Ruby Ridge was the site of an eleven-day
siege
A siege is a military blockade of a city, or fortress, with the intent of conquering by attrition warfare, attrition, or a well-prepared assault. This derives from la, sedere, lit=to sit. Siege warfare is a form of constant, low-intensity con ...
in 1992 in
Boundary County,
Idaho
Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...
, near
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
. It began on August 21, when deputies of the
United States Marshals Service
The United States Marshals Service (USMS) is a federal law enforcement agency in the United States. The USMS is a bureau within the U.S. Department of Justice, operating under the direction of the Attorney General, but serves as the enforceme ...
(USMS) initiated action to apprehend and arrest
Randy Weaver
Randall Claude Weaver (January 3, 1948 – May 11, 2022) was an American survivalist, former Iowa factory worker, and self-proclaimed white separatist. He was a central actor in the 1992 Ruby Ridge standoff at his cabin near Naples, Idaho, th ...
under a bench warrant after his
failure to appear
A "failure to appear" (FTA) occurs when a defendant or respondent does not come before a tribunal as directed in a summons. FTAs are also known as "bail jumping." In the United States, FTAs are punishable by fines, incarceration, or both when com ...
on firearms charges. Weaver refused to surrender, and members of his immediate family, and family friend Kevin Harris, resisted as well. The
Hostage Rescue Team
The Hostage Rescue Team (HRT) is the elite tactical unit of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The HRT was formed to provide a full-time federal law enforcement tactical capability to respond to major terrorist incidents throughout the ...
of the
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...
(FBI HRT) became involved as the siege developed.
During the USMS
reconnaissance
In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities.
Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops (skirmisher ...
of the Weaver property, six U.S. Marshals encountered Harris and Sammy, Weaver's 14-year-old son, in woods near the family cabin. A
shootout
A shootout, also called a firefight or gunfight, is a fight between armed combatants using firearms. The term can be used to describe any such fight, though it is typically used to describe those that do not involve military forces or only invo ...
took place. Deputy U.S. Marshal William Francis Degan, Sammy Weaver, and the Weavers' dog, Striker, all died as a result. In the subsequent siege of the Weaver residence, led by the FBI, Weaver's wife Vicki was killed by FBI
sniper
A sniper is a military/paramilitary marksman who engages targets from positions of concealment or at distances exceeding the target's detection capabilities. Snipers generally have specialized training and are equipped with high-precision r ...
fire. All casualties occurred in the first two days of the operation. The siege and standoff were ultimately resolved by civilian negotiators. Harris surrendered and was arrested on August 30, while Weaver and his three daughters surrendered the next day.
Randy Weaver and Kevin Harris were subsequently
arraigned
Arraignment is a formal reading of a criminal charging document in the presence of the defendant, to inform them of the charges against them. In response to arraignment, the accused is expected to enter a plea. Acceptable pleas vary among jurisdi ...
on a variety of federal criminal charges, including
first-degree murder
Murder is the unlawful killing of another human without justification or valid excuse, especially the unlawful killing of another human with malice aforethought. ("The killing of another person without justification or excuse, especially the c ...
for the death of Degan. Harris was
acquitted
In common law jurisdictions, an acquittal certifies that the accused is free from the charge of an offense, as far as criminal law is concerned. The finality of an acquittal is dependent on the jurisdiction. In some countries, such as the ...
of all charges, and Weaver was acquitted of all charges except for the original bail condition violation for the firearms charges and for having missed his original court date. He was fined $10,000 and sentenced to eighteen months in prison, credited with time served plus an additional three months, and released after sixteen months.
During the federal criminal trial of Weaver and Harris, Weaver's attorney,
Gerry Spence
Gerald Leonard Spence (born January 8, 1929) is a semi-retired American trial lawyer. He is a member of the Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame. Spence has never lost a criminal case before a jury either as a prosecutor or a defense attorney, and has not ...
, made accusations of criminal wrongdoing against the agencies involved in the incident, in particular the FBI, the USMS, the
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE), commonly referred to as the ATF, is a domestic law enforcement agency within the United States Department of Justice. Its responsibilities include the investigation and preven ...
(ATF), and the
United States Attorney's Office
United States attorneys are officials of the U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 U.S. federal judicial districts. Each U.S. attorney serves as the United States' chief federal c ...
(USAO) for Idaho. At the trial's end, the
Department of Justice
A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a v ...
's
Office of Professional Responsibility
The Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR), part of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) and supervised by the FBI, is responsible for investigating lawyers employed by the Department of Justice who have been accused of misconduct ...
formed the Ruby Ridge Task Force (RRTF) to investigate Spence's charges. A redacted
HTML
The HyperText Markup Language or HTML is the standard markup language for documents designed to be displayed in a web browser. It can be assisted by technologies such as Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and scripting languages such as JavaScri ...
version of the RRTF report, publicly released by Lexis Counsel Connect, raised questions about all the participating agencies' conduct and policies. The Justice Department later posted a more complete PDF version of the report.
[RRTF, ''Report of the RRTF to the OPR'' (1994; ''more complete version''), see Bibliography.][RRTF, ''Report of the RRTF to the OPR'' (2006) 994; OPR legacy, highly redacted version, PDF series see Bibliography.]
Both the Weaver family and Harris brought
civil suit
-
A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the Civil law (common law), civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in re ...
s against the federal government over the firefight and siege. The Weavers won a combined out-of-court
settlement
Settlement may refer to:
*Human settlement, a community where people live
*Settlement (structural), the distortion or disruption of parts of a building
*Closing (real estate), the final step in executing a real estate transaction
*Settlement (fina ...
in August 1995 of $3.1 million. After numerous appeals, Harris was awarded a $380,000 settlement in September 2000.
To answer public questions about Ruby Ridge, the
Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Government Information held hearings between September 6 and October 19, 1995, and later issued a report calling for reforms in federal law enforcement to prevent a repeat of the losses of life at Ruby Ridge and restore public confidence in federal law enforcement.
It was observed that the Ruby Ridge incident and the 1993
Waco siege
The Waco siege, also known as the Waco massacre, was the law enforcement siege of the compound that belonged to the religious sect Branch Davidians. It was carried out by the U.S. federal government, Texas state law enforcement, and the U.S. mi ...
involved many of the same agencies (FBI HRT and ATF) and some of the same personnel (the FBI HRT commander). The
Government Accountability Office
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is a legislative branch government agency that provides auditing, evaluative, and investigative services for the United States Congress. It is the supreme audit institution of the federal govern ...
(GAO) also conducted a review of federal policies about use of
deadly force, publishing it in 1995.
In 1997, the Boundary County prosecutor indicted FBI HRT sniper
Lon Horiuchi
Lon Tomohisa Horiuchi (born June 9, 1954) is an American former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Hostage Rescue Team (HRT) sniper and former United States Army officer who was involved in the 1992 Ruby Ridge standoff and 1993 Waco siege. In ...
for manslaughter before the
statute of limitations
A statute of limitations, known in civil law systems as a prescriptive period, is a law passed by a legislative body to set the maximum time after an event within which legal proceedings may be initiated. ("Time for commencing proceedings") In m ...
for the charge could expire; the case, ''Idaho v. Horiuchi'', was moved to federal court, which has jurisdiction over federal agents. The case was dismissed because of the
supremacy clause
The Supremacy Clause of the Constitution of the United States ( Article VI, Clause 2) establishes that the Constitution, federal laws made pursuant to it, and treaties made under its authority, constitute the "supreme Law of the Land", and thu ...
. The
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (in case citations, 9th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court of appeals that has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts in the following federal judicial districts:
* District ...
ruled in 2001 that Horiuchi could be tried on state charges. A new county prosecutor, Brett Benson, had been elected in 2000 and dismissed the case, saying it was unlikely the state would be able to prove the criminal charges. Benson's decision was controversial.
The events that took place at Ruby Ridge, and the law enforcement response during the Waco siege roughly six months later, have been cited by commentators as catalysts for the
Oklahoma City bombing
The Oklahoma City bombing was a domestic terrorist truck bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, on April 19, 1995. Perpetrated by two anti-government extremists, Timothy McVeigh and Terry N ...
by
Timothy McVeigh
Timothy James McVeigh (April 23, 1968 – June 11, 2001) was an American domestic terrorist responsible for the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people, 19 of whom were children, injured more than 680 others, and destroyed one-third o ...
and
Terry Nichols
Terry Lynn Nichols (born April 1, 1955) is an American domestic terrorist who was convicted of being an accomplice in the Oklahoma City bombing. Prior to his incarceration, he held a variety of short-term jobs, working as a farmer, grain elevato ...
.
Geography
Ruby Ridge
Ruby Ridge was the site of an eleven-day siege in 1992 in Boundary County, Idaho, near Naples. It began on August 21, when deputies of the United States Marshals Service (USMS) initiated action to apprehend and arrest Randy Weaver under a bench ...
is the southernmost of four ridges that extend east from the Bottleneck/Roman Nose mountain range toward the
Kootenai River
The Kootenay or Kootenai river is a major river in the Northwest Plateau, in southeastern British Columbia, Canada, and northern Montana and Idaho in the United States. It is one of the uppermost major tributaries of the Columbia River, the l ...
