Aftermath of The Ruby Ridge Incident
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.
Controversy over the Ruby Ridge Rules of Engagement led to a standardization of deadly force policy among federal law enforcement agencies, implemented in October 1995 after the Ruby Ridge hearings by the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Government Information, Senate Committee on the Judiciary.
In 1996, Weaver showed up with Bo Gritz to "help end the standoff between" the Montana Freemen and the FBI, but their offers to help were declined.
In 1997, the District Attorney for Boundary County, Idaho charged Horiuchi with involuntary manslaughter, but the indictment was removed to federal jurisdiction based on the Supremacy Clause and eventually dismissed at the federal prosecutor's request. Kevin Harris was also charged with the murder of Bill Degan in spite of the fact he had been acquitted on that charge in federal court; that charge was dismissed also.
In 2000, Randy Weaver visited the site of the former Branch Davidian church in Waco, Texas. On April 19, 1993, during what is known as the Waco siege, the complex burned to the ground, killing a large number of men, women and children. A new church was being built at the time of Weaver's visit. He let it be known that he supported the assertion that government agents deliberately set the complex on fire. This visit was documented by British journalist Jon Ronson in an episode of his five-part documentary, Secret Rulers of the World entitled "The Legend of Ruby Ridge" and his book Them: Adventures with Extremists.
Timothy McVeigh, who was convicted of killing 168 people in the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995, said that the Ruby Ridge incident was a contributing factor in his anger at the federal government.
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