TEXT SAYS: " I'm from the Government--I'm here to help you"
Posted on 11/04/2006 12:16:33 PM PST by happinesswithoutpeace
As the Justice Department’s chief civil rights prosecutor, Deval Patrick made the controversial decision not to criminally prosecute an FBI sniper who shot and killed an unarmed woman as she held her infant daughter in her arms during a 1992 standoff in Ruby Ridge, Idaho.
The incident, in which U.S. Marshall William F. Degan of Quincy and the wife and son of white separatist Randy Weaver were killed during an 11-day standoff, is cited by experts as the spark that started the anti-government militia movement that exploded after the standoff in Waco, Texas, less than a year later. 1994, Patrick, the Democratic candidate for governor who was then assistant attorney general, concluded there was insufficient basis to prosecute FBI sniper Lon Horiuchi for shooting and killing 43-year-old Vicki Weaver. Horiuchi had testified that he opened fire on the woman’s husband and his friend, Kevin Harris, when he thought they were about to fire on an FBI helicopter.
Patrick made the recommendation despite a report by a task force assembled by Patrick’s boss, Attorney General Janet Reno, that found numerous problems with the FBI’s handling of the standoff, and called the protocol used by the FBI’s Hostage Rescue unconstitutional under the circumstances. The report referred the case to Patrick’s department to decide whether to charge Horiuchi. Aides to Patrick said he was unavailable for comment because he was preparing for last night’s debate. Former Justice Department spokesman Myron Marlin called the incident “a tragic one that occurred during the final months of the first Bush administration.”
“The Justice Department believed the critical element of willfulness necessary for a criminal civil rights prosecution could not be established beyond a reasonable doubt,” Marlin said in a statement to the Herald yesterday. “Such willfulness, or knowing, intentional use of unreasonable force could not be made out against the FBI agent.”
Patrick’s assessment, he noted, was“reaffirmed by a separate criminal investigative team.”
In 1995, however, a Senate subcommittee headed by Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) found “simply no justification” for the shot Horiuchi took that killed Vicki Weaver and “missed the 10-month-old baby in her arms by less than two feet.”
“Horiuchi should have known that as he fired blind through the cabin door, he was shooting into an area which could well have contained Vicki Weaver and her two younger daughters,” states the report, which took no position on whether Horiuchi should have been prosecuted.
The decision not to prosecute was ripped by both conservative and liberal groups. “It was obscene,” said author James Bovard, an outspoken critic of federal officials’ handling of the case. “There was no need for the excessive force the FBI used in gunning down a mother holding her baby. ACLU Legislative Counsel Timothy Edgar said the incident was “the result of overzealous - and unchecked - federal power.”
Mrs. Clinton going to pay a few Conservative/Christians back when she resumes power!
If Mass. elects this scumbag kiss the state goodbye, it'll be David Dinkins on steroids.
I replied: "No, because Lon Horiuchi is still alive."
I remember lon horiuchi, who shot a woman holding a baby. Justice was not served.
TEXT SAYS: " I'm from the Government--I'm here to help you"
I remember how outraged we were that Bill and Hill's political enemies could so arbitrarily be killed.
Little did we know what misfortunes would befall those who had the bad luck to be close to their inner circle and who chose to cross them.
All this stuff on Devalued Patrick should have been dug up during the primary. I am afraid we will will be stuck with this clinton lackey leftist for quite some time.
of white separatist Randy Weaver...... What, exactly, is a white separatist? If I tell you or anyone to leave me the "F" alone, am I a white separatist?
I think someone from the government will be along to remind everyone that Randy Weaver was a felon, and the none of this would have happened if he hadn't sawed off that shotgun barrel.
Lon Tomohisa Horiuchi
Born: 9-Jun-1954
Gender: Male Religion: Roman Catholic Race or Ethnicity: Asian Sexual orientation: Straight Occupation: Government
Nationality: United States Executive summary: Sniper who killed Vicki Weaver
As an FBI sniper he shot and killed Vicki Weaver on August 22, 1992 as she was holding her infant daughter, during the Ruby Ridge standoff. It is an act many consider murder.
Wife: (six children)
Well said.
3. Relay orders from an imprisoned terrorist? 2 YEARS.
2. Snipe an unarmed, baby-carring mother? NO PUNISHMENT AT ALL.
Yeah right. He could not see clearly while looking through his telescopic sight before he pulled the trigger. It was well.....unintentional.
"an FBI sniper who shot and killed an unarmed woman as she held her infant daughter in her arms"
I always wondered what caliber that baby was. They can be dangerous in close quarters if the wrong end is pointed at ya.
Also the guy rumored to be the one popping Waco escapees during the fire...
Thank you. Don't ever forget.
1. The federal murderers at Ruby Ridge and Waco were/are irredemable scum.
2. So is anyone who tries to excuse them in any way.
3. Those muderers (and their supporters) should go join Al Queda. They will fit right in.
Ruby Ridge was during Bush41's term.
I remember that. The Waco sniper hides out back featured hatch marks carved into some wooden support beam --the sniper makes a mark for each target struck, into groups of five.
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