. Caribou Ridge lies north of it, and the area between them drains into the Ruby Creek. Weaver insisted that his cabin, located north of the creek, was on Caribou Ridge, and that "Ruby Ridge" was a press invention. Both ridge names were in use before the Weavers moved to the area, as in a
Forest Service report on the 1967 Sundance Fire. The standoff occurred approximately from the nearest incorporated city of
Bonners Ferry
Bonners Ferry (Kutenai language: ʔaq̓anqmi) is the largest city and the county seat of Boundary County, Idaho, United States. The population was 2,543 at the 2010 census.
History
When gold was discovered in the East Kootenays of British ...
and approximately south of the border with Canada (
British Columbia
British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...
).
Development
Randy Weaver
Randall Claude Weaver (January 3, 1948 – May 11, 2022) was an American survivalist, former Iowa factory worker, and self-proclaimed white separatist. He was a central actor in the 1992 Ruby Ridge standoff at his cabin near Naples, Idaho, th ...
, a former
Iowa
Iowa () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States, bordered by the Mississippi River to the east and the Missouri River and Big Sioux River to the west. It is bordered by six states: Wisconsin to the northeast, Illinois to the ...
factory worker and
U.S. Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...
Green Beret
The green beret was the official headdress of the British Commandos of the Second World War. It is still worn by members of the Royal Marines after passing the Commando Course, and personnel from other units of the Royal Navy, Army and RAF wh ...
,
moved with his wife and four children to northern
Idaho
Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...
during the 1980s so they could "
home-school
Homeschooling or home schooling, also known as home education or elective home education (EHE), is the education of school-aged children at home or a variety of places other than a school. Usually conducted by a parent, tutor, or an onlin ...
his children and escape what he and his wife Vicki saw as a corrupted world."
In 1978, Vicki, the religious leader of the family,
began to have recurrent dreams of living on a mountaintop and believed that the
apocalypse
Apocalypse () is a literary genre in which a supernatural being reveals cosmic mysteries or the future to a human intermediary. The means of mediation include dreams, visions and heavenly journeys, and they typically feature symbolic imager ...
was imminent. After the birth of their son, Samuel, the Weavers began selling their belongings
and visited the
Amish
The Amish (; pdc, Amisch; german: link=no, Amische), formally the Old Order Amish, are a group of traditionalist Anabaptist Christian church fellowships with Swiss German and Alsatian origins. They are closely related to Mennonite churches ...
to learn how to live without electricity.
They bought of land on Ruby Ridge in 1983 and began building a cabin; the property was in
Boundary County on a hillside on Ruby Creek opposite Caribou Ridge, northwest of nearby
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
.
In 1984, Randy Weaver and his neighbor Terry Kinnison had a dispute over a $3,000 land deal. Kinnison lost the ensuing lawsuit and was ordered to pay Weaver an additional $2,100 in court costs and
damages
At common law, damages are a remedy in the form of a monetary award to be paid to a claimant as compensation for loss or injury. To warrant the award, the claimant must show that a breach of duty has caused foreseeable loss. To be recognised at ...
. Kinnison wrote letters to the
Federal Bureau of Investigation
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States and its principal federal law enforcement agency. Operating under the jurisdiction of the United States Department of Justice, ...
(FBI), the
Secret Service
A secret service is a government agency, intelligence agency, or the activities of a government agency, concerned with the gathering of intelligence data. The tasks and powers of a secret service can vary greatly from one country to another. For ...
, and the county sheriff in which he alleged that Weaver had threatened to kill
Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...
,
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
, and
Idaho Governor John V. Evans.
In January 1985, the FBI and the Secret Service launched an investigation into allegations that Weaver had made threats against Reagan and other government and law enforcement officials. On February 12, Weaver and his wife were interviewed by two FBI agents, two Secret Service agents, and the Boundary County sheriff and his chief investigator. The Secret Service had been told that Weaver was a member of
Aryan Nations
Aryan Nations is a North American antisemitic, neo-Nazi, white supremacist organization that was originally based in Kootenai County, Idaho, about miles (4.4 km) north of the city of Hayden Lake. Richard Girnt Butler founded the group i ...
(an antisemitic, neo-Nazi, white supremacist terrorist organization) and that he had a large weapons cache at his residence. Weaver denied these allegations, and the government filed no charges. On three or four occasions, the Weavers had attended Aryan Nations meetings at
Hayden Lake
Lake Hayden, also known as Hayden Lake, is a lake located Kootenai County, Idaho
Idaho ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–Unit ...
, where there was a compound for government resisters and
white supremacists
White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White su ...
/
separatists
Separatism is the advocacy of cultural, ethnic, tribal, religious, racial, governmental or gender separation from the larger group. As with secession, separatism conventionally refers to full political separation. Groups simply seeking greate ...
.
[Egan, Timothy. (p. 3, August 30, 1992)]
. ''The New York Times''.
The investigation noted that Weaver associated with Frank Kumnick, who was known to associate with members of the Aryan Nations. Weaver told the investigators that neither he nor Kumnick was a member of the Aryan Nations but he stated that Kumnick was "associated with
The Covenant, The Sword, and the Arm of the Lord."
On February 28, Randy and Vicki Weaver filed an
affidavit
An ( ; Medieval Latin for "he has declared under oath") is a written statement voluntarily made by an ''affiant'' or '' deponent'' under an oath or affirmation which is administered by a person who is authorized to do so by law. Such a statemen ...
with the county courthouse alleging that their personal enemies were plotting to provoke the FBI into attacking and killing the Weaver family. On May 6, the Weavers sent President Reagan a letter claiming that their enemies may have sent Reagan a threatening letter under a forged signature. No evidence of such a letter surfaced, but in 1992, the prosecutor cited the 1985 letter as an
overt act
In criminal law, an overt act is the one that can be clearly proved by evidence and from which criminal intent can be inferred, as opposed to a mere intention in the mind to commit a crime. Such an act, even if innocent ''per se'', can potentiall ...
of the Weaver family conspiracy against the federal government.
[RRTF, ''Report of the RRTF to the OPR'' (1994), §IV.L., pp. 325–377.]
ATF involvement
The
Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE), commonly referred to as the ATF, is a domestic law enforcement agency within the United States Department of Justice. Its responsibilities include the investigation and preven ...
(ATF) first became aware of Weaver in July 1986, when he was introduced to a confidential ATF informant at a meeting at the World Aryan Congress. The informant portrayed himself as a weapons dealer working with
motorcycle gangs
An outlaw motorcycle club is a motorcycle subculture generally centered on the use of cruiser motorcycles, particularly Harley-Davidsons and choppers, and a set of ideals that purport to celebrate freedom, nonconformity to mainstream culture, ...
. Weaver had been invited to the meeting by Kumnick, the original target of the ATF investigation. It was Weaver's first time at this Congress. Over the next three years, Weaver and the informant met several times. In July 1989, Weaver invited the informant to his home to discuss forming a group to fight the "
Zionist Organized Government", referring to the U.S. government.
In October 1989, the ATF claimed that Weaver sold the informant two
sawed-off shotgun
A sawed-off shotgun (also called a sawn-off shotgun, short-barreled shotgun, shorty or a boom stick) is a type of shotgun with a shorter gun barrel—typically under —and often a shortened or absent stock. Despite the colloquial term, ...
s, with the overall length of the guns
shorter than the limit set by federal law. In November 1989, Weaver accused the ATF informant of being a spy for the police; Weaver later wrote he had been warned by "Rico V."
[Weaver & Weaver, ''The Federal Siege'' (1998), p. 29.] The informant's handler, Herb Byerly, ordered him to have no further contact with Weaver. Eventually, FBI informant Rico Valentino outed the ATF informant to Aryan Nations security.
In June 1990, Byerly attempted to use the sawed-off shotgun charge as leverage to get Weaver to act as an informant for his investigation into Aryan Nations. Weaver refused to become a "snitch", and the ATF filed the gun charges in June 1990. The ATF alleged that Weaver was a bank robber with criminal convictions. (Those claims were false: at that time Weaver had no criminal record. The 1995 Senate investigation found: "Weaver was not a suspect in any bank robberies.") A federal grand jury indicted Weaver in December 1990 for making and possessing, but not for selling, illegal weapons in October 1989.
The ATF concluded it would be too dangerous for agents to arrest Weaver at his property. In January 1991, ATF agents posed as broken-down motorists and arrested Weaver when he and Vicki stopped to assist. Weaver was told of the charges against him, released on
bail
Bail is a set of pre-trial restrictions that are imposed on a suspect to ensure that they will not hamper the judicial process. Bail is the conditional release of a defendant with the promise to appear in court when required.
In some countries ...
, and told that his trial would begin on February 19, 1991. On January 22, the judge in the case appointed attorney Everett Hofmeister as Weaver's legal representative. The same day, Weaver called probation officer Karl Richins and told him that he had been instructed to contact Richins on that date. Richins did not have the case file at that time, so he asked Weaver to leave his contact information and said he would contact him when he received the paperwork. According to Richins, Weaver did not give him a telephone number. Hofmeister sent Weaver letters on January 19, January 31, and February 5, asking Weaver to contact him to work on his
defense
Defense or defence may refer to:
Tactical, martial, and political acts or groups
* Defense (military), forces primarily intended for warfare
* Civil defense, the organizing of civilians to deal with emergencies or enemy attacks
* Defense industr ...
within the federal court system.
