He said that his approach would be different from Arnold's in one distinct way.

"While this has been and will likely remain a very visible and public case, we intend to pursue a course where, for the most part, our legal filings will speak for themselves," he said.