You lost me. How does the widow of a dead Marshal figure into a muder conspiracy? The entire episode as I understood it hangs on the wording of the ROE that states when suspects may or should be taken under fire and under what circumstances. What's the spouse have to do with on-site operations?
According to witnesses present at the "siege" following the justifiable death of deputy U.S.Marshal Degan after he shot 14-year-old Sammy Weaver in the back [the other two deputy U.S. Marshals present, Larry T. Cooper and Arthur D. Roderick, who acknowledged shooting the boy's dog,denied that they were the ones who killed the boy] after the FBI arrived and took operational control of the scene, Horiuchi engaged in a private conversation with Karen Degan, in which Horiuchi reportedly told the recent widow that he would avenge the Marshals death, but only after Randy Weaver got to find out for himself what it was like to have his own spouse shot down.
In the federal civil trial that followed, the US federal government settled the claim with a 3.1 million dollar payment to Weaver, but denied thatr the federal government or its agents and employees had done anything wrong.
The payment came from U.S. taxpayers, of course, and in now way did the federal agencies or employees responsible suffer any personal financial loss. Horiuchi, however, has been unable to attend his subsequent class reunions at West Point and Honey Creek High School.