On Oct. 27, in federal district court, a jury delivered a not-guilty verdict for Ryan and Ammon Bundy and five other defendants, on charges stemming from their 41-day armed occupation of Oregon’s Malheur National Wildlife Refuge early this year. The verdict came as a shock to many on both sides of the issue, with even some defense lawyers predicting a conviction. But several factors, including the diffuse nature of the Bundys’ movement, strategic jury selection by the defense and the difficult-to-prove conspiracy charges, doomed the government’s case. In February, the Bundy brothers will again face a jury, this time with their father, Cliven, over their April 2014 standoff with federal agents attempting to round up illegally grazing Bundy Ranch cattle in Nevada. If prosecutors in Nevada learn from their Oregon counterparts’ mistakes, it could help them bolster their case. “The government had a practice run, and they know what they did wrong and did right,” says defense attorney Shawn Perez, appointed to represent Bundy supporter Richard Lovelien in the Nevada trial. But first, prosecutors have to grapple with just what went wrong in Oregon.