An FBI agent will be charged with manslaughter for killing separatist Randy Weaver's wife in the standoff at Ruby Ridge five years ago, a newspaper reported Thursday.
Boundary County, Idaho, deputy prosecutor Todd Reed did not disclose details but said his office would make an announcement about its Ruby Ridge investigation sometime Thursday.But the Spokesman-Review newspaper reported that prosecutor Denise Woodbury plans to charge Weaver's friend Kevin Harris with first-degree murder in the shooting death of Deputy U.S. Marshal William Degan, and FBI sniper Lon Horiuchi with manslaughter in the death of Vicki Weaver. The newspaper cited law-enforcement sources who spoke on condition they not be identified.
The August 1992 standoff at the Weavers' remote cabin near Naples began after federal agents tried to arrest Randy Weaver for failing to appear in court to face charges of selling two illegal sawed-off shotguns.
Horiuchi told a grand jury four years ago that he accidentally shot Vicki Weaver in the head while he was aiming at Harris as he ran through a doorway into the Weaver family's cabin.
Last Friday, federal prosecutors ended a two-year investigation of several FBI officials for their role in the Ruby Ridge standoff. The probe concluded there was insufficient evidence to press criminal charges against Larry Potts, once the FBI's No. 2 official, or his chief aide, Danny Coulson.
They were accused of destroying records to cover up who approved a change of rules that allowed agents to shoot at anyone seen outside the Weaver cabin.
Two other officials at FBI headquarters, Gale Evans and Michael Baird, also will not be prosecuted, the department said. And the department reaffirmed a 1994 decision against prosecuting Horiuchi.
Weaver had refused to leave his family's cabin, and a shootout began when the Weavers spotted camouflaged agents doing surveillance nearby. Degan and Weaver's son, Sam, were killed in the initial exchange. Vicki Weaver was killed the next day. After being surrounded by agents for 11 days, Weaver gave up.
He and Harris were tried in federal court in 1993 on a myriad of charges, including murder and conspiracy. They were found innocent of the more serious charges, although Weaver was convicted of failing to appear for trial on the firearms charge.