That wasn't a battle. It was an execution.Another place i visited just before the 20th anniversary was the Branch Davidian grounds outside Waco. Some would call this a battleground as well.
That wasn't a battle. It was an execution.
I dont know if its a wildly sensitive issue for Texans or they just want to move on past it, but i never hardly hear it discussed.
It's just not widely discussed. Pretty much everyone agrees that while the cultists were almost certainly doing illegal things that called for intervention of law enforcement, nothing warrants on the spot mass execution without due process and the ATF really REALLY screwed things up.
That makes since i guess. Not much to discuss. From what ive read on it they could have grabbed Koresh by himself when he went to town whenever they wanted but they wanted to make a big scene and make a point.
It was discussed at the time, in my home. I grew up around evangelicals and fundamentalists. My grandfather was a traveling revivalist, tent included. My family was disappointed that I never fulfilled my potential in that arena.... i never hardly hear it discussed.
Every thing about Ruby Ridge and Waco was just wrong. Local Governments surrendered their 9th & 10th Amendment rights to .Gov.
Another place i visited just before the 20th anniversary was the Branch Davidian grounds outside Waco. Some would call this a battleground as well.
It's just not widely discussed. Pretty much everyone agrees that while the cultists were almost certainly doing illegal things that called for intervention of law enforcement, nothing warrants on the spot mass execution without due process and the ATF really REALLY screwed things up.
How do you find the site, directions?
It's very humbling to walk the grounds and consider what happened there. I'm glad a lot of it has been preserved instead of being lost to history.
I watched out a documentary about ruby ridge a while back out of boredom and it showed "police" firing bursts into the compound before it was set on fire, but they claim no shots were fired by police. Bodies were found riddles with bullet holes though.....go figure
From Wikipedia:And Randy Weaver (whose wife was the woman killed) was later acquitted of the charges that brought the FBI out in the first place.
Weaver was charged with multiple crimes relating to the Ruby Ridge incident, a total of ten counts including the original firearms charges and murder. Attorney Gerry Spence handled Weaver's defense, and argued successfully that Weaver's actions were justifiable as self-defense. The judge dismissed two counts after hearing prosecution witness testimony. The jury acquitted Weaver of all remaining charges except two, one of which the judge set aside. Weaver was found guilty of one count, failure to appear, for which Weaver was fined $10,000 and sentenced to 18 months in prison. He was credited with time served plus an additional three months, and was then released. Kevin Harris was acquitted of all criminal charges.
In August 1995, the US government avoided trial on a civil lawsuit filed by the Weavers, by awarding the three surviving daughters $1,000,000 each, and Randy Weaver $100,000 over the deaths of Sammy and Vicki Weaver. The attorney for Kevin Harris pressed Harris' civil suit for damages, although federal officials vowed they would never pay someone who had killed a U.S. Marshal (Harris had been acquitted by a jury trial on grounds of self-defense). In September 2000 after persistent appeals, Harris was awarded a $380,000 settlement from the government.