Time: Wed Oct 01 05:51:49 1997
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Date: Wed, 01 Oct 1997 05:27:13 -0700
To: (Recipient list suppressed)
From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar]
Subject: SLS: Ruby Ridge Court Update - A/P (fwd)
<snip>
>
>Greetings:
>This article may not get a lot of coverage in the newspapers
>so I am posting it here. Thre are some very important points in this
>story
>and with the current status of 'persecution' against Kevin Harris this
>turn
>of events needs to be known far and wide. Perhaps some of you can furnish
>this to the Bonkers Ferry persecutor.
>Jackie Juntti
>idzrus@nwlink.com
>
>... from the LA Times - A/P story...
>the URL for you to go direct to is: http://www.latimes.com/
>
>
> Friday, September 26, 1997
>
>Court Blasts FBI Actions at Ruby Ridge
>By HENRY WEINSTEIN, Times Legal Affairs Writer
>
>A federal appeals court in San Francisco on Thursday excoriated the FBI
>for the conduct of its agents during the deadly August 1992 siege at Ruby
>Ridge, Idaho, saying the "shoot to kill" policy that agents used was "a
>gross deviation from constitutional principles and a wholly unwarranted
>return to a lawless and arbitrary Wild West school of law enforcement."
>
>In a unanimous decision written by Los Angeles Judge Stephen Reinhardt,
>the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals said the special rules that led to
>the death of the wife and 14-year-old son of white separatist Randy
>Weaver and the severe wounding of their friend Kevin Harris "violated
>clearly established law, and any reasonable law enforcement officer
>should have been aware of that fact."
>
>A three-judge panel reached these conclusions while rejecting the
>contentions of 13 FBI agents and U.S. marshals that they were entitled to
>qualified immunity for their conduct at Ruby Ridge.
>
>The decision Thursday in Harris vs. Horiuchi paves the way for a
>$10-million civil rights case filed by Harris against the agents to go to
>trial unless the ruling is reversed by a larger panel of 9th Circuit
>judges or the U.S. Supreme Court. None of the attorneys for the agents
>returned telephone calls seeking comment. Justice Department and FBI
>officials declined to comment.
>
>[snip]
>
>The siege began when U.S. marshals seeking to apprehend Randy Weaver on a
>weapons charge came upon Harris, Weaver, his son Sammy and the family dog
>Striker at the intersection of two roads near the Weaver property,
>according to the 9th Circuit. A marshal shot and killed the dog,
>prompting Sammy to fire at the marshal. Soon thereafter, another marshal
>shot and killed Sammy and in an ensuing gun battle, U.S. Marshal Michael
>Degan was shot and killed. Not long afterward, a team of FBI
>sharpshooters from the agency's Hostage and Rescue Team arrived at the
>area, and the next day one of them, Lon T. Horiuchi, shot and killed
>Weaver's wife.
>
>There continue to be disputes about what happened at Ruby Ridge,
>including sharp disagreements among FBI officials about who was
>responsible for changes in the agency's normal shooting policies that
>resulted in the death of Vicki Weaver and the couple's son.
>
>Normally, the hostage team operates under the FBI's standard rules of
>engagement, which provide that "an FBI agent may kill a person with whom
>he or she comes into contact only when the person presents an immediate
>risk of death or great bodily harm to the agent or another person."
>
>However, as Thursday's decision emphasized, a group of FBI and Marshals
>Service officials created special rules for Ruby Ridge after the Aug. 21,
>1992, shootout just a day before Vicki Weaver was shot.
>
>The special rules provided that "any armed adult male observed in the
>vicinity of the Weaver cabin could and should be killed." No FBI official
>has ever been willing to accept responsibility for the change in policy.
>
>On Aug. 22, after being told to follow the special rules by Richard
>Rogers, the head of the Hostage Team, several members of the team took
>positions on a hill overlooking the Weaver cabin, according to the
>decision joined by Judges Sidney Thomas of Montana and John W. Sedwick of
>Alaska.
>
>A few hours later, Weaver, his daughter, Sarah, and Harris walked out of
>the cabin and headed for a shed to prepare Sammy's body for burial,
>according to the 9th Circuit. Soon thereafter, Weaver was shot by FBI
>sniper Horiuchi.
>
>Weaver and the others began to run back to the cabin. As his wife held
>the door open with one hand and held their infant daughter, Elisheba, in
>her other arm, she was shot in the head and killed instantly. The bullet
>passed through her and hit Harris in the upper arm and chest.
>
>[snip]
>
>...On Thursday, the 9th Circuit panel said that "examining Horiuchi's
>actions from the perspective of a reasonable law enforcement officer
>faced with the need to make on-the-spot decisions, it is plain to us that
>his actions were not objectively reasonable."
>
>The judges added: "Horiuchi and his fellow officers were safely ensconced
>on the hill overlooking the Weaver cabin. No threatening movement was
>made by Harris with respect to Horiuchi or anyone else, even after
>Horiuchi shot Randy Weaver."
>
>[snip]
>
>Harris and Weaver surrendered after spending eight days in the cabin
>following the shootout. In 1993, a federal court acquitted them of
>murder, conspiracy and other charges related to Degan's death, while
>convicting Weaver of unrelated firearms charges.
>
>[snip]
>
>Times staff writers Robert L. Jackson and Ronald J. Ostrow contributed to
>this story.
>
> Search the archives of the Los Angeles Times for similar stories. You
>will not be charged to look for stories, only to retrieve one.
>
>Copyright Los Angeles Times
>
> .......end of paste...........
>
>
>I ask each of you this. Do you stand on Principle or do you stand on
>Principal?
>.... Jackie Juntti 8/97
>-------
>
<snip>
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Paul Andrew Mitchell, Sui Juris : Counselor at Law, federal witness
B.A., Political Science, UCLA; M.S., Public Administration, U.C. Irvine
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