Video, part 1 of a 5 part mini-seriesVideo part 2 Video part 3Video part 4 Video part 5Randy Weavers beliefs were 'separatist' but the federal government confused that with 'supremacist'[citation needed] and developed a keen interest in his activities. The Federal government claimed that he had attended the Aryan Nations church and that had been to a rally held by the same group.[citation needed] Weaver was approached by the government and asked to inform, a request he declined. He was then approached at an Aryan Nations rally by undercover ATF agent Kenneth Faderley (masquerading as a biker named Gus Magisono) wishing to buy some sawed-off shotguns. Weaver supplied the shotguns to Faderley, although he claims to have supplied full-length weapons, telling Faderley to shorten them himself. The ATF maintain that the weapons supplied by Weaver were illegally shortened when Faderley received them. Another account states that Weaver shortened them in front of the undercover ATF agent, to his requested length, and they were only slightly shorter than legally permitted.[citation needed] Weaver was then approached by ATF agents and told that they had evidence of his possession and sale of illegal weapons, and offered to drop the charges in return for his co-operation in infiltrating the Aryan Nations. Weaver was not a member of Aryan Nations, and he refused. He was initially arrested by ATF agents on minor charges[3] relating to transfer of a short-barreled shotgun without a license in January 1991. This was compounded by Weaver's failure to appear in court to answer these charges; he was served with court papers that incorrectly identified the date for his appearance. A bench warrant was issued for Weaver's arrest, and the U.S. Marshals Service was directed to serve it; the assistance of the Marshals Special Operations Group was requested for this purpose. During this period, Weaver isolated himself on his property and became increasingly suspicious of the federal government, vowing to fight rather than surrender peacefully. A plan for voluntary surrender was drawn up by the Marshals Service during October 1991, but refused by the U.S. attorney involved in the case.
After long-term surveillance, the Deputy Director of the Special Operations Group of the Marshals Service recommended against a tactical assault on the Weaver residence. He recommended that the indictment be dismissed and then refiled later under seal, so Weaver would be unaware of the new indictment, in hope of causing Weaver to drop his guard. An undercover operation could then be executed to arrest Weaver without incident. His recommendation was rejected.
On August 21, 1992, several well-armed U.S. Marshals went to the Weaver property to clandestinely survey it; they hoped to update their information about the property, as it had last been surveyed in May 1992. The group had strict orders that they were to avoid all contact with the Weaver family. According to a Department of Justice report on the incident,[6] the marshals were detected by the Weavers' dogs and began to retreat.[7] Randy Weaver's 14-year-old son Sammy and his house guest, 24-year-old family friend Kevin Harris,[3] left the house to investigate, both carrying firearms. The DOJ report corroborates this with a statement dictated by Randy Weaver to his daughter, in which he says that "Approximately 11:30 Friday morning....the dogs started barking like they always do when strangers walk up the driveway. Kevin, and Sam ran out to the rock with their weapons." The Weavers lived deep in the woods, where mountain lions and other potentially deadly animals roamed, and carried firearms with them frequently. Eventually the Marshals stopped retreating and took up defensive positions in the woods.
