Oregon Standoff Latest: Third Defendant Pleads Guilty

A third defendant has pleaded guilty in relation to the 41-day armed takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refufge earlier this year.

Geoffrey Stanek, who was arrested in mid-February in Forest Grove, will likely get six months of home detention when he is sentenced in October.

Stanek pleaded guilty to one count of conspiring to prevent federal officials from doing their job.

He had left the refuge on January 26, the day LaVoy Finicum was shot and killed at a traffic stop where other leaders of the occupation were arrested.

State troopers said they believed Finicum was pulling a gun. A gun was found on him.

Stanek became the third of the 26 people charged in connection with the case to plead guilty.

Two others - Jason Blomgren and Darryl Thorn - are expected to do so later this week.

The trial of whichever defendants remain will begin September 7th.