-Caveat Lector-
Yahoo News
Tuesday June 5 6:06 PM ET
FBI Shooter in Ruby Ridge Killing Can Be Tried-Court
By Andrew Quinn
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - A federal appeals court ruled on Tuesday that
the FBI (news - web sites) sharpshooter who killed the wife of white
separatist Randy Weaver in the Ruby Ridge shootout can be prosecuted for
manslaughter, reopening a bitter national debate over the rules of
conduct for federal agents.
Reversing an earlier ruling by a three judge panel of the same court, 11
justices of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals voted 6-5 that FBI Agent
Lon Horiuchi's actions in the August 1992 standoff in remote northern
Idaho exceeded the limits of immunity given to federal agents.
``When federal officers violate the Constitution, either through malice
or excessive zeal, they can be held accountable for violating the
state's criminal laws,'' said the majority opinion written by Circuit
Judge Alex Kozinski.
The court, Kozinski wrote, cannot agree that Horiuchi's use of deadly
force at Ruby Ridge was ``objectively reasonable'' and reinstated the
criminal complaint against him.
The appeals court decision marked a fresh bombshell in a case which has
been taken up by right-wing groups and anti-government activists as an
example of how federal agencies allegedly trample the rights of U.S.
citizens.
It also came as a fresh blow to the beleaguered FBI, which has been
beset by criticism over its handling of the investigation of Oklahoma
City bomber Timothy McVeigh (news - web sites) and lingering doubts over
bloody raid of the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas in 1993.
In a starkly-worded dissent, five judges on the panel concluded that
Tuesday's majority decision was ``a grave disservice'' to federal agents
who must face armed and dangerous criminals and would have a chilling
effect on the ability of federal agents to enforce the law.
``The inevitable result of the majority opinion is that federal agents
will hesitate in precisely those highly charged situations in which
their quick judgement is most critical,'' the dissent, by Judge Michael
Hawkins, said.
CONFRONTATION IN RURAL IDAHO
The confrontation at Ruby Ridge began Aug. 21, 1992, when U.S.
marshals approached Weaver's cabin to arrest him for failing to appear
in court on gun charges.
A gunfight erupted, and U.S. Marshal William Degan and Weaver's
14-year-old son Sammy were killed. The Federal Bureau of Investigation
was called in later that day.
The next day, following a confused series of events outside the cabin,
Horiuchi wounded Weaver and his friend Kevin Harris and fired a shot
that killed Vicki Weaver, who was standing behind a door inside the
cabin.
Weaver and Harris surrendered 10 days later and were acquitted in a 1993
federal trial of murder charges in the killing of Degan.
The U.S. Justice Department (news - web sites) decided in 1994 not to
pursue charges against Horiuchi, but prosecutors in Boundary County,
Idaho went ahead and charged him with involuntary manslaughter for his
role in the shoot-out.
In a 2-1 ruling last year, a federal appeals court panel sided with
Horiuchi's lawyers, who had argued that under the ''supremacy clause''
of the U.S. Constitution, a federal officer cannot be subject to state
criminal prosecution for actions taken in the line of duty.
The appeals court panel also found that Idaho had produced no evidence
of malice or criminal intent in its case against the FBI sharpshooter.
``At the time, Horiuchi made an objectively reasonable decision,'' U.S.
District Judge William Shubb wrote in 2-1 majority opinion upholding a
May 1998 lower court ruling on Horiuchi's immunity from prosecution.
``MATERIAL QUESTIONS OF FACT IN DISPUTE''
On Tuesday, however, the full court changed its position, saying that
Horiuchi's version of the events at Ruby Ridge could not be taken at
face value and that there were ``material questions of fact in dispute''
which could indicate Horiuchi acted outside the boundaries of
professional conduct.
``After carefully reviewing the record, we cannot agree with the
district court that agent Horiuchi's use of deadly force against Harris
and, by extension, Mrs. Weaver, was objectively reasonable as a matter
of law,'' the court said, remanding the case back to district court for
evidentiary hearings.
The dissenting justices accused the majority of muddying the waters of
an already fraught legal case, and said their ruling could set a
dangerous precedent for other law enforcement officers making decisions
in the line of duty.
``Every day in this country, federal agents place their lives in the
line of fire to secure the liberties that we all hold dear. There will
be times when those agents make mistakes, sudden judgement calls that
turn out to be horribly wrong,'' the dissent said.
``We seriously delude ourselves if we think we serve the cause of
liberty by throwing shackles on those agents and hauling them to the
dock of a state criminal court.''
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Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT
FROM THE DESK OF:
*Michael Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends
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