Weaver Hearings Deaf To Justice
Americans in the Northwest had high hopes for this fall’s congressional hearings on the siege at Ruby Ridge.
Finally, they thought, someone is going to take an impartial look at the death of three people, will look at the actions of one paranoid man and the response of an overzealous government and decide what went wrong, who’s to blame. Maybe, they hoped, justice would be served.
No such luck. With the draft report of a special Senate investigation into Ruby Ridge leaked this week, it’s become clear those hearings were an exercise in public relations, a chance for senators to pound the table and then do nothing more than issue a harsh scolding.
That’s not only not enough, it will make things worse.
Arlen Specter and the Senate committee raised expectations. They made us think an objective examination was possible. Instead, the wimpy response to the siege so far simply reinforces suspicion that government agents can do what they want without regard to individual freedoms.
The Senate committee examined issues and actions that had at least twice undergone a thorough probe. We didn’t need them to come along and say there were screwups here. We know that. We need the power of the U.S. Senate to recommend prosecution of Lon Horiuchi and his superiors, the men who gave Horiuchi the shoot-to-kill orders that took the life of Vicki Weaver.
Government and elected officials say Horiuchi shouldn’t be prosecuted because he wasn’t aiming at Vicki Weaver, that he was trying to shoot Kevin Harris as Harris ran into the house. By saying that, they’re skipping a crucial step in this country’s judicial process - the jury. They’ve already pardoned Horiuchi, Richard Rogers and Larry Potts.
Motorists are charged with vehicular homicide when their driving kills another person, whether it was accident or not. Hunters are prosecuted when they mistakenly kill a human that looked like a deer. Sometimes they go to jail, some times they don’t. The point is, they were held accountable.
Whether on purpose or by accident, Horiuchi’s bullet went through the door of a cabin where children and a mother were huddled inside. One report said Horiuchi’s shot was unconstitutional. At the least, it was reckless and showed a disregard for life. Certainly a jury should weigh that issue.
If the Senate committee does not issue a recommendation - and there’s still time for it to do so - all it has done is retread familiar ground and stir up resentment. What we need here is justice, not politics. Randy Weaver and Kevin Harris stood before a jury that judged whether the things they did were reasonable or justifiable. The government should be no less accountable for its actions.
, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Anne Windishar/For the editorial board