Randy Weaver is expected to walk out of jail a free man this weekend, 16 months after his wife and teenage son and a federal marshal died in a deadly standoff with federal agents.
The white separatist, who has been in jail since Aug. 31, 1992, plans to board a plane for Iowa. He wants a quiet Christmas reunion with his three daughters, who are staying with relatives outside Des Moines."I'm glad that he's out and is going to be with his kids," said Julie Brown, who with her husband, Keith, has been looking after the three girls, ages 2, 12 and 17.
"The girls have not seen their father for a year," said Julie Brown, who is Weaver's sister-in-law. "1993 was not a good year, and 1992 was not a good year, so maybe 1994 will be better for them."
Weaver, who will be 46 on Jan. 3, was convicted on July 8 of failing to appear for a 1991 trial on a federal weapons charge and of failing to do so while on a judge's release. The jury acquitted him of the weapons charge itself as well as of all charges, including the murder of Deputy Marshal William Degan, resulting from the standoff.
The bloodshed at Weaver's isolated Panhandle cabin culminated 18 months of surveillance by U.S. marshals, who wanted to arrest Weaver for his failure to appear for trial on a charge that he sold two sawed-off shotguns to a government informant.
On Aug. 21, 1992, a gun battle with authorities near the cabin ended in the deaths of Samuel Weaver, 14, and Degan, 42.
The next evening, Weaver's wife, Vicki, 43, was shot in the head and killed by an FBI sniper as she stood in the cabin's doorway.