On February 5, the trial date was changed from February 19 to 20 to give participants more travel time following a federal holiday. The court clerk sent the parties a letter informing them of the date change, but the notice was not sent directly to Weaver, only to Hofmeister. On February 7, Richins sent Weaver a letter indicating that he had the case file and needed to talk with Weaver. This letter erroneously said that Weaver's trial date was March 20.
On February 8, Hofmeister again attempted to contact Weaver by letter informing him that the trial was to begin on February 20 and that Weaver needed to contact him immediately. Hofmeister also made several calls to individuals who knew Weaver, asking them to have Weaver call him. Hofmeister told
U.S. District Court
The United States district courts are the trial courts of the U.S. federal judiciary. There is one district court for each federal judicial district, which each cover one U.S. state or, in some cases, a portion of a state. Each district cou ...
Judge
Harold Lyman Ryan
Harold Lyman Ryan (June 17, 1923 – April 10, 1995) was an Lawyer, attorney and United States federal judge, United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Idaho.
Education
Born and raised in Weiser, Idah ...
that he had been unable to reach Weaver before the scheduled court date.
[RRTF, ''Report of the RRTF to the OPR'' (1994), Ch. IV., §B.2.c., p. 44f. uote:"On February 20, Howen and defense counsel Hofmeister appeared before the U.S. district court judge Harold L. Ryan. At that time, Hofmeister told the court that he had been unable to contact Weaver."]
When Weaver did not appear in court on February 20, Ryan issued a
bench warrant
An arrest warrant is a warrant issued by a judge or magistrate on behalf of the state, which authorizes the arrest and detention of an individual, or the search and seizure of an individual's property.
Canada
Arrest warrants are issued by a ju ...
for failure to appear in court.
On February 26, Ken Keller, a reporter for the ''
Kootenai
The Kutenai ( ), also known as the Ktunaxa ( ; ), Ksanka ( ), Kootenay (in Canada) and Kootenai (in the United States), are an indigenous people of Canada and the United States. Kutenai bands live in southeastern British Columbia, northern ...
Valley Times'', telephoned the U.S. Probation Office and asked whether Weaver did not show in court on February 20 because the letter Richins sent him had an incorrect date. Upon finding a copy of the letter, the Chief Probation Officer, Terrence Hummel, contacted Ryan's clerk and informed them of the incorrect date in the letter. Hummel also contacted the
U.S. Marshals Service
The United States Marshals Service (USMS) is a federal law enforcement agency in the United States. The USMS is a bureau within the U.S. Department of Justice, operating under the direction of the Attorney General, but serves as the enforcem ...
(USMS) and Weaver's attorney, informing them both of the error. Judge Ryan, however, refused to withdraw the bench warrant.
The USMS agreed to put off executing the warrant until after March 20 in order to see whether Weaver would show up in court on that day. If he were to show up on March 20, the
Department of Justice
A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a v ...
claimed that all indications are that the warrant would have been dropped. But instead, the
U.S. Attorney's Office
United States attorneys are officials of the United States Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice who serve as the chief federal law enforcement officers in each of the 94 United States federal judicial district, U.S. federal judici ...
(USAO) called a
grand jury
A grand jury is a jury—a group of citizens—empowered by law to conduct legal proceedings, investigate potential criminal conduct, and determine whether criminal charges should be brought. A grand jury may subpoena physical evidence or a pe ...
on March 14. The USAO did not inform the grand jury of Richins's letter and the grand jury issued an
indictment
An indictment ( ) is a formal accusation that a legal person, person has committed a crime. In jurisdictions that use the concept of felony, felonies, the most serious criminal offence is a felony; jurisdictions that do not use the felonies concep ...
for failure to appear.
U.S. Marshals Service involvement
When the Weaver case passed from the ATF to the USMS, no one informed the marshals that the ATF had attempted to solicit Weaver as an informant.
[RRTF, ''Report of the RRTF to the OPR'' (1994), Ch. IV., §B.2.b.(2), pp. 40–43. uote:"Indeed, it was not until over a year later that the marshals learned of this action."]
As the law enforcement arm of the federal court, the USMS were responsible to arrest and bring in Weaver, now considered a
fugitive
A fugitive (or runaway) is a person who is fleeing from custody, whether it be from jail, a government arrest, government or non-government questioning, vigilante violence, or outraged private individuals. A fugitive from justice, also known ...
.
Weaver simply stayed in his remote home, threatening to resist any attempt to take him by force.
Weaver was known to have an intense distrust of government. The erroneous Richins letter is believed to have compounded this sentiment and may have contributed to Weaver's reluctance to appear for trial. He was suspicious of what he thought were inconsistent messages from the government and his lawyer; he began to think there was a conspiracy against him.
Weaver came to believe that he would not receive a fair trial if he were to appear in court. His distrust grew even further when Hofmeister erroneously told him that if he lost the trial, he would lose his land, essentially leaving Vicki homeless, and that the government would take away his children.
USMS officers made a series of attempts to have Weaver surrender peacefully, but he refused to leave his cabin. Weaver negotiated with U.S. Marshals Ron Evans, W. Warren Mays, and David Hunt through third parties from March 5 to October 12, 1991, when Assistant U.S. Attorney Ron Howen directed that the negotiations cease.
The U.S. Attorney directed that all negotiations go through Hofmeister, but Weaver refused to talk with him. Marshals began preparing plans to capture Weaver to stand trial on the weapons charges and his failure to appear at the correct trial date.
Although marshals stopped the negotiations as ordered, they made other contact. On March 4, 1992, U.S. Marshals Ron Evans and Jack Cluff drove to the Weaver property and spoke with Weaver, posing as real-estate prospects.
At a March 27, 1992, meeting at USMS headquarters, Art Roderick code-named the operation "Northern Exposure". Surveillance teams were dispatched and cameras set up to record activity at Weaver's residence. Marshals observed that Weaver and his family responded to vehicles and other visitors by taking up armed positions around the cabin until the visitors were recognized.
Threat source profile
Beginning in February 1991, the USMS developed a Threat Source Profile on Weaver. Agents' failure to integrate new information into that profile was criticized in a 1995 report by a subcommittee of the
Senate Judiciary Committee
The United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary, informally the Senate Judiciary Committee, is a standing committee of 22 U.S. senators whose role is to oversee the Department of Justice (DOJ), consider executive and judicial nominations, a ...
:
The Subcommittee is ... concerned that, as Marshals investigating the Weaver case learned facts that contradicted information they previously had been provided, they did not adequately integrate their updated knowledge into their overall assessment of who Randy Weaver was or what threat he might pose. If the Marshals made any attempt to assess the credibility of the various people who gave them information about Weaver, they never recorded their assessments. Thus, rather than maintaining the Threat Source Profile as a living document
A living document, also known as an evergreen document or dynamic document, is a document that is continually edited and updated. An example of a living document is an article in Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia that permits anyone to freely edi ...
, the Marshals added new reports to an ever-expanding file, and their overall assessment never really changed. These problems rendered it difficult for other law enforcement officials to assess the Weaver case accurately without the benefit of first-hand briefings from persons who had continuing involvement with him.
Many of the people the USMS used as third party go-betweens on the Weaver case—Bill and Judy Grider, Alan Jeppeson, and
Richard Butler—were assessed by the Marshals as more radical than the Weavers. When Deputy U.S. Marshal (DUSM) Dave Hunt asked Grider, "Why shouldn't I just go up there ... and talk to him?", Grider replied, "Let me put it to you this way. If I was sitting on my property and somebody with a gun comes to do me harm, then I'll probably shoot him."
The Subcommittee said that the profile included "a brief psychological profile completed by a person who had conducted no firsthand interviews and was so unfamiliar with the case that he referred to Weaver as 'Mr. Randall' throughout". A later memo circulated within the Justice Department opined that:
Rivera helicopter incident
Following a flyover by a hired helicopter for
Geraldo Rivera
Geraldo Rivera (born Gerald Riviera; July 4, 1943) is an American journalist, attorney, author, political commentator, and former television host. He hosted the tabloid talk show '' Geraldo'' from 1987 to 1998. He gained publicity with the liv ...
's ''Now It Can Be Told'' television show on April 18, 1992, the USMS received media reports that Weaver had shot at the helicopter.
That day in Idaho, U.S. Marshals were installing surveillance cameras overlooking the Weaver property. The field report for April 18, 1992, filed by Marshal W. Warren Mays, reported seeing a helicopter near the Weaver property, but not that any shots were heard. In an interview with a
Coeur D'Alene newspaper, Weaver denied that anyone had fired at the helicopter.
[RRTF, ''Report of the RRTF to the OPR'' (1994), Ch. IV., §C.2.g.(2), footnote 246, pp. 78–80.] When interviewed by the FBI, the helicopter pilot Richard Weiss said that Weaver had not fired on his helicopter. The ''Report of the RRTF to the OPR'' (1994) said, when the "indictment
f Weaver
F, or f, is the sixth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''ef'' (pronounced ), and the plural is ''efs''.
