Abuses of the BATF

Randy Weaver (Ruby Ridge)

A Recent reaction from an Idaho Member of Congress

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House of Representatives - March 06, 1996

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the

gentlewoman from Idaho [Mrs. Chenoweth] is recognized for 5 minutes.

Mrs. CHENOWETH. Mr. Speaker, as we all know, the issue of values seems to be

paramount in everybody's mind, values with regard to those held dear by our

country, by individuals, and by families. But values really come from where

we place the value on human life and how we appropriate the protection of

life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness from government. Today those

values seem to be misappropriated, so I am going to speak to you today, Mr.

Speaker, with regard to an incident that occurred in my district, and the

serving up by the Government of an award for that incident.

Mr. Speaker, I come to the floor today to publicly address a growing concern

that I am hearing more and more of from my constituents, and from people all

around the country--the continuing misappropriation of values by our Federal

Government. I am not talking necessarily about the values, as typically

described by the media, but the most basic value of how we as a government

regard the individual's ability to safely live his life in an atmosphere of

freedom and liberty, with mutual respect as each individual peaceably

pursues happiness.

My most recent concern arises out of what appears to another poor decision

made by a Federal law enforcement agency in the wake of what has come to be

known the tragedy at Ruby Ridge, ID. I am talking about the recent issuing

of the highest awards of valor to Federal marshals involved in a shootout on

August 21, 1992 that ended up with the deaths of 14-year-old Sammy Weaver,

and deputy marshal Bill Degan.

Mr. Speaker, I find it incomprehensible that after years of investigations

by both Congress and the Justice Department about significant questions

regarding the conduct of Federal agents involved in the Ruby Ridge disaster,

the U.S. Marshals Service has chosen instead to hand out awards rather than

sort out their mistakes and punish wrongdoing to ensure that such deadly

mishaps don't happen again.

Mr. Speaker, I attended much of the hearing in the Senate Subcommittee on

Terrorism, Technology, and Government Information that was chaired by

Senator Specter. I listened very attentively to the testimony of Randy

Weaver, and the U.S. marshals on their take of the events leading up to that

fateful day of August 21, 1992. The committee listened to Randy's

description of how agents from the U.S. Federal Marshals Service for a

16-month period executed an extensive surveillance of his home that included

hundreds of hours of filming the everyday proceedings of his family with

satellite powered cameras, setting up command centers in the homes of

neighbors, and sending many undercover agents posing as supporters to the

Weaver home.

In addition, the U.S. Marshal's Service initiated military reconnaissance

like missions to determine what would be the best way to invade the Weaver

home. U.S. marshals on one of these missions excited the family dog by

throwing rocks at it.

The committee listened to Randy's agonizing unscripted depiction of how he

made the most regrettable decision of his life when he sent his 14-year-old

son Sammy down the road with a rifle to see what the dog was barking at--and

how those agents shot a young boy's dog at his feet, and how a Federal

marshal, dressed in a terrifying paramilitary uniform, jumped out of the

bushes and yelled `Halt'--and how these events led to a gun battle that

ended with the tragic death of Federal Marshal Degan, and of the young boy

Sammy--shot in the arm and in the back--as he ran frantically up the road

yelling `I'm coming home Dad!' Randy and his wife Vicki, no longer caring if

they were fired at, went down the hill to retrieve the small body of their

son.

While a Justice Department investigation did find evidence that U.S. marshal

Larry Cooper fired the shot that killed 14-year-old Sammy Weaver, the report

failed to determine who actually fired the first shot. Kevin Harris, a

friend of the Weavers, who was involved in the gunfight, testified before

the committee that U.S. marshal Arthur Roderick fired the first shot, which

killed Weaver's dog. The marshals claimed that Harris fired the first shot,

which mortally wounded U.S. deputy marshal Bill Degan.

Mr. Speaker, the Senate committee determined in their report that Harris'

testimony was more plausible because Dean had fired seven rounds before he

died.

For the marshals' testimony to be true, Degan would have had to fire all

seven shots after he was mortally wounded. The Senate committee also found

it hard to understand why, if Kevin Harris had actually fired the first

shot, the other marshals had not shot him dead in his tracks for killing

Degan.

Mr. Speaker, what was even more disconcerting was hearing U.S. marshals

Roderick and Cooper propose during the Senate hearing that Randy Weaver was

responsible for shooting his own son. This suggestion contradicts all of the

facts and evidence which point to Cooper as being the only one who could

have shot Sammy. Even the Government's position during the July 1993 trial

was that Cooper had shot Sammy Weaver. The committee has actually retained

several experts to study the matter further.

Mr. Speaker, at the same time there is an ongoing investigation into their

sworn testimonies regarding their role at Ruby Ridge, Roderick and Cooper

were among the five marshals honored last week.

Mr. Speaker, in addition, several places in the Justice Department report

deal with the possibility of a Government cover-up. After the gunfight, the

surviving marshals were taken away to recuperate. The authors of the report

stated that:

We question the wisdom of keeping the marshals together for several hours

while awaiting interviews with the FBI. Isolating them in that manner

created the appearance and generated allegations that they were fabricating

stories and colluding to cover-up the true circumstances of the shootings.

Those are the Justice Department's words, not mine.

But the Marshals Service does not appear concerned with answering the

Justice Department's concerns or learning from this tragedy. Marshals

Service Director Eduardo Gonzalez said when asked why the service waited so

long after the siege to announce the awards that he `didn't think it was

appropriate to hold such a ceremony while the Senate was holding formal

hearings into the incident. This tells me that the director blatantly

overlooked the fact the Senate, like the Justice Department, found fault

with the actions of at least two of the marshals he honored.

The bottom line is, Randy Weaver faced his accusers, stood trial, and

answered for the only crime he was convicted of: failure to appear in court.

While the Justice Department and Congress determined through extensive

investigations that all the agencies involved were guilty of some level of

wrong-doing at Ruby Ridge, precious little has been done to ensure such

massive errors in judgment do not occur again.

Mr. Speaker, how our Government has acted with regard to the tragedy at Ruby

Ridge, and in other similar instances has had, and will continually have

significant ramifications on how our people view our Government, and how

Federal law enforcement will respond to the constitutional rights of

citizens in the future.

Mr. Speaker, the issue of how our Government is maltreating its citizens

while ignoring the effects of its own unjust actions is very much on the

minds of millions of Americans. They are asking how can it be possible that

people such as John Poszgai, a Hungarian freedom fighter who escaped with

his life and settled in Pennsylvania, can end up being sentenced to serve 6

years in a Federal penitentiary because his cleaning up of an old dump was

considered a crime because it filled in a wetland. They are wondering just

where our Government is placing its values when it gives the highest

commendation possible to an individual for shooting a child in the back as

he is running to the comforting arms of his father.