White Separatist Randy Weaver Sentenced To 18 Months In Jail

BOISE, Idaho - White separatist Randy Weaver was sentenced to 18 months in prison yesterday on the only two convictions prosecutors won after a bloody northern Idaho shootout with federal agents last year.

Weaver's wife and son and a deputy U.S. marshal were killed in the shootout and subsequent 11-day siege.

"You've suffered probably far beyond what the court could do," U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge told Weaver. But he said it was up to the federal Bureau of Prisons to decide how much of the nearly 14 months Weaver already has spent in the Ada County Jail would count against his sentence.

Defense attorney Gerry Spence said Weaver could be free by year-end, and in the worst case by the end of February. He said Weaver would not appeal.

"He'll be home by Christmas," predicted Weaver's brother-in-law, Keith Brown of Johnston, Iowa.

"He's not happy, but he's accepting it," Spence said.

Weaver, 45, faced up to 15 years in prison and $500,000 in fines for failing to appear at a 1991 trial on a charge of selling a sawed-off shotgun to a government informant, and for violating conditions of his release before that trial.

Those offenses made Weaver a fugitive and led to an Aug. 21, 1992, shootout and standoff on Ruby Ridge, about 40 miles south of the Canadian border. Deputy U.S. Marshal William Degan, 43, of Quincy, Mass., and Weaver's 14-year-old son, Samuel, were killed. Weaver's wife, Vicki, 42, was killed the next day by an FBI sniper.

Weaver and family friend Kevin Harris, 26, were acquitted in July after an eight-week trial on murder, conspiracy and other charges in connection with the gunfight.

The shootout started when Harris, Weaver and his son encountered federal marshals near their cabin. Officers had been watching them for 18 months after Weaver failed to appear for a February 1991 trial on the weapons charge. Marshals had been looking for a peaceful way to arrest him.

Conflicting testimony and evidence often frustrated prosecutors during the trial in their attempts to portray the Weavers and Harris as hateful extremists bent on a violent confrontation with the government. Spence argued more convincingly that federal officials were trying to punish Weaver for refusing to inform on other white separatists in the region.

The defense called no witnesses. Harris was found not guilty on all five counts he faced and Weaver was convicted only on the lesser charges.

The government's presentence report recommended that Lodge sentence Weaver to 41 to 51 months in prison. But Assistant U.S. Attorney Ron Howen recommended 37 months yesterday, and the defense team wanted Weaver released immediately.

A Justice Department spokesman said a report should be issued in three to four weeks on an internal investigation of what happened on Ruby Ridge. But Howen, the lead prosecutor in the case, argued earlier yesterday that only Weaver was to blame.

"His failure to appear caused three people to lose their lives, including those most dear to him," Howen said, his voice quavering. "I was taught from the Scriptures to love one another. The hardest thing I've ever done in my life is to look across the table and love this man."

Howen declined comment after the sentence was declared. Spence said Weaver had been punished enough, and he urged Lodge to return him to his three daughters.