From: Craig Castleberry <[f--e--n] at [accessnv.com]>
Newsgroups: talk.politics.guns,talk.politics.misc
Subject: Government Pays Weavers $3.1 Million to Settle Ruby Ridge Claims
Date: 16 Aug 1995 02:13:02 GMT

Government Pays Weavers $3.1 Million to Settle Ruby Ridge Claims

Eds: ADDS four grafs at end on terrorist advisory being sent to federal 
facilities noting upcoming Ruby Ridge anniversary.

By MICHAEL J. SNIFFEN

Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - Expressing a desire to heal wounds, the Justice 
Department agreed Tuesday to pay white separatist
Randy Weaver and his children $3.1 million for the killing of Weaver's 
wife and son during a 1992 siege by federal agents at
Ruby Ridge, Idaho.

Each of the three surviving children of Vicki Weaver - Sara, Rachel and 
Elisheba - will receive $1 million and her husband,
Randy, will receive $100,000.

The settlement resolves only a small part of the case that continues to 
roil the Justice Department and the FBI. A federal
criminal investigation was opened last Friday into whether five top FBI 
officials, including recently demoted Deputy FBI
Director Larry Potts, covered up their approval of controversial 
"shoot-on-sight" orders given to bureau snipers at Ruby Ridge.
All five have been suspended with pay.

Senate hearings on the case are set to begin Sept. 6.

The Weaver family had sought $200 million in damages through civil claims 
against the government and a lawsuit against several
federal officials. The settlement resolves all the family's claims 
against the government and its employees.

"By entering into a settlement, the United States hopes to take a 
substantial step toward healing the wounds the incident
inflicted," the department said in a written statement. "The settlement 
reflects the loss to the Weaver children of their mother and
brother."

The government did not admit any wrongdoing or legal liability in 
agreeing to the settlement, but Randy Weaver's attorney,
Gerry Spence, said that was not how the Weavers felt.

"In the Weavers' eyes, the government acknowledges wrongdoing by the 
payment of these moneys as damages," Spence said.
"This payment ... in no way lessens the family's determination to see 
that those guilty of killing their mother and brother be
brought to trial and held responsible in the criminal courts."

Randall Day, prosecutor in Boundary County, Idaho, is considering whether 
to bring state charges against the federal agents.
The Justice Department last year decided that none of its employees would 
be charged with federal crimes for the shootings.

Militia and survivalist groups, angered at the lack of prosecution of law 
enforcement agents involved at Ruby Ridge, have made
the case a rallying cry in their protests against the federal government.

The incident began Aug. 21, 1992, when U.S. marshals were scouting 
Weaver's remote mountain cabin as they prepared to
arrest him on weapons charges. Shooting broke out; Samuel Weaver, 14, and 
Deputy U.S. Marshal William Degan were
killed.

Randy Weaver and his friend Kevin Harris later were acquitted of federal 
charges of killing Degan.

The day after Degan's death, the FBI hostage rescue team was sent to the 
scene. One FBI sniper wounded Harris, who was
armed, as Harris tried to run into the cabin. The bullet passed through 
the cabin door and killed Vicki Weaver, who was
standing behind the door, holding an infant.

Harris has filed a claim for $10 million in damages, but negotiations 
with the Justice Department have thus far failed to produce
a settlement, said department spokesman Carl Stern.

U.S. Attorney Eric Holder here is investigating whether the five 
suspended FBI employees made false statements or obstructed
justice, both criminal charges.

At least two of the five have admitted to investigators conducting an 
internal Justice Department probe that they destroyed FBI
documents about the siege, Justice officials have said. Another suspended 
FBI official has admitted knowing that documents
were destroyed during the internal inquiries about the shooting rules.

The snipers were told they "could and should" use deadly force on any 
armed adult male spotted in the open. Longstanding
FBI policy restricts the use of lethal force to protecting oneself or 
others from imminent harm.

Eugene Glenn, the FBI field commander at Ruby Ridge, and Richard Rogers, 
the hostage rescue team chief, were primarily
blamed for the shooting rules, but they have sworn that Potts approved 
them. Potts denies approving them.

An internal Justice Department inquiry concluded that the shooting rules 
probably were unconstitutional. But Justice
investigators decided the agents had no intent to use excessive force, 
and FBI director Louis J. Freeh concluded the shootings
were acceptable under the normal bureau rules and that the agents ignored 
the special rules.

Noting that "Weaver has become a hero to many antigovernment elements and 
militant gun advocates," the FBI's domestic
terrorism unit sent a "threat advisory" early this month to all federal 
facilities in the country noting that the third anniversary of the
Ruby Ridge siege occurs this month.

A text of the advisory, which a federal law enforcement official read to 
The Associated Press, says "there is no specific
intelligence indicating that a violent act is planned on or around" the 
anniversary.

But the message notes that the Oklahoma City federal building was bombed 
on the second anniversary of the federal tear gas
assault on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas.

A senior Justice Department official, requesting anonymity, said the 
advisory was sent solely "to remind government security
officers of the anniversary date. It doesn't instruct them to do 
anything. That's up to each one."