Jack of Harts

The Ruby Ridges standoff’s final stage was bleak indeed. US Marshals had killed Randy Weaver’s son. An FBI sniper killed Weaver’s wife, shot Weaver in the back, and shot the family friend in the chest. Third party civilian negotiators spent the next week trying to mediate terms of their surrender to the FBI. They finally got the family friend to agree to surrender on August 30, and took him and the body of Weaver’s wife out of the house. The FBI commander on site then ordered Weaver to surrender or they would stage a tactical assault on the house. Weaver and his daughters surrendered the next day. The government decided in the end not to charge his daughters for the standoff, but did charge Weaver with numerous and sundry crimes. The jury acquitted him of all charges except for failing to go to court on February 20. He received 18 months and a 10,000 dollar fine for that.

The Ruby Ridge standoff entered a new phase when the US attorney in charge charged Randy Weaver with over 30 Overt Acts in what he called the Weavers’ Conspiracy Against the Federal Government. US Marshals were sent into Ruby Ridge on October 21, 1992, wearing military camouflage, night-vision goggles, and M-16 rifles, and they infiltrated the Weaver property. They threw rocks at the house to alert the watchdogs, and then retreated to a split in one of the trails out of sight of the house. A family friend, Weaver’s son, and one of their dogs went out to investigate. Once they arrived at the split in the trail, the Marshals shot the dog dead, and shot Weaver’s son in the arm. Weaver’s son turned to run away, and then was shot in the back and killed. The family friend shot and killed one Marshal before retreating to the house. Thus the Ruby Ridge standoff entered its most deadly phase.

The Ruby Ridge troubles hit a legal level when Randy Weaver made sawed-off shotguns for an ATF informant. The informant solicited him to do so, and Weaver cut the shotguns to the legal limit before giving them to the informant. The informant demanded they be shortened further, which Weaver did. The ATF arrested him for making those weapons in January 1991. The ATF told Weaver the court date was on February 19 and sent him home on bail. The court changed the date to February 20, but did not tell Weaver. The court appointed lawyer told Weaver the court date was changed to March 20, and that Weaver would lose his land if he lost the case, leaving his family homeless. The judge signed a bench warrant on Weaver when he did not show up for trial on the February 20. That was escalated to a grand jury indictment for not showing up in court on March 14, 6 days before his lawyer told Weaver he was supposed to go to trial. And so started the next stage of the troubles at Ruby Ridge.