Judge Dismisses Idaho Charges against Ruby Ridge Figure

AP
03-OCT-97

BONNERS FERRY, Idaho (AP) A judge cited an Idaho double jeopardy law
in dismissing state murder and assault charges against a man accused of killing a
federal agent at Ruby Ridge. 

Magistrate Quentin Harden ruled Thursday that the charges filed in August
against Kevin Harris violate the law that bars prosecution of someone who
already has faced prosecution in "another state, territory or country." 

Harden agreed with Harris's lawyer, David Nevin, who argued Tuesday that his
client's federal murder prosecution and acquittal bars trying the charges again in
Idaho court. 

Boundary County Prosecutor Denise Woodbury wouldn't comment Thursday.
She had argued the state law was meant to cover prosecutions in foreign
countries, not the United States. 

"To rule that the courts of the United States of America do not come under
`another state, territory, or country' would be an anomalous result giving more
credence to the courts of another country than to the courts of our own nation,"
Harden wrote in dismissing the charges. 

"I find that the phrase ... does not exclude federal jurisdiction, but is a general
reference to sovereigns other than Idaho," Harden wrote. 

Woodbury had asked the magistrate to move the case to a district court "so the
state of Idaho can have its day in court." 

Woodbury can appeal the ruling. Harris, 29, of Republic, Wash., was charged
with first-degree murder and aggravated assault in the death of deputy U.S.
Marshal William Degan and shooting at another agent in the Aug. 21, 1992,
shootout that sparked the 11-day siege at white separatist Randy Weaver's
cabin. 

Weaver's 14-year-old son was killed in the gunfight. Weaver's wife, Vicki, was
later shot and killed by an errant FBI sniper's bullet. 

Harden's ruling does not affect an involuntary manslaughter charge filed by
Woodbury in August against the FBI sniper, Lon Horiuchi. Lawyers for Horiuchi
have indicated they will try to move that case to a federal court. 

Harris told KREM-TV of Spokane, Wash., that he was "ecstatic" over the
ruling. 

Harris, a welder, received the news Thursday morning while welding a piece of
mining equipment at a mine near Republic, said Diane Peters, his business
partner at Eagle Industries. 

"We were hoping what was fair and just would turn out," Peters said. 

Carol Bowe, a friend of the Harris family, said she was pleased by the news. 

"He was just fighting for his life and his friend's lives," Bowe said of the shootings
at Ruby Ridge.