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THE MARSHALS SHOT FIRST dent. The FBI documents received by the defense indicate that The key question in the trial, around which the charges of murder i knew that Vicki Weaver was in the line of fire. ood emetic es Oe ee” wakeepinaghleruckameaahig ll sicean ves an) revolve, is who shot e marshals or the defendants. ‘ " » includ- a a pt on lage 8 1992 began when six specially ing Horiuchi, were not given to them until noon on Friday, June 4, trained marshals, including Degan, approached the Weaver cabin just minutes after Horiuchi had stepped down from the witness with silencer-equipped email Giles mal camouflage gear. —— 5 hee hurriedly put on a plane heading for The government prosecutors claim that 14-year-old Sammy Th —y F Gs 4 from Washin by fourtpcl Weaver's dog Striker alerted Sammy, Weaver and Harris, and they mail “which m4 = cea ce elect gton by fourth-class followed the dog to the agent's hiding place. Then, the ecutors " say, Harris fred Gs first = instantly killing Degan. - Judge Lodge wasn't buying any excuses. He said that this inci- hina was able to fire seven single s m his weapon after he was , . . dead, since that is the number of spent shell casings from his In ial ~~ = ee at errey LE ——- after weapon that were later found where he was shot. Since Degan's admitting that he n told eight weeks earlier that investi- i a was set on semi-automatic, it required him to pull date gators had fabricated photographs of evidence from the shoot-out. ger seven times. Prosecutor Howen said that photos turned over to the defense show- In summation, just prior to the case being sent to the jury, defense 8 evidence at the scene of the shoot-out were staged by the FBI. attomey Gerry Spence set off a bombshell when he referred to the They were reconstructed—taken after FBI agents removed the evi- testimony of the government's own ballistics dence and then put it back where they expert witness, who had testified that the —_— it > om _—— bullet hole in the backpack of Marshal $ part of this pattern, in May agents Degan had been fired by Marshal Cooper. The assault on the Weavers tanta fas ty ba ste lon we ite Spence told the jury that they should not , ey pieces of evidence from the shoot- tule out the possibility that Degan was killed oie run by the cal FBI out. ; by Cope, uot by Kevin Hemi, lGpfaige Resclie Team iat, Te amt ho soul bo on uate om addition, several prosecution witnesses . ’ ’ have testified that they distinctly first heard Carried out the assault and Marshals Service, and the FBI, who mur- the report from the marshal's weapon, which i ered Sammy and Vicki Weaver and are makes a sharply different sound than the murder against the Branch = ~~ for the death _ Marshal weapons of the defendants. Weaver's lead Davidians in Waco i Texas egan. The only conspiracy in this case is defense attorney, Gerry Spence, and Harris's that created by the federal government: a * . attomey, David Nevin, presented a much earlier this year. conspiracy to entrap an innocent man, different and more believable reconstruction blackmail him, prosecute him, and then of this confrontation than did the prosecu- attempt to assassinate him and his entire tion. family. Nevin said that the first round fired was that of another marshal, In his closing arguments to the jury, lead defense attorney Gerry Art Roderick, shooting the dog. The second shot was supposedly Spence said that after the federal agents murdered Sammy Weaver that of Sammy Weaver, reacting in anger to the shooting of his dog, and had the dead body of their colleague Marshal William Degan while at the same time turning to run from the marshals. The mar- _ lying in the woods beside them, they awoke the next day and shals then opened up with a full return fire. Marshals Larry Cooper _ realised that they had really blundered. The rest of the siege, and Degan both shot at Sammy Weaver, killing him with one or __ including the assassination of Vicki Weaver, and the entirety of the more bullets in the back as he ran for home. prosecution's case, was and has been an attempt by the federal gov- Attempting to defend Sammy, Harris then fired toward the mar- “ment to cover up its own crimes, Spence argued. shals. But no evidence was presented by the prosecution that As revealed in court, the lead prosecution attorney in the case, proved that Kevin Harris killed Degan. Ronald Howen, was on the scene at the Weaver cabin the day that Bolstering the defense's arguments was the testimony given on Vicki Weaver was murdered. On that day he began constructing the June 3, by one of the other federal marshals present that day. 8°Ve™mment's cover-up, outlining the scenario for the agents’ stories, Marshal Frank Norris, a prosecution witness, stated that the first and planting and altering the evidence. Spence had sought to dis- shots he heard were from the rifles of the marshals. A paramedic, qualify him as the prosecutor, and to have him called as a witness. on the scene as part of the backup for the marshals, also testified The judge refused that request. that he distinctly heard the report of the marshals’ weapons first. Ronald Howen, in his closing arguments on June 11, looking pale Prosecutorial misconduct has permeated this case. In court on and speaking almost incoherently, stopped midway through his pre- May 22, the defense announced that they had just been informed —_Semlation. He told the judge that he could not continue, and left the that notes "found in a desk drawer in FBI headquarters", written by courtroom. He did not return, and the government will not say what agent Cooper and another agent, contradict the testimony of the happened to him. - marshals, clearly stating that Marshal Roderick fired first, shooting the dog. This piece of evidence had been withheld from the defense Postscript: ge pam The jury deliberated for 21 days (a new record for the The most egregious example of government misconduct, and one % * : that finally pushed US District Judge Edward Lodge to impose state of Idaho) before clearing Kevin Harris of all charges. sanctions on the prosecutors on June 8, was revealed in court on Randy Weaver was found not guilty of all major June 4, The judge, calling the conduct of the FBI “totally inexcus- charges, but was found guilty of failure to appear in court able”, ordered the federal government to pay all defense attorney | 0N a weapons violation, and committing an offense while fees for one day, and to recall FBI sniper Lon Horiuchi, who had | on release pending a trial. killed Vicki Weaver, from Washington, DC, to testify again. Attorneys for Randy Weaver are appealing the two Horiuchi had testified that he was aiming at Kevin Harris as Harris | minor convictions, and are planning to sue the federal ran into the house, and that the killing of Vicki Weaver was an acci- | government for civil damages. | NEXUS¢23 THE MARSHALS SHOT FIRST OCTOBER - NOVEMBER 1993