It wasn’t exactly like Clapton going acoustic, but Assistant U.S. Attorney Steven Myhre got the tune just right in his opening statement for the retrial of four men accused of playing gunmen for Bunkerville rancher Cliven Bundy.

Myhre’s spare, understated introduction of the government’s theory of the case to the jury Monday in U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro’s courtroom was in substantial counterpoint to the first trial, which began with a dramatic narrative and multi-media event that attempted to illustrate the potential for tragedy during a tense court-ordered cattle roundup on April 12, 2014 in a wash located just off Interstate 15 about 90 miles northeast of Las Vegas.

This time was different. He mentioned the fear officers felt, but he focused in clear terms on the crimes the government contends the defendants committed. In a case positively piled high with video, body and vehicle camera footage, media recordings and citizen snapshots of the event in question, it served to remind jurors that basic and easily understood violations of law had been committed by grownups who ought to have known that waving their loaded weapons in the direction of law enforcement officers might have consequences.

In the first trial, however, only two of the six original defendants were convicted. Jurors declined to convict four others in part, I’ve come to believe, because the crush of media images presented as evidence at trial had the impact of cutting both ways for the triers of fact. Although much appeared incriminating, some also showed BLM officers appearing to overreact under pressure and abuse Bundy family members (some of whom recorded the incidents for publication on the Internet and social media.)

Myhre’s opening was a sure sign the government’s approach in the second trial would be different. Judge Navarro’s decision to narrow the evidence frustrated the defense, but also provided a reminder that criminal trials are about the charges in the indictment, not the political beliefs of the accused.

Judge Navarro made it clear the door was closed to a jury nullification defense -- a finding by a trial jury that contradicts the facts and the law sometimes because the law is considered ill-fitting or unjust. In other words, although by the end of this second trial jurors may question the competence of federal law enforcement, doubt the gravity of Bundy’s long battle with the BLM, or even think the land in question ought to be controlled Nevadans instead of the federal government, that doesn’t excuse them from trying the defendants on the charges.

On pro-Bundy websites, the judge is essentially accused of conspiring against the defendants with former U.S. Sen. Harry Reid, whose criticism of the rancher and efforts to create the Gold Butte National Monument outside Bunkerville have been roundly vilified by the right.

There’s a reason, of course. The legend of Cliven Bundy plays well with hard-core conservatives.

Having less than a mountain of evidence in play, while not as dramatic as some would like or as distracting as the defense would hope, will help jurors to focus on the crimes alleged. That, at least, on Monday appeared to be the prosecution’s emerging strategy.

The prosecution also emphasized the defendants’ affinity for the right-wing militia movement. Myhre informed jurors that the defendants responded to a call to arms from “Operation Mutual Aid” organizer Ryan Payne and members of the Bundy family to come to protect their lives and property. Right-wing media sites such as Alex Jones’ Infowars contributed to the sense of panic in the West. The Bundy family’s own social propaganda videos fueled interest. By their own admission, that led heavily armed militia-associated supporters to travel to the Bundy Ranch, where many wound up participating in the standoff, not with signs or banners, but with semi-automatic rifles. They stalked and pointed weapons at federal law enforcement officers as they attempted to stand their ground.

In interviews after April 12, the self-styled minutemen bragged that they were on the scene in Nevada to help protect Bundy family and the crowd. They failed to acknowledge that the presence of hundreds of unarmed protesters and approximately 40 riders on horseback provided them with cover that April day.

With less to work with, defense attorneys figure to have a much more difficult duty this time portraying their clients as outraged citizens exercising their Constitutional rights. While that fact may be true, it doesn’t excuse pointing loaded rifles at federal officers.

It became absolutely clear in the first trial that the biggest reason the court-ordered cattle impoundment was called off was the fact law enforcement learned that the Payne-Bundy call-to-arms was drawing dozens of armed men to the protest. The potential for violence was too great, and the poorly coordinated roundup was called off.

For those of you still befuddled by the hot air and prattling about the Constitution, remember first that Bundy’s refusal to pay his grazing fees dragged through the system for two decades. By the time of the showdown outside Bunkerville, the BLM was carrying out two court orders. Contrary to a lot of armchair constitutional scholars, its employees weren’t overstepping their ground; they were standing in the middle of their jurisdiction.

Add Bundy’s absurd demand that then-Clark County Sheriff Doug Gillespie order his Metro officers in one hour to disarm federal officers, stack their guns in a pile on the makeshift stage at “Camp Liberty,” and bulldoze the entrance booths to national parks and recreation areas in the region, and it puts the armed participation of the defendants in another light: a light of extremism. Dressing it in a hat and boots and waving a copy of the Constitution doesn’t change that.

After the standoff, supporters of the rancher hung a banner boasting, “The West Has Now Been Won.” But that wasn’t true, either.

Fanned largely by right-wing media and those who would ultimately benefit from the large-scale deregulation and privatization of public lands, a lot about Bundy and the standoff has morphed into legend.

Expect the retrial of his volunteer gunmen to provide a reality check.

 John L. Smith is a longtime Las Vegas journalist and author. Contact him at [email protected]. On Twitter: @jlnevadasmith.