Hist ...
was presented to the grand jury, the prosecution had evidence that no shots had been fired at the helicopter."
[RRTF, ''Report of the RRTF to the OPR'' (1994), Ch. IV., §L.3.a., and footnote 1196, pp. 359-365.]
Media reports that Weaver had fired on the Rivera helicopter became part of the justification later cited by U.S. Marshal Wayne "Duke" Smith and FBI HRT Commander Richard Rogers in drawing up the Ruby Ridge
rules of engagement
Rules of engagement (ROE) are the internal rules or directives afforded military forces (including individuals) that define the circumstances, conditions, degree, and manner in which the use of force, or actions which might be construed as pro ...
on August 21–22, 1992. Also, in spite of Weiss's repeated denials that shots had been fired at his helicopter, Howen charged that, as Overt Act 32 of the Weavers' Conspiracy Against the Federal Government, Randy, Vicki, and Harris fired two shots at the Rivera helicopter.
Operation "Northern Exposure" was suspended for three months due to the confirmation hearings for
United States Marshals Service
The United States Marshals Service (USMS) is a federal law enforcement agency in the United States. The USMS is a bureau within the U.S. Department of Justice, operating under the direction of the Attorney General, but serves as the enforceme ...
Director
Henry E. Hudson.
Encounter near Weaver's cabin
On August 21, 1992, six Marshals were sent to scout the area to determine suitable places away from the cabin to apprehend and arrest Weaver.
The marshals, dressed in
military camouflage
Military camouflage is the use of camouflage by an armed force to protect personnel and equipment from observation by enemy forces. In practice, this means applying colour and materials to military equipment of all kinds, including vehicles, ...
, were equipped with
night-vision goggles
A night-vision device (NVD), also known as a night optical/observation device (NOD), night-vision goggle (NVG), is an optoelectronic device that allows visualization of images in low levels of light, improving the user's night vision. The dev ...
and
M16 rifle
The M16 rifle (officially designated Rifle, Caliber 5.56 mm, M16) is a family of military rifles adapted from the ArmaLite AR-15 rifle for the United States military. The original M16 rifle was a 5.56×45mm automatic rifle with a 20-roun ...
s.
DUSMs Art Roderick, Larry Cooper, and William F. "Bill" Degan formed the reconnaissance team, while DUSMs David Hunt, Joseph Thomas, and Frank Norris formed an observation post (OP) team on the ridge north of the cabin.
[RRTF, ''Report of the RRTF to the OPR'' (1994), Ch. IV., §D.2.c.(2), p. 112.]
At one point, Roderick threw two rocks at the Weaver cabin to test the dogs' reaction.
[RRTF, ''Report of the RRTF to the OPR'' (1994), Ch. IV., §D.3.a.(4), p. 121.] The action provoked the dogs; Weaver's friend, Kevin Harris, and Weaver's 14-year-old son, Samuel ("Sammy"), emerged and followed the dog "Striker" to investigate.
Harris and the younger Weaver said that they were hoping the dog had noticed a game animal as the cabin was out of meat. The recon team (Roderick, Cooper, and Degan) initially retreated through the woods in radio contact with the OP team, but later took up hidden defensive positions.
Later, the OP team and the Weavers claimed the dogs were alerted to the recon team in the woods after neighbors at the foot of the mountain started their pickup truck.
The recon team retreated through the woods to a "Y" junction in the trails west of the cabin, out of sight of the cabin. Sammy and Harris followed Striker on foot through the woods while Randy, also on foot, took a separate logging trail; Vicki, Sara, Rachel, and baby Elisheba remained at the cabin. The OP team were anxious at first, but then relaxed.
Randy encountered the Marshals at the "Y"; Roderick claimed to have yelled, "Back off! U.S. Marshal!" upon sighting Weaver, and Cooper said he had shouted, "Stop! U.S. Marshal!"
By their account, Sammy and Striker came out of the woods about a minute later. When the Marshals' position was revealed by the dog "Striker", a
yellow Labrador Retriever, DUSM Roderick shot the dog dead.
[U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism, ''Ruby Ridge: Report'' (1996), pp. 38–49.]
Seeing this, Sammy Weaver reportedly said to the Marshals, "You've killed my dog, you son of a bitch!", and then shot in the direction of Roderick. DUSM Cooper then shot towards Sammy Weaver and Kevin Harris, who both sought cover.
Harris, once finding cover behind a tree stump, then returned fire with one unaimed shot, which eventually killed DUSM William Francis "Bill" Degan.
Sammy Weaver, now retreating up a hill was then shot in the back and killed by DUSM Cooper.
A later ballistics report showed that nineteen rounds were fired during the fight.
DUSM Roderick fired one shot from an
M16A1
The M16 rifle (officially designated Rifle, Caliber 5.56 mm, M16) is a family of military rifles adapted from the ArmaLite AR-15 rifle for the United States military. The original M16 rifle was a 5.56×45mm automatic rifle with a 20-roun ...
(which killed "Striker", the dog, by entering his body two inches from the dog's anus, and exiting the chest), then Sammy fired three from a
.223
The .223 Remington (designated as the 223 Remington by the SAAMI and 223 Rem by the CIP) is a rimless, bottlenecked rifle cartridge. It was developed in 1957 by Remington Arms and Fairchild Industries for the U.S. Continental Army Command ...
Ruger Mini-14
The Mini-14 is a lightweight semi-automatic rifle manufactured by Sturm, Ruger & Co. Introduced in 1973, it is based on the M14 rifle and is essentially a scaled-down version chambered in 5.56×45mm NATO.
It is made in a number of variants, inc ...
(at Roderick), Degan fired seven from an M16 (at Harris and Weaver, while moving at least ), and Cooper fired six from a 9 mm
Colt submachine gun (at Harris and Weaver), Harris then fired two from a
.30-06 M1917 Enfield Rifle
The M1917 Enfield, the "American Enfield", formally named "United States Rifle, cal .30, Model of 1917" is an American modification and production of the .303-inch (7.7 mm) Pattern 1914 Enfield (P14) rifle (listed in British Service as Rifle No. ...
(striking and killing DUSM Degan).
After the federal agents began firing, Sammy was killed by a shot to the back while retreating.
Harris fired one unaimed shot and killed DUSM Degan.
The origin of the shot that killed Sammy was of critical concern in all investigations. At the time of the writing of the ''Ruby Ridge: Report'' (1996), the
Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Government Information, chaired by
Senator
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
Arlen Specter
Arlen Specter (February 12, 1930 – October 14, 2012) was an American lawyer, author and politician who served as a United States Senator from Pennsylvania from 1981 to 2011. Specter was a Democrat from 1951 to 1965, then a Republican from ...
, observed that the government's position at trial was that Cooper had fired the shot. The Subcommittee engaged additional experts and ultimately declined to draw a final conclusion.
[U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism, ''Ruby Ridge: Report'' (1996), Ch. B. § 5.b., pp. 46f.] The Justice Department's Ruby Ridge Task Force (RRTF) report to the
Office of Professional Responsibility
The Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR), part of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) and supervised by the FBI, is responsible for investigating lawyers employed by the Department of Justice who have been accused of misconduct ...
(OPR, 1994) states:
It was concluded there was no indication he intended to shoot Weaver.
[RRTF, ''Report of the RRTF to the OPR'' (1994), Ch. IV., §D.3.c. and 4., pp. 125–127.]
Reporter
Jess Walter
Jess Walter (born July 20, 1965) is an American author of seven novels, two collections of short stories, and a non-fiction book. He is the recipient of the Edgar Allan Poe Award, and was a finalist for the National Book Award in 2006.
Career
Wal ...
, in his work ''Ruby Ridge: The Truth and Tragedy of the Randy Weaver Family'' concludes that Cooper fired the bullet that killed Sammy Weaver.
In 1997, Boundary County Sheriff Greg Sprungl conducted an independent search of the "Y", and his investigator, Lucien Haag, discovered and confirmed that a bullet found in that search matched DUSM Cooper's 9 mm Colt submachine gun and contained fibers that matched Sammy's shirt, conclusively proving DUSM Cooper shot 14-year-old Sammy Weaver in the back as he retreated.
Harris's and the federal agents' accounts differ as to who fired first. In the 1993 trial over charges in Degan's death, prosecutors alleged that Harris had fired the first shot. Harris asserted
self-defense
Self-defense (self-defence primarily in Commonwealth English) is a countermeasure that involves defending the health and well-being of oneself from harm. The use of the right of self-defense as a legal justification for the use of force in ...
and was
acquitted
In common law jurisdictions, an acquittal certifies that the accused is free from the charge of an offense, as far as criminal law is concerned. The finality of an acquittal is dependent on the jurisdiction. In some countries, such as the ...
.
On
cross-examination
In law, cross-examination is the interrogation of a witness called by one's opponent. It is preceded by direct examination (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, South Africa, India and Pakistan known as examination-in-chief) and m ...
by the defense, ballistics experts called by the prosecution testified that the physical evidence contradicted neither the prosecution's nor the defense's theories of the gunfight.
