A neighbor testified Thursday that white separatist Randy Weaver promised to fight to the death if federal agents tried to arrest him on what Weaver claimed was a trumped up weapons charge.
"He said that if they came to take him he would die fighting," George Torrence told jurors in Weaver's murder-conspiracy trial. "If they did they would be doing him a favor because they'd send him to heaven. But in the meantime he would take out as many as he could."And earlier on Thursday, a Boundary County court bailiff testified that Weaver pointed a rifle at him and "preached" about the evil intent of the federal government.
Weaver, 45, and Kevin Harris, 25, are accused of killing Deputy U.S. Marshal William Degan in the Aug. 21, 1992, shootout that began an 11-day siege of Weaver's isolated Ruby Ridge cabin. Marshals had been watching the cabin for 18 months, trying to find a peaceful way to arrest Weaver for failing to appear at trial on the weapons charge.
Weaver's 14-year-old son Samuel also died in the initial gun battle, and his wife Vicki, 42, was killed the following day by a federal sniper.
Torrence testified that he went with his family to Weaver's Panhandle cabin on Sept. 26, 1991, trying to figure out the boundaries of nearby property owned by Torr-ence's father-in-law.
Inside the cabin, Weaver's wife and daughters baked cookies while the men talked, he said. Weaver discussed his belief that Anglo-Saxons are the true Israelites of the Bible and as Jews today are "impostors," Torr-ence said.
At the same time, Weaver said he admired certain aspects of Nazism, Torrence said, but expressed discomfort with the idea of the mass extermination of Jews in World War II.
Ron Sukenik, the bailiff who worked on the side serving legal papers for local attorneys, also reinforced the prosecution's contention that Weaver was out to kill federal agents when he told jurors Weaver pointed a rifle at him in 1990 when as he was serving eviction papers on Bill Grider, another Weaver friend.
Sukenik said two Boundary County deputy sheriffs who happened to be in the area on another matter were with him when he arrived at the Grider house.
As he walked toward the house, Sukenik said he spotted Weaver, who pointed the rifle at him.