The sequence of events during the ensuing shootout is disputed, with Weaver and Harris saying that the camouflaged marshals fired first[3] and did not identify themselves. The marshals' version of events is when they were rising to identify themselves, they were fired on first by Sammy and Harris.[3] [7] Whatever version is correct, Sammy Weaver was shot in the back and arm by federal agents while U.S. Marshal William Degan was shot in the chest. [3] Both died. After this, the FBI's Hostage Rescue team was called in to assist with the situation. Much controversy was later generated by the fact that, after the first day's events, the FBI had changed its usual rules of engagement; specifically, "deadly force can and should be used against any armed adult male if the shot could be taken without a child being injured."[8] No request for surrender or announcement of officials' presence would be needed to shoot.[7]
The next day, August 22, 1992, HRT snipers were deployed on the north ridge overlooking the cabin. Randy Weaver, Harris, and Weaver's 16-year-old daughter Sara were seen outside the cabin. Weaver went to view the body of Sammy Weaver,[7] which had been placed in a shed after being recovered the previous day. Weaver's back was to FBI HRT sniper Lon Horiuchi. Horiuchi aimed to sever Weaver's spine for an instant kill. Weaver moved in the last split second as Horiuchi fired and the bullet entered Weaver's right shoulder and exited the armpit.[9] As the three ran back to the house, Horiuchi fired again at Kevin Harris as he ran away, but this time hit Weaver's wife Vicki in the head as she held their 10-month-old daughter Elishiba at the door.[10] Vicki Weaver collapsed on the floor, dying instantly with her bloody but uninjured daughter in her arms. Harris was hit in the chest by the same bullet. A Justice Department review later found this second shot was unconstitutional and the lack of a request to surrender was "inexcusable", since Harris and the two Weavers were running for cover and could not pose an imminent threat. The task force also specifically blamed Horiuchi for firing at the door, not knowing whether someone was on the other side of it, and criticized those who had decided on the special rules of engagement allowing shots to be fired with no previous request for surrender.[7] Much later, a robot vehicle approached the cabin and announced the presence of law enforcement. According to the Weavers, this was the first announcement of the source of the violence.[citation needed]
A stand-off ensued for 10 days as several hundred federal agents surrounded the house, in which Weaver and his three surviving children remained with Harris and the body of Vicki Weaver, under a blood-soaked blanket.[3] During the stand-off, the government force, which numbered 350 to 400 men, had named their temporary camp "Camp Vicki".[11] The negotiators who later claimed they did not know Vicki was dead would call out in the morning 'Vicki, we have blueberry pancakes.' To Sara Weaver inside with her dead mother's body, they were deliberately taunting the survivors.[12][13][14] A vigil was maintained at the Ruby Creek Bridge by protesters who believed the government actions were heavy-handed. James "Bo" Gritz, then a third-party presidential candidate who had formerly been Weaver's commanding officer during the Vietnam War, served as a mediator between Weaver and the government. Eventually, Weaver elected to abandon the stand-off and surrender.
[edit] Aftermath of the Ruby Ridge incident
Weaver was charged with multiple crimes relating to the Ruby Ridge incident, a total of ten counts including the original firearms charges and murder. Attorney Gerry Spence handled Weaver's defense, and argued successfully that Weaver's actions were justifiable as self-defense. The judge dismissed two counts after hearing prosecution witness testimony. The jury acquitted Weaver of all remaining charges except two, one of which the judge set aside. Weaver was found guilty of one count, failure to appear, for which Weaver was fined $10,000 and sentenced to 18 months in prison. The reason he failed to appear was due to the fact that he was officially told the court case was on the 20th March when in fact it was on the 20th February. This was done to ensure a conviction.[15] He was credited with time served plus an additional three months, and was then released. Kevin Harris was acquitted of all criminal charges.[16]
In August of 1995, the federal government avoided trial on a civil lawsuit filed by the Weavers, by awarding the three surviving daughters $1,000,000 each and Randy Weaver $100,000 over the deaths of Sammy and Vicki Weaver. The attorney for Kevin Harris pressed Harris' civil suit for damages, although federal officials vowed they would never pay someone who had killed a U.S. Marshal (Harris had been acquitted by a jury trial on grounds of self-defense). In September 2000 after persistent appeals, Harris was awarded a $380,000 settlement from the government.[17]
Controversy over the Ruby Ridge Rules of Engagement lead to a standardization of deadly force policy among federal law enforcement agencies, implemented in October 1995 after the Ruby Ridge hearings by the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Government Information, Senate Committee on the Judiciary.[18][19]
In 1996, Weaver showed up with Gritz to "help end the standoff between" the Montana Freemen and the FBI, but their offers to help were declined.[1]
In 1997, the District Attorney for Boundary County, Idaho charged Horiuchi with involuntary manslaughter, but the indictment was removed to federal jurisdiction based on the Supremacy Clause and eventually dismissed at the federal prosecutor's request. Kevin Harris was also charged with the murder of Bill Degan in spite of the fact he had been acquitted on that charge in federal court; that charge was a violation of double jeopardy and was dismissed also.
In 2000, Randy Weaver visited the site of the former Branch Davidian church in Waco, Texas. On April 19, 1993, the complex burned to the ground, killing a number of men, women and children. A new church was being built at the time of Weaver's visit. He let it be known that he supported the assertion that government agents deliberately set the complex on fire. This visit was documented by British journalist Jon Ronson in an episode of his five-part documentary, Secret Rulers of the World entitled The Legend of Ruby Ridge and his book Them: Adventures With Extremists.
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