Martin Fackler
Martin L. Fackler (1933–2015) was an American military officer, surgeon and wound ballistics expert. He served in the U.S Navy from 1960 to 1975 and in the U.S. Army from 1975 to 1991. He was a field surgeon at the Naval Support Hospitals ...
testified that Roderick fired the shot or shots that killed Striker, that Degan fired the shot that hit Sammy in the right elbow, that Harris shot and killed Degan, and that Cooper "probably" shot and killed Sammy.
Roderick and Cooper stated that Striker preceded Harris and Sammy out of the woods. They said Degan challenged Harris, who turned, shot and fatally wounded Degan before he could fire first. They said Roderick shot the dog once, Sammy fired twice at Roderick, and Roderick returned fire. Roderick and Cooper testified that they heard multiple gunshots from the Weaver party. Cooper testified that he fired two three-shot bursts at Harris and saw Harris fall "like a sack of potatoes" with leaves flying up in front of him, presumably from the impact of a round. Cooper sought cover. He testified that he saw Sammy run away and radioed OP team member Dave Hunt that he had wounded or killed Harris.
[RRTF, ''Report of the RRTF to the OPR'' (1994), Ch. IV., §D., pp. 96–127.]
As described by Randy and Sara Weaver, in their book ''The Federal Siege'' (1998), Harris's version of events differed, as follows.
[Weaver & Weaver, ''The Federal Siege'' (1998). Book-length source cited without page number or chapter, so content appearing at these footnoted locations is not yet traceable to this source.] Harris told them Striker was followed out of the woods by Sammy and Harris, and that the dog ran up to Cooper. He said the dog ran to Roderick, who shot it in front of Sammy. Sammy yelled, "You shot my dog, you son of a bitch!", and fired a shot at Roderick. Harris said that Degan came out of the woods and shot Sammy in the arm. Harris fired and hit Degan in the chest. According to the Weavers, Harris said that Cooper fired at Harris, who ducked for cover, and Cooper fired again, hitting Sammy in the back, who fell. Harris fired about 6 feet (2 m) in front of Cooper, forcing him to take cover. Only then did he hear Cooper identify himself as a U.S. Marshal. Harris said he checked Sammy and found him dead, and ran to the Weavers' cabin.
After the firefight at the "Y", Hunt and Thomas went to a neighbor's house to call for assistance from the USMS Crisis Center. Norris, Cooper, and Roderick stayed with Degan's body at the "Y". Randy and Vicki went to the "Y" and retrieved Sammy's body. Randy, Vicki and Harris placed the body in a guest cabin near the main cabin. From 11:15 a.m. onward, Hunt reported to the Crisis Center in
Washington, D.C.
)
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
, that no further gunfire was heard.
Siege and controversy
In the aftermath of the gunfight on August 21 at 11:20 am
PDT, DUSM Hunt
requested immediate support from Idaho law enforcement,
and he also alerted the FBI by notifying it that a Marshal had been killed.
Following Hunt's phone call, the Marshals Service Crisis Center was activated under the direction of Duke Smith, associate director for Operations. The Marshals Service Special Operations Group (SOG) was alerted to deploy. In response to the USMS call, the Boundary County sheriff's office mobilized.
[RRTF, ''Report of the RRTF to the OPR'' (1994), Ch. IV., §E.2.a., pp. 128–131. US Border Patrol agents were among the respondents at Ruby Ridge, according to USMS Crisis Center logs, see footnote 454. Quote: By this time, agents from the U.S. Border Patrol, the Boundary County Sheriff's Office, and the ]Idaho State Police
The Idaho State Police (ISP) is the statewide law enforcement agency for the State of Idaho. It began as the Bureau of Constabulary, created on May 18, 1919, under the new Department of Law Enforcement, to detect and investigate crime, "order abate ...
had reached the scene ... Also in response to the USMS request, Idaho Governor
Cecil Andrus
Cecil Dale Andrus (August 25, 1931 – August 24, 2017) was an American politician who served 26th and 28th governor of Idaho, for total of fourteen years. A Democrat, he also served as U.S. Secretary of the Interior from 1977 to 1981 during the ...
declared a
state of emergency
A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to be able to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state du ...
in Boundary County, allowing use of the
Idaho National Guard
The Idaho Military Department consists of the Idaho Army National Guard, the Idaho Air National Guard, the Idaho Bureau of Homeland Security, and formerly the Idaho State Guard. Its headquarters are located in Boise. The main goal of the Idaho Mi ...
Armory at
Bonners Ferry
Bonners Ferry (Kutenai language: ʔaq̓anqmi) is the largest city and the county seat of Boundary County, Idaho, United States. The population was 2,543 at the 2010 census.
History
When gold was discovered in the East Kootenays of British ...
and, after an initial delay, to use National Guard
armored personnel carriers
An armoured personnel carrier (APC) is a broad type of armoured military vehicle designed to transport personnel and equipment in combat zones. Since World War I, APCs have become a very common piece of military equipment around the world.
Acc ...
(APCs).
[RRTF, ''Report of the RRTF to the OPR'' (1994), Ch. IV., §H.2.b., p. 235.] Soon thereafter, the
Idaho State Police
The Idaho State Police (ISP) is the statewide law enforcement agency for the State of Idaho. It began as the Bureau of Constabulary, created on May 18, 1919, under the new Department of Law Enforcement, to detect and investigate crime, "order abate ...
arrived at the scene.
FBI Headquarters in Washington, DC, responded by sending the
Hostage Rescue Team
The Hostage Rescue Team (HRT) is the elite tactical unit of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The HRT was formed to provide a full-time federal law enforcement tactical capability to respond to major terrorist incidents throughout the ...
(HRT) from
Quantico to Idaho. Special Agent in Charge (SAC) Eugene Glenn of the
Salt Lake City
Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...
FBI office was appointed Site Commander with responsibility for all active individuals from the FBI, ATF, and USMS. A stand-off ensued for eleven days, as several hundred federal agents surrounded the house,
and negotiations for a surrender were attempted.
Special ROE and sniper/observer deployment
By Saturday, August 22, special rules of engagement (ROE) were drafted and approved by FBI Headquarters and the Marshal Service for use on Ruby Ridge. According to the later RRTF report to the
DOJ (1994), the Ruby Ridge ROE were as follows:
# "If any adult in the area around the cabin is observed with a weapon after the surrender announcement had been made, deadly force could and should be used to neutralize the individual."
# "If any adult male is observed with a weapon prior to the announcement deadly force can and should be employed if the shot could be taken without endangering any children."
# "If compromised by any dog the dog can be taken out."
# "Any subjects other than Randy Weaver, Vicki Weaver, Kevin Harris presenting threat of death or grievous bodily harm FBI rules of deadly force apply. Deadly force can be utilized to prevent the death or grievous bodily injury to oneself or that of another."
(From the sworn statement of FBI SAC Eugene Glenn).
[RRTF, ''Report of the RRTF to the OPR'' (1994), Ch. IV., §F.2.b., text before footnote 553, and again after footnote 714 (the latter of which corresponds to this numbered list); at pp. 163–172.]
As noted in a footnote to the report in this crucial section:
The ROE were communicated to agents on site, including communication to HRT sniper/observers prior to deployment, communications that included the change of "adult" to "adult male" to exclude Vicki Weaver.
Some deployed FBI agents, in particular the sniper/observers, would later describe the adopted ROE as a "green light" to "shoot on sight".
[RRTF, ''Report of the RRTF to the OPR'' (1994), Ch. IV., §F., pp. 155–228.]
On Wednesday, August 26, four days after Vicki was killed, the ROE that had been in effect since the arrival of the HRT were revoked. Per Glenn's direction, the FBI's Standard Deadly Force Policy replaced the ROE to guide the law enforcement personnel that were to be deployed to the cabin perimeter. The FBI rules of deadly force in effect in 1992 stated that:
This was in stark contrast to the permissive ROE adopted for the Ruby Ridge stand-off.
[ The link to this title is to the 1996 edition.]
Deployment of sniper/observers, ROE understanding
On August 22, the second day of the siege, between 2:30–3:30 pm, the FBI HRT sniper/observer teams were briefed and deployed to the cabin on foot.
According to the RRTF report to the
DOJ, there were various views and interpretations taken of these ROEs by members of FBI SWAT teams in action at the Ruby Ridge site. Denver SWAT team leader Gregory Sexton described them as "severe" and "inappropriate." Two members of the Denver SWAT team said they were "strong" and a "departure from the ... standard deadly force policy", "inappropriate", and of a sort one "had never been given" before. The latter of these two members said that "other SWAT team members were taken aback by the Rules and that most of them clung to the FBI's standard deadly force policy." Another team member responded to the briefing on the ROE with "
u've gotta be kidding."
[RRTF, ''Report of the RRTF to the OPR'' (1994), Ch. IV., §F.2.c., from footnote 614 to 616, pp. 173–183.]
But most of the FBI HRT sniper/observers accepted the ROE as modifying the deadly force policy. According to later interviews, HRT sniper Dale Monroe saw the ROE as a "green light" to shoot armed adult males on sight, and HRT sniper Edward Wenger believed that if he observed armed adults, he could use deadly force, but he was to follow standard deadly force policy for all other individuals. Fred Lanceley, the FBI Hostage Negotiator at Ruby Ridge, was "surprised and shocked" at the ROE, the most severe rules he had heard in more than 300 hostage situations. He later characterized the ROE as being inconsistent with standard policy.
