How Did Gene Westover Use Manslaughter At Ruby Ridge?

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Although the incident of Ruby Ridge was very well known and shared during the time of its occurrence, Gene Westover created his own version of the incident to better fit in his reality. Ruby Ridge was an incident created by a misunderstanding between a man and the government. Gene Westover believed these events occurred because the Weaver family had chosen to homeschool their children. The Siege at Ruby Ridge was caused by a misunderstanding and a missed court date. This was then followed by extreme actions taken by the government; too extreme to be over the choice of education. The results that developed from Ruby Rudge were severely detrimental and will be remembered for years to come, as well as sparked during other tragedies. The incident …show more content…

While Randy Weaver had to maneuver his way through the trials, so did members of the FBI. It was questioned by multiple authorities if Vicki Weaver experienced wrongful death by manslaughter. This may lead you to wonder what exactly qualifies as manslaughter. As described during a report of the investigation, “The manslaughter charge merely requires proof of reckless, careless or negligent use of a firearm” (Thompson, 1997). The local officials from Idaho have this very clear definition of manslaughter. If this definition of manslaughter was enforced, the sharpshooter would be found guilty of killing Vicki Weaver, leaving him with charges to face. However, the head of the FBI argued that this man should not be charged with a decision he had to make in a matter of seconds for the tasks his job required. The local authorities of Idaho and federal authorities battled out this conflict, resulting in the sharpshoot being found not guilty. Randy Weaver was the subject of a trial as well for the murder of federal marshal Degan. The lengthy trial resulted in Weaver being acquitted for the murder of Degan. However, he was found guilty of his missed court date, the one that started all of …show more content…

Anti-government groups began to rage at the choices made by the government, with “Ruby Ridge and Waco ‘pro-vided ample evidence of the government’s willingness to wage war against its own citizens who refuse to relinquish their weapons and constitutional freedoms’” (Wright, 2007, p. 171). The Siege at Ruby Ridge showed how quickly the government will be beginning a war against its citizens: “McVeigh viewed Ruby Ridge as clear evidence that the U.S. government aimed to disarm the public and take away people’s Second Amendment rights” (Pruitt, 2018). This enraged a group of people who were very anti-government and caused people like Timothy McVeigh to take personal action against government buildings. This rage influenced by the government led to McVeigh bombing the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma, killing 168 people. Nineteen of which were children. The Siege at Ruby Ridge was a detrimental part of our history that will live on forever. Randy Weaver missing a court date on a gun charge evolved into an FBI shootout and multiple lives lost. Although these events were widely publicized, some people created their own reality of the

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