Randy Weaver Trial: 1993

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Randy Weaver Trial: 1993

Defendants: Randall Weaver, Kevin Harris
Crimes Charged: Conspiracy, murder, failure to appear for trial, interference with federal marshals, possession of illegal firearms, resisting arrest, violation of bail
Chief Defense Lawyer: Gerry Spence
Chief Prosecutor: Assistant U.S. Attorney Ron Howen
Judge: Edward J. Lodge
Place: Boise, Idaho
Date of Trial: April 12-July 8, 1993
Verdict: Guilty of bail violation and failure to appear for trial, not guilty of all other charges
Sentence: 18 months in jail, $10,000 fine, 3 years probation

SIGNIFICANCE: In a troubling case that raised the specter of government persecution of innocent citizens for political and ideological reasons, a federal jury, because of misconduct and deception in the government's case, found Randy Weaver not guilty of shooting a federal marshal.

Randall Weaver, according to the U.S. government, was a white supremacist, affiliated with the notorious Aryan Nations, and a dealer in illicit weapons, who was determined to provoke a confrontation with the law even if it meant his death and those of his wife and children. With his wife, Vicki, and his friend Kevin Harris, he carried on a criminal conspiracy over many years to oppose the government and its officers. His home in the remote woods of northern Idaho's Boundary County was a "fortress," filled with automatic weapons. Clearly, he was a dangerous figure, against whom the government was justified in using extreme force.

A Fugitive from Justice

Some question the truth of these statements, and say government spokesmen used it to explain their conduct in the violent confrontation that broke out near the Weaver home on August 21, 1992. The single, undeniably true statement is the location of the home, which was located on an outcropping in the mountainous terrain of Boundary County. It was a simple, uninsulated, homebuilt cabin with plywood sides. It contained 14 guns of various sorts, not an unusual number for a home in that part of Idaho, especially for a family that obtained much of its food by hunting. None were automatic; some were as much as 70 years old. It also contained a library of books for the four Weaver children, and a large supply of dried and canned food under the house. It was the home of a family who were isolated by choice.

Randy Weaver in August 1992 was technically a fugitive from justice, although he was in his own home. The previous January he had been arrested by federal agents on a weapons charge and freed on $10,000 bail. He had failed to appear for his court date on February 20. His failure is somewhat understandable in view of the charge against him. In 1989 he had been entrapped by Kenneth Fadely, an ex-convict working as an informer for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (BATF), into selling Fadely two sawed-off shotguns without a federal license to do so. Weaver had been reluctant to make the sale, but he was hard pressed for money, and trusted Fadely as an acquaintance. Not long after the transaction, two BATF agents approached Weaver with tapes of his conversations and threatened him with prosecution and loss of his home unless he collaborated with them to become a government spy on Aryan Nations. Weaver refused, and his arrest followed.

The BATF had considered Weaver a good prospect to spy on Aryan Nations, since he shared many of their racist views. Randy and Vicki Weaver, who had moved to Idaho from Iowa in 1983, were fundamentalist Christians who believed that white people were the true Chosen People of the Bible, favored by God over other races. They had friends in the area, some of whom belonged to Aryan Nations, and had attended gatherings there. Nonetheless, they disagreed with much of the group's stand. Aryan Nations was a white supremacist group with political aims, which recruited ex-convicts, preached violence against minorities, and hoped eventually to seize power; the Weavers were narrowly religious and had no use for revolution.

Learning how the BATF had entrapped them into violating the law, the Weavers became strongly convinced that they were being persecuted by a Godless government, and determined to resist. "We have decided to stay on this mountain," Vicki Weaver wrote to the head of Aryan Nations in 1990; "you could not drag us away with chains."

A Gunfight in the Woods

On August 21, 1992, three armed federal marshals, without a warrant, entered the Weavers' property on a reconnaissance mission. Their rifles had silencers, and at the trial the defense suggested they intended to kill the family dog to permit them to approach nearer to the cabin unnoticed. On the road downhill from the cabin they encountered Randy Weaver, his 13-year-old son Sammy, and family friend Kevin Harris. All were armed and looking for game; the dog's barking had alerted them. The marshals hid in the woods and shouted, "Freeze!" When the Weaver party turned back toward the cabin, a marshal fired, killing the dog. Sammy returned the fire and then ran uphill. A marshal shot him in the back, killing him. Harris and Weaver also fired. At some point in the melee, one of the marshals, William Degan, was killed, and Harris was wounded. The surviving marshals made their way off the property.

The marshals' exaggerated story—that they had been victims of an unprovoked attack and had been pinned down for hours by gunfire from the cabin—led the government to cordon off the entire area and mobilize its heaviest law enforcement resources, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation's (FBI) crack Hostage Rescue Team. The following day, FBI snipers were stationed in the woods above the cabin and a helicopter was sent over. Their purpose was to protect federal agents who would have to approach the cabin. They were ordered to shoot to kill any armed adult male who appeared outside.

In the late afternoon, Weaver, Harris, and 16-year-old Sara Weaver emerged from the cabin to retrieve Sammy's body. Weaver and Harris were armed. The snipers fired at them without warning, using a rifle especially designed for precision shooting at long distances, wounding Weaver in the arm. As the three fled back into the cabin, Vicki Weaver, holding her ten-month-old baby Elisheba, came out to hold the door open for them. A bullet fired by Lon Horiuchi, one of the snipers, passed through her temple, killing her.

After a ten-day standoff, Weaver, his remaining children, and Harris were persuaded to surrender to federal authorities, with the promise that Gerry Spence, one of the leading defense lawyers in America, would consider representing Weaver. The prosecutor would be Assistant U.S. Attorney Ron Howen, who had handled Weaver's case ever since the original weapons charge.

After talking with Weaver, Spence agreed to represent him. He stressed, however, that he abhorred Weaver's racist views and was defending him simply as a victim of abusive government. In their interview, Spence began by saying, "I want you to know that I can't stand racists." Weaver replied, "I want you to know that I can't stand lawyers." Nonetheless, they managed to work together.

Prosecution Witnesses Help the Defense

Testimony began on April 12, 1993, and lasted two months. On three occasions evidence was withheld from the defense and revealed later. On the third occasion the judge required the government to pay the defense lawyers' fees for one day as formal punishment. Repeatedly, government witnesses had to retract sworn testimony that contradicted their previous statements. Witnesses called to describe the Weavers' religious and political views ended up, on cross-examination, praising them as a warm, caring, nonviolent family. Three weeks into the trial, Judge Edward Lodge told Spence, "As far as I can see, at least 75 percent of the prosecution witnesses thus far have helped the defense in this case."

Spence agreed; when the prosecution rested, the defense presented no case, but moved immediately to final arguments. On June 15, the case went to the five-man, seven-woman jury, which returned a verdict on July 8. They acquitted Harris on all counts, and Weaver on all but two minor counts. The verdict was a stinging rebuke of government entrapment and violence.

After the trial, Randy Weaver sued the government for damages to himself and his family, and was awarded $3.1 million in a civil action. The Boundary County prosecutor attempted to try Lon Horiuchi for shooting Vicki Weaver, but Judge Lodge ruled in 1998 that Horiuchi was "acting within the scope of his federal authority" and could not be prosecuted.

—Hendrik Booraem V