[RRTF, ''Report of the RRTF to the OPR'' (1994), Ch. IV., §F.2.a.–g., pp. 156–193.][RRTF, ''Report of the RRTF to the OPR'' (1994), Ch. IV., §F.3.a., pp. 200–208.] The 1996 Senate report criticized the ROE as "virtual shoot-on-sight orders."
Sniper shoots: R. Weaver is wounded, V. Weaver is killed
Before the negotiators arrived at the cabin, FBI
sniper
A sniper is a military/paramilitary marksman who engages targets from positions of concealment or at distances exceeding the target's detection capabilities. Snipers generally have specialized training and are equipped with high-precision r ...
Lon Horiuchi
Lon Tomohisa Horiuchi (born June 9, 1954) is an American former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Hostage Rescue Team (HRT) sniper and former United States Army officer who was involved in the 1992 Ruby Ridge standoff and 1993 Waco siege. In ...
, from a position over north and above the Weaver cabin,
[RRTF, ''Report of the RRTF to the OPR'' (1994), Ch. IV., §F.2.f., p. 188.] shot and wounded Randy Weaver in the back with the bullet exiting his right armpit, while he was lifting the latch on the shed to visit the body of his dead son.
(The sniper testified at the later trial that he had put his crosshairs on Weaver's spine, but Weaver moved at the last second.) As Weaver, his 16-year-old daughter Sara,
and Harris ran back toward the house, Horiuchi fired a second bullet, wounding Harris in the chest. This bullet killed Vicki Weaver, who was standing behind the door in the cabin where Harris entered. Vicki was holding the Weavers' 10-month-old baby Elisheba.
Constitutionality of the second shot
The RRTF report to the
DOJ's Office of Professional Responsibility (
OPR) of June 1994 stated unequivocally in conclusion (in its executive summary) that the rules that allowed the second shot to have been made did not satisfy constitutional standards for legal use of deadly force.
[RRTF, ''Report of the RRTF to the OPR'' (1994), Ch. I., §B., pp. 2–6.] The 1996 report of the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee's Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Government Information,
Arlen Specter
Arlen Specter (February 12, 1930 – October 14, 2012) was an American lawyer, author and politician who served as a United States Senator from Pennsylvania from 1981 to 2011. Specter was a Democrat from 1951 to 1965, then a Republican from ...
-PA chair, concurred, with Senator
Dianne Feinstein
Dianne Goldman Berman Feinstein ( ; born Dianne Emiel Goldman; June 22, 1933) is an American politician who serves as the senior United States senator from California, a seat she has held since 1992. A member of the Democratic Party, she was ...
-CAdissenting.
[U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism, ''Ruby Ridge: Report'' (1996), Ch. D. § 4.c., p. 88. Quoting from the report: "c. Legality of the Second Shot / The Subcommittee believes that the second shot was inconsistent with the FBI's standard deadly force policy and was unconstitutional. It was even inconsistent with the special Rules of Engagement. ootnote 1: Senator Feinstein dissents ...] The RRTF report said that the lack of a request by the marshals to the Weavers to surrender was "inexcusable."
Harris and the two Weavers were not believed to be an imminent threat (since they were reported as running for cover without returning fire).
The later Justice task force criticized Horiuchi for firing through the door, when he did not know if anyone was on the other side of it.
While there is a dispute as to who approved the rules of engagement which Horiuchi followed, the task force condemned the rules of engagement that allowed shots to be fired without a request for surrender.
Situational reevaluation, ROE is suspended, the siege ends
The FBI's HQ and the Site Commanders in Idaho both re-evaluated the situation based on information about what had happened on August 21 which they were receiving from U.S. Marshals Hunt, Cooper and Roderick. On August 23, repeated attempts to negotiate with Weaver via a bullhorn failed; there was no response from the cabin.
On about Monday, August 24, the fourth day of the siege, FBI Deputy Assistant Director
Danny Coulson
Danny Coulson (born June 29, 1941) is a former Deputy Assistant Director of the FBI. In his thirty-year tenure at the FBI, Coulson created and commanded the FBI’s Hostage Rescue Team (FBI), Hostage Rescue Team and commanded four field divisio ...
, who did not know that Vicki Weaver had been killed, wrote a memo with the following content:
The stand-off was ultimately resolved by civilian negotiators including
Bo Gritz
James Gordon "Bo" Gritz (; born January 18, 1939) is an American former United States Army Special Forces officer and presidential candidate. After serving in the Vietnam War and retiring from the military, Gritz has worked on attempted POW res ...
, to whom Weaver agreed to speak. Through Gritz's mediation, Harris, who had earlier urged Weaver to end his suffering, surrendered on August 30 (Sunday). He was removed via stretcher, and then he was flown by an
Air Force
An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an a ...
medical evacuation
Medical evacuation, often shortened to medevac or medivac, is the timely and efficient movement and en route care provided by medical personnel to wounded being evacuated from a battlefield, to injured patients being evacuated from the scene of a ...
helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...
to
Sacred Heart Medical Center in
Spokane
Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Ca ...
.
Weaver allowed the removal of his wife's body, which Gritz oversaw.
The FBI HRT Commander gave Gritz a deadline to get the remaining Weavers to surrender, and if they did not surrender on the day of the deadline, he said he would resolve the standoff by launching a tactical assault.
Weaver and his daughters surrendered the next day; both Harris and Weaver were arrested.
Harris was in serious condition at Sacred Heart, but U.S. Marshals did not allow his parents to see him (or talk by telephone) until Monday evening, after a
federal court order was issued.
Weaver's daughters were released to the custody of relatives. Federal officials considered charging Sara, who was 16, as an adult.
Weaver was transferred by military helicopter to the
airport
An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface ...
at
Sandpoint and from there he was flown by USMS jet to
Boise
Boise (, , ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho and is the county seat of Ada County. On the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and north of the Nevada border. The downtown area's ...
. There he was given a brief medical examination at
St. Luke's Medical Center. He was held at the
Ada County
Ada County is located in the southwestern part of Idaho, United States. As of the 2021 United States census estimate, the county had a population of 511,931, making it by far the state's most populous county; it is home to 26.8% of the state's p ...
jail and arraigned in federal court the following day, Tuesday, September 1.
Trials of Weaver and Harris
Weaver and Harris were charged with a variety of offenses;
their trial in U.S. District Court in Boise began in April 1993,
and was presided over by Judge
Edward Lodge
Edward James Lodge (born December 3, 1933) is an inactive Senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the District of Idaho in Boise, Idaho.
Education
Born in Caldwell, Idaho, Lodge graduated from Caldwell High ...
.
Weaver's defense attorney,
Gerry Spence
Gerald Leonard Spence (born January 8, 1929) is a semi-retired American trial lawyer. He is a member of the Trial Lawyer Hall of Fame. Spence has never lost a criminal case before a jury either as a prosecutor or a defense attorney, and has not ...
, rested his case in mid-June without calling any witnesses for the defense, instead seeking to convince the jury through cross-examination aimed at discrediting government evidence and witnesses.
Weaver was ultimately acquitted in July of all charges except missing his original court date and violating his bail conditions,
for which he was sentenced in October to 18 months imprisonment and fined $10,000.
Credited with time served and good behavior, Weaver served less than 16 months and was released from the
Canyon County jail in
Caldwell
Caldwell may refer to:
People
* Caldwell (surname)
* Caldwell (given name)
* Caldwell First Nation, a federally recognized Indian band in southern Ontario, Canada
Places
Great Britain
* Caldwell, Derbyshire, a hamlet
* Caldwell, East ...
in mid-December.
Harris was defended by attorney David Nevin and was acquitted of all charges.
Exactly five years after the incident (August 21, 1997), he was indicted by Boundary County prosecutor Denise Woodbury for the first-degree murder of DUSM Bill Degan,
but the charge was dismissed in early October on grounds of
double jeopardy
In jurisprudence, double jeopardy is a procedural defence (primarily in common law jurisdictions) that prevents an accused person from being tried again on the same (or similar) charges following an acquittal or conviction and in rare case ...
, because he had been acquitted in the federal criminal trial on the same charge in 1993.
Federal investigations of law enforcement
Defense counsels for Weaver and Harris alleged throughout their 1993 trial that agents of the ATF, USMS, and FBI were themselves guilty of serious wrongdoing. The Department of Justice (DOJ) created the Ruby Ridge Task Force (RRTF) to investigate events. It delivered a 542-page report on June 10, 1994, to the DOJ Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR).
(This RRTF report, originally available in a highly redacted form,
became available in a much more complete form.
)
Questions persisted about Ruby Ridge and the subsequent
Waco siege
The Waco siege, also known as the Waco massacre, was the law enforcement siege of the compound that belonged to the religious sect Branch Davidians. It was carried out by the U.S. federal government, Texas state law enforcement, and the U.S. mi ...
, which involved the same agencies and many of the same officials. The Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Government Information held fourteen days of hearings on these incidents and allegations of misconduct, ending on October 19, 1995.
The hearings were televised on
C-SPAN
Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American cable and satellite television network that was created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a nonprofit public service. It televises many proceedings of the United States ...
.
