Ruby Ridge Decision Surprises Few Chenoweth Wants State To Try Federal Agents

Attorney General Alan Lance says he isn’t surprised by the Justice Department decision not to seek further charges against federal agents in the Ruby Ridge case.

The statute of limitations on some potential crimes expires next week, he said Friday.

The statute of limitations, a time limit when charges can be filed, is five years for all crimes but murder.

Lance said his office has given assistance requested by Boundary County investigators, but Prosecutor Denise Woodbury is in charge.

“About two weeks ago we talked about getting together to review certain documents,” Lance said. “It’s (Woodbury’s) show. I just loan her the talent that she requests.”

Woodbury and her predecessor talked of filing criminal charges because three persons died in August 1992 in confrontations between white separatist Randy Weaver and others and federal agents. William Degan, deputy U.S. marshal, was killed, as were Weaver’s son, Samuel, and his wife, Vicki. No charges have been filed.

A representative from Woodbury’s office said the case is under an active investigation and she would not comment.

Randy Weaver and his three daughters live in Montana. Kevin Harris, who went on trial with Weaver for murder, only to win acquittal from a jury, lives in Republic, Wash., and works as a welder.

Rep. Helen Chenoweth, R-Idaho, denounced the Justice Department decision and called for the state to prosecute federal agents. She said the investigation of federal officers by other federal officers was a conflict of interest.

“Federal agents were the wrongdoers at Ruby Ridge, so it makes little sense for federal agents to handle the investigation,” she said. “The state of Idaho should be the one pursuing the criminal prosecution of federal agents.”

She said the FBI agent who shot Vicki Weaver should not be excused for acting under illegal orders to shoot any adult with a weapon near the Weaver cabin.

Weaver’s attorney Gerry Spence as much as predicted that the investigation would play out with someone being convicted of a cover-up, but no one would be charged for the alleged crimes that were covered up.

“If he covered up the crimes, where is the prosecution of the criminals?” he asked.

David Nevin, of Boise, another defense attorney in the case, said people should find it alarming that Weaver’s religious and political beliefs “got the ball rolling and kept it rolling” toward a deadly end.

“I’m not a white separatist,” Nevin said. “My beliefs are very different. I’m a yellow-dog Democrat and a child of the ‘60s.”

Nevin said the Weaver case illustrates that power is a corrupting influence. “People in power are going to abuse it,” he said. “They threw everything at that case.”

Even before the decision was announced friends of Randy Weaver said they expected it.

“Everyone is disillusioned and disappointed,” Jackie Brown said. She was the first person allowed to enter the Weavers’ cabin during the Ruby Ridge standoff negotiations.

About two years ago, she and her husband, Tony, were called to a Senate hearing in Washington to testify about the Weavers and the 11-day standoff.

This year, she was called back to the nation’s capital during grand jury proceedings into possible wrongdoing by federal agents. She was never called to testify.

Tony Brown said he hasn’t been in recent contact with Weaver.

“I don’t even talk about it any more and I don’t think he wants to talk about it,” he said. “But I know that at one time, (Weaver) fully expected agents to be prosecuted.”

Jackie Brown said she expects no charges will result from the local investigation into possible crimes by federal agents.

“Boundary County and the state don’t have the backbone to prosecute federal agents on minor charges,” she said. “They aren’t going to do anything.”

She said she doesn’t know of any events planned to mark next week’s fifth anniversary of the standoff.

“Some of us might put out some flowers, but the (Weaver) family has other plans,” she said.

The Ruby Ridge property has been sold and the cabin collapsed under last winter’s heavy snow load.