[U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism, ''Ruby Ridge: Report'' (1996), pp. 1. uote:"Introduction: In the summer of 1995, the Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Government Information announced that it would hold public hearings into allegations that several branches of the Departments of Justice and the Treasury had engaged in serious criminal and professional misconduct in the investigation, apprehension and prosecution of Randall Weaver and Kevin Harris at Ruby Ridge, Idaho." See for comparison, the opening of RRTF, ''Report of the RRTF to the OPR'' (1994), appearing in the Bibliography.] Both the internal 1994 Ruby Ridge Task Force Report and the public 1995 Senate subcommittee report on Ruby Ridge criticized the rules of engagement as unconstitutional.
A 1995
GAO
Gao , or Gawgaw/Kawkaw, is a city in Mali and the capital of the Gao Region. The city is located on the River Niger, east-southeast of Timbuktu on the left bank at the junction with the Tilemsi valley.
For much of its history Gao was an impor ...
investigation was conducted on the policies regarding use of force by federal law enforcement agencies. Its report said: "In October 1995, Treasury and Justice adopted use of deadly force policies to standardize the various policies their component agencies had adopted over the years." The major change was that agencies required a law enforcement agent to have reasonable belief of an "imminent" danger of death or serious physical injury in order to use deadly force. This brought all federal LEA deadly force policies in line with the U.S. Supreme Court rulings ''
Tennessee v. Garner
''Tennessee v. Garner'', 471 U.S. 1 (1985), is a civil case in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that, under the Fourth Amendment, when a law enforcement officer is pursuing a fleeing suspect, the officer may not use deadly force ...
'', 471 U.S. 1, 18 (1985) and ''
Graham v. Connor
''Graham v. Connor'', 490 U.S. 386 (1989), was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court determined that an objective reasonableness standard should apply to a civilian's claim that law enforcement officials used excessive force in th ...
'', 490 U.S. 386 (1989), which applied to state and local law enforcement agencies.
In 1997 Michael Kahoe, the chief of the FBI violent crime section, pled guilty to
obstruction of justice
Obstruction of justice, in United States jurisdictions, is an act that involves unduly influencing, impeding, or otherwise interfering with the justice system, especially the legal and procedural tasks of prosecutors, investigators, or other gov ...
for destroying a report critical of the agency's role at Ruby Ridge. He was sentenced to 18 months and a $4,000 fine.
Civil suits
Randy Weaver and his daughters filed a wrongful death suit for $200 million which was related to the killing of his wife and son. In an out-of-court settlement in August 1995, the federal government awarded Randy Weaver $100,000 and it also awarded $1 million to each of his three daughters. The government did not admit that it had committed any wrongdoing in the deaths of Sammy and Vicki. On the condition of anonymity, a DOJ official told ''The Washington Post'' that he believed that the Weavers would have probably won the full amount if the case had gone to trial.
The attorney for Harris pressed Harris's civil suit for damages, although federal officials vowed that they would never pay someone who had killed a U.S. Marshal. In September 2000, Harris was awarded a $380,000 settlement by the government.
State criminal charges
In 1997, Boundary County prosecutor Denise Woodbury indicted FBI HRT sniper
Lon Horiuchi
Lon Tomohisa Horiuchi (born June 9, 1954) is an American former Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Hostage Rescue Team (HRT) sniper and former United States Army officer who was involved in the 1992 Ruby Ridge standoff and 1993 Waco siege. In ...
for
manslaughter
Manslaughter is a common law legal term for homicide considered by law as less culpable than murder. The distinction between murder and manslaughter is sometimes said to have first been made by the ancient Athenian lawmaker Draco in the 7th cen ...
on state charges, just before the statute of limitations for this crime expired.
She appointed a special prosecutor to conduct the case. But in 1998 the trial was removed to federal court because Horiuchi had been acting in the line of duty as a federal law enforcement officer. Judge Lodge quickly dismissed the case on grounds of
sovereign immunity
Sovereign immunity, or crown immunity, is a legal doctrine whereby a sovereign or state cannot commit a legal wrong and is immune from civil suit or criminal prosecution, strictly speaking in modern texts in its own courts. A similar, stronger ...
.
The decision to dismiss charges was reversed (6–5) in 2001 by an ''en banc'' panel of the
Ninth Circuit
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (in case citations, 9th Cir.) is the U.S. federal court of appeals that has appellate jurisdiction over the U.S. district courts in the following federal judicial districts:
* District o ...
, which held that enough uncertainty about the facts of the case existed for Horiuchi to stand trial on state manslaughter charges.
[For the Appeals Court ruling on Horiuchi, see Proceedings of December 20, 2000 to June 5, 2001; includes Special Rules of Engagement, and the dissent by Judge ]Alex Kozinski
Alex Kozinski (; born July 23, 1950) is a Romanian-American jurist and lawyer who was a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit from 1985 to 2017. He was a prominent and inf ...
. Boundary County prosecutor Brett Benson, who had defeated Woodbury in the May 2000 primary and won the November election,
decided to drop the case. He said he believed that it was unlikely the state could prove the criminal charges, and too much time had passed.
He also believed his decision would enable the process of healing in the county. Attorney
Stephen Yagman, who had been appointed as the special prosecutor, said that he vehemently disagreed with the decision. He suggested that the case could still be prosecuted if the Boundary County prosecutor later changed again.
Later life of the Weavers
Randy Weaver and his daughter, Sara, wrote ''The Federal Siege at Ruby Ridge'' (1998), about the incident, which was published in paperback.
[Weaver & Weaver, ''The Federal Siege'' (1998), see Bibliography.]
The Weaver family, including Randy, later moved to
Kalispell, Montana
Kalispell (, Montana Salish: Ql̓ispé, Kutenai language: kqayaqawakⱡuʔnam) is a city in, and the county seat of, Flathead County, Montana, United States. The 2020 census put Kalispell's population at 24,558. In Montana's northwest region, ...
. Sara and the other two Weaver daughters are employed there. After becoming a
born again
Born again, or to experience the new birth, is a phrase, particularly in evangelicalism, that refers to a "spiritual rebirth", or a regeneration of the human spirit. In contrast to one's physical birth, being "born again" is distinctly and sepa ...
Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
, Sara Weaver said in 2012 that she had forgiven the federal agents who killed her mother and brother.
Randy Weaver died on May 11, 2022, at the age of 74.
Domestic terrorism
American domestic terrorists Timothy McVeigh
Timothy James McVeigh (April 23, 1968 – June 11, 2001) was an American domestic terrorist responsible for the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people, 19 of whom were children, injured more than 680 others, and destroyed one-third o ...
and
Terry Nichols
Terry Lynn Nichols (born April 1, 1955) is an American domestic terrorist who was convicted of being an accomplice in the Oklahoma City bombing. Prior to his incarceration, he held a variety of short-term jobs, working as a farmer, grain elevato ...
claimed that revenge for the federal government's poor handling of Ruby Ridge and the Waco siege was their motivation for the
Oklahoma City bombing
The Oklahoma City bombing was a domestic terrorist truck bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, on April 19, 1995. Perpetrated by two anti-government extremists, Timothy McVeigh and Terry N ...
. On April 19, 1995, the second anniversary of the fire that ended the Waco siege, they detonated a massive truck bomb in front of the
Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building
The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building was a United States federal government complex located at 200 N.W. 5th Street in downtown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. On April 19, 1995, at 9:02 a.m. the building was the target of the Oklahoma City bombing ...
, killing 168 people, including numerous women and children; injuring 680 others, and destroying more than one third of the building.
In popular culture
A
CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...
miniseries
A miniseries or mini-series is a television series that tells a story in a predetermined, limited number of episodes. "Limited series" is another more recent US term which is sometimes used interchangeably. , the popularity of miniseries format h ...
about the Ruby Ridge incident, titled ''
Ruby Ridge: An American Tragedy'', aired on May 19 and 21, 1996. It was based on the book ''Every Knee Shall Bow'' by reporter Jess Walter.
It starred
Laura Dern
Laura Elizabeth Dern (born February 10, 1967) is an American actress. She is the recipient of numerous accolades, including an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, a BAFTA Award, and five Golden Globe Awards.
Born to actor Bruce Dern and ac ...
as Vicki,
Kirsten Dunst
Kirsten Caroline Dunst (; born April 30, 1982) is an American actress. She made her acting debut in the short ''Oedipus Wrecks'' directed by Woody Allen in the anthology film ''New York Stories'' (1989). She then gained recognition for her rol ...
as Sara, and
Randy Quaid
Randy Randall Rudy Quaid (born October 1, 1950) is an American actor known for his roles in both serious drama and light comedy.
He was nominated for an Academy Award, BAFTA Award and a Golden Globe Award for his role in ''The Last Detail'' i ...
as Randy.
Later that year the television series was adapted as a full-length TV movie, ''
The Siege at Ruby Ridge
''The Siege at Ruby Ridge'' is a 1996 drama television film directed by Roger Young and written by Lionel Chetwynd about the confrontation between the family of Randy Weaver and the US federal government at Ruby Ridge in 1992. It was based on th ...
''.
In 1999,
Bluegrass musician
Peter Rowan
Peter Rowan (born July 4, 1942) is an American bluegrass musician and composer. Rowan plays guitar and mandolin, yodels and sings.
Biography
Rowan was born in Wayland, Massachusetts to a musical family. From an early age, he had an interes ...
addressed the events at Ruby Ridge in his song "The Ballad of Ruby Ridge."
Ruby Ridge was the subject of ''
Criminal Minds
''Criminal Minds'' is an American police procedural crime drama television series created and produced by Jeff Davis (writer), Jeff Davis. The series premiered on CBS on September 22, 2005, and originally concluded on February 19, 2020; it was r ...
'', Season Three, Episode entitled "Identity" (2007). Agent
David Rossi says that he was at Ruby Ridge during the siege.
In 2017, it was the focus of the 323rd episode of ''
American Experience
''American Experience'' is a television program airing on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States. The program airs documentaries, many of which have won awards, about important or interesting events and people in American his ...
'', the 5th episode of its
29th season.
The standoff, including the shooting of Vicki Weaver, is featured in the first episode of the
Paramount Network
Paramount Network is an American basic cable television channel owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Media Networks. The network's headquarters are located at the Paramount Pictures studio lot in Los Angeles.
The channel was or ...
television miniseries ''
Waco
Waco ( ) is the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin. The city had a 2020 population of 138,486, making it the 22nd-most populous city in the st ...
'' (2018).
Tara Westover
Tara Jane Westover (born September 27, 1986) is an American memoirist, essayist and historian. Her memoir '' Educated'' (2018) debuted at No. 1 on ''The New York Times'' bestseller list and was a finalist for a number of national awards, includin ...
, in her memoir ''
Educated
Education is a purposeful activity directed at achieving certain aims, such as transmitting knowledge or fostering skills and character traits. These aims may include the development of understanding, rationality, kindness, and honesty. Vari ...
'' (2018), referred to this incident, noting her own family's preparations to defend their isolated home against a potential siege by "the Feds".
The Ruby Ridge incident was the subject of the first season of the narrative podcast series
Slate Presents. The 4-episode season, titled ''Standoff: What Happened at Ruby Ridge?'' ran as a stand-alone miniseries hosted by journalist Ruth Graham.
In 2020, the incident was featured in a season of
Fox Nation
Fox Nation is an American subscription video on demand service. Announced on February 20, 2018, and launching on November 27 of that year, it is a companion to Fox News Channel carrying programming of interest to its audience, including original ...
's Scandalous.
See also
*
American militia movement
The American militia movement is a term used by law enforcement and security analysts to refer to a number of private organizations that include paramilitary or similar elements. These groups may refer to themselves as militia, unorganized milit ...
*
Branch Davidians
The Branch Davidians (or the General Association of Branch Davidian Seventh-day Adventists) were an apocalyptic new religious movement founded in 1955 by Benjamin Roden. They regard themselves as a continuation of the General Association of ...
*
Christian Identity
Christian Identity (also known as Identity Christianity) is an interpretation of Christianity which advocates the belief that only Celtic and Germanic peoples, such as the Anglo-Saxon, Nordic nations, or Aryan people and people of kindred blood ...
*
Critical Incident Response Group
The Critical Incident Response Group (CIRG) is a division of the Criminal, Cyber, Response, and Services Branch of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation. CIRG enables the FBI to rapidly respond to, and effectively manage, special cr ...
(CIRG)
*
Leonard Peltier
Leonard Peltier (born September 12, 1944) is a Native American activist and militant member of the American Indian Movement (AIM) who, following a controversial trial, was convicted of two counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of two Fed ...
*
*
Michigan Militia
The Michigan Militia is a paramilitary Michigan-based organization founded in 1994 by Norman Olson, a veteran of the U.S. Air Force. The group was formed in response to perceived encroachments by the federal government on the rights of citizens ...
*
Militia of Montana
*
Montana Freemen
The Montana Freemen were an anti-government militant Christian Patriot group based outside the town of Jordan, Montana, United States. The members of the group referred to their land as "Justus Township" and had declared their leaders and follower ...
*
Oklahoma City bombing
The Oklahoma City bombing was a domestic terrorist truck bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, on April 19, 1995. Perpetrated by two anti-government extremists, Timothy McVeigh and Terry N ...
, inspired by Ruby Ridge
*
Rainbow Farm
Rainbow Farm was a pro-marijuana campground in Newberg Township, Cass County, Michigan, United States, that was involved in a fatal police standoff on September 3, 2001. The campground was run by Tom Crosslin and his life partner Rolland “Ro ...
*
Bundy standoff
The 2014 Bundy standoff was an armed confrontation between supporters of cattle rancher Cliven Bundy and law enforcement following a 21-year legal dispute in which the United States Bureau of Land Management (BLM) obtained court orders directin ...
*
Sagebrush Rebellion
The Sagebrush Rebellion was a movement in the Western United States in the 1970s and the 1980s that sought major changes to federal land control, use, and disposal policy in 13 western states in which federal land holdings include between 20% a ...
*
Shannon Street massacre
*
Singer-Swapp Standoff (1988)
*
Waco siege
The Waco siege, also known as the Waco massacre, was the law enforcement siege of the compound that belonged to the religious sect Branch Davidians. It was carried out by the U.S. federal government, Texas state law enforcement, and the U.S. mi ...
*
2003 standoff in Abbeville, South Carolina
Bibliography
Primary sources
*
::
::
* Ridge Task Force (November 9, 2006 rel.)
une 10, 1994''Report of the Ruby Ridge Task Force to the Office of Professional Responsibility
PRof Investigation of Allegations of Improper Governmental Conduct in the Investigation, Apprehension and Prosecution of Randall C. Weaver and Kevin L. Harris''
'OPR legacy, highly redacted version'' Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice.
::
* Reproduced in published book form by Diane Publishing, Collingdale, PA, .
::
*
Secondary sources
*
References and notes
Further reading and viewing
Further sources
*
*
*
* .
Other books
*
*
*
*
Other reports
*
'primary source''/sup> Note, the author and date of publication do not appear on the title page or mast head of the document, but are inferred from other sources.
Other articles
* Relates Ruby Ridge to the 1985 MOVE bombing
The 1985 MOVE bombing was the destruction of residential homes in the Osage neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, by the Philadelphia Police Department during a standoff and firefight with the radical communal organization MO ...
by the Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
police, causing fire, the deaths of eleven occupants, and destruction of 65 houses in the West Philadelphia neighborhood. See also
Other documentaries
Randy Weaver and the Siege at Ruby Ridge have been the focus of numerous documentaries, including:
* "Ruby Ridge Investigation", by ''Nightline'' 1995, ABC News;
* ''Atrocities at Ruby Ridge: the Randy Weaver Story,'' Produced by KPOC-TV 1995; VHS tape distributed by The FOREND Times, Inc.
*
American Standoff
" Retro Report
Retro Report is a non-profit news organization that produces short-form documentaries for historical context of current news stories. The organization describes itself as a counterweight to the 24-hour news cycle. They have covered topics includi ...
/ New York Times, October 26, 2014.
* A&E Network
A&E is an American basic cable network, the flagship television property of A&E Networks. The network was originally founded in 1984 as the Arts & Entertainment Network, initially focusing on fine arts, documentaries, television drama, dramas, and ...
''American Justice
''American Justice'' is an American criminal justice television program airing on the A&E Network. From 1992–2005, the show was hosted by television reporter Bill Kurtis. The show features interesting or notable cases, such as the murder o ...
'' series, episode 047 – "Deadly Force": A look at controversial law enforcement policy. Features the police bombing of the MOVE
Move may refer to:
People
*Daniil Move (born 1985), a Russian auto racing driver
Brands and enterprises
* Move (company), an online real estate company
* Move (electronics store), a defunct Australian electronics retailer
* Daihatsu Move
Gov ...
headquarters in Philadelphia, which killed 11, and the shootings of Randy Weaver's wife and son at Ruby Ridge. Bill Kurtis hosts.
* PBS
The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcasting, public broadcaster and Non-commercial activity, non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly fu ...
''American Experience
''American Experience'' is a television program airing on the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States. The program airs documentaries, many of which have won awards, about important or interesting events and people in American his ...
'': "Ruby Ridge", episode S29E07, February 14, 2017. (This episode is also available o
Netflix
)
* Season 1, Episode 1: "The Legend of Ruby Ridge" of the documentary series ''Secret Rulers of the World
''The Secret Rulers of the World'' is a five-part documentary series, produced by World of Wonder Productions and written, directed by, and featuring Jon Ronson. The series was first shown on British Channel 4 in April and May 2001. The series ...
''. – April 2001
External links
G. Spence, ''From Freedom to Slavery,'' excerpts from Chapter 2, about the trial of Randy Weaver
(Spence was his defense attorney)
U Missouri-Kansas City Law
CBS News August 10, 2001, "New Ruby Ridge Probe"
CBS News ''60 Mins'', May 11, 2001, with T. McVeigh
CBS News November 25, 2002, "FBI Whistleblower Harassed"
CourtTV Crime Library
{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130823023617/http://www.apfn.org/apfn/rubyridge.htm , date=August 23, 2013 , American Patriot Friends Network
1992 in American politics
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+Ruby
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Law enforcement controversies in the United States
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Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
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