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
In 1954, Sam Sheppard was accused of allegedly killing his wife, Marilyn. During this time, the media went absolutely wild. The way they obtained their stories was completely unlike any way they had gone about getting stories before. They completely invaded Sheppard's privacy to obtain "good" stories for their papers and television newscasts. Also, more stories were written about the case than any other event that had been covered in the past. Even the way stories were written was different than the usual style of writing used for that time period. Ethics were completely disregarded during the case. Because of this, Sheppard was released from prison, with the reason that the media had influenced the case so that the jury found him guilty based on the news stories. This had never happened before. Due to the unethical practices displayed by the media, the field of journalism instituted practices, which limited the power of the press.
The Battle of the Little Bighorn is a tragic military battle where a commander’s overconfidence, refusal to listen to advisors, and lack of foresight, led to the sacrifice of over 265 Soldiers. Many leaders within the regiment and Soldiers underneath LTC Custer were not convinced of his leadership and often time doubted his decision-making abilities. Yet despite a blatant outburst that saw him temporarily removed as regimental commander by President Grant, LTC Custer moved forward to command the regiment and ultimately met his demise at the Battle of Little Big Horn. LTC Custer routinely showed a careless disregard for the operations process and his recklessness led to his downfall.
The Oklahoma City Bombing was a domestic terrorist bomb attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in April 19, 1995. It was lead by Timothy McVeigh, an Army veteran of the Persian Gulf War. The explosive was a homemade bomb which was built by McVeigh and the help of Terry Nichols; the bomb consisted of a deadly cocktail and was put inside a rented Ryder truck in front of the Murrah Federal Building . McVeigh then proceeded out of the truck and headed towards his getaway car a few blocks away. He then started the detonation of the timed bomb at exactly 9:02 A.M. then the bomb exploded. To the people of Oklahoma it was a traumatizing moment for all, many lost families, dozens of cars were incinerated and more than 300 buildings were destroyed and caused about $652 million worth of damages. The “OKBOMB” affected hundreds of people; it killed “168 people -- 19 of them children -- and injured more than 500.” (CNN.com) Within 90 minutes of the explosion, McVeigh was pulled over 80 miles north of Oklahoma City by a state trooper who noticed McVeigh's missing license plate. He was later arrested for having a concealed weapon. From there, a investigation was held and agents found traces of chemicals on McVeigh’s clothing similar to the ones from the bomb. They learned that McVeigh’s plan was due to the anger over the events at Waco Siege two years earlier. The bombing investigation was one of the most exhaustive in FBI history; “the Bureau had conducted more than 28,000 interviews, followed some 43,000 investigative leads, amassed three-and-a-half tons of evidence, and reviewed nearly a billion pieces of information.” (FBI.com) Oklahoma City bombing was “considered the worst and the largest terrorist act eve...
Nothing is clear cut whether it is a murder or a trial. There is emanating possibilities of who committed the crime, and what the reasoning was behind this horrific, world renowned murder. This life changing event occurred in the morning of July 4th 1954. The night before the murder nothing seemed out of place in the Sheppard family. Sam and Marilyn were cuddled up together, Marilyn sitting on Sam's lap my while having company over. The Sheppard family was very involved in their community and seemed to be the perfect family. After the company left Marilyn put her son to bed as she did every night, with the same rituals. That night Marilyn slept upstairs while Sam slept on the day bed downstairs. After everyone was asleep, that was the last of this perfect family. The murderer positioned Marilyn as if a position of sexual assault and after DNA testing it was confirmed. Marilyn Sheppard was raped and also bludgeoned to death. Two sets of semen were found inside this pregnant women. Her Skull was fractured, and suffered from several blows to the head. Looking at possible suspects, one individual sticks out from all the rest, Richard Eberling.
On April 19, 1995 two former US Soldiers blew up a the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing over 150 people. Bill Clinton, President of the United States at that time, wrote a speech where he shared his sympathy for the friends and family of victims and united the country through his use of parallelism, patriotic language, and inclusive wording.
It would appear that there are more questions to be answered than there are facts to support the government’s case against McVeigh. As the government asserts that the release of the video surveillance footage could not be released as a matter of “National Security” or the text advising federal agents, prosecutors and judges to stay out of their offices on that day plays to the mindset of those who would consider the actions which took place on April 19, 1995 as a covert action by the government gone
In short, Timothy McVeigh was responsible for the worst single man act of mass murder in the United States history. McVeigh used a mixture of agricultural chemicals and diesel fuel in his homemade bomb to destroy the Oklahoma City’s Murrah Federal building on April 19th, 1995. The bombing killed 168 human lives, including 19 children. In 2001, after six years of investigations and trials, Timothy McVeigh was put to death for his evil
Do you know what happen at the Battle of Little Bighorn? The Battle of Little Bighorn, also known as Custer’s Last Stand, took place on June 25, 1876 in Montana to settle the dispute over the Black Hills and drive the Indians back to their reservations. Under the command of Sitting Bull the Indian armies decided to wage war against the white people for refusing to stay out of their land in the Black Hills. To drive the Indians back into their reservations the U.S. army split into three columns to attack the Indians. A great factor to consider in the battle is the weapons used by both sides and not bringing certain weapons to the battle.
In the aftermath of the tragedy, the state attempted to take legal action against eight member of the National Guard. All of the cases were dismissed due to lack of evidence. “The years following the shootings (1970 to 1979) were filled with lawsuits filed by families of the victims against the State of Ohio, in hopes of placing blame on Governor Rhodes and the Ohio National Guard. Trials were held on both the federal and state level but all ended in acquittals or were dismissed. There was one civil trial for wrongful death and injury brought by the victims and their families against Governor Rhodes and the National Guardsmen that was originally dismissed but eventually the dismissal was overturned due to the judge excluding evidence.
In the United States of America, our justice system is here to serve and protect people of the world. Unfortunately, some are able get away with crimes and others are fairly judged. This often happens because their is nothing proving a clear path of innocence or guilt. In the book Monster and the documentary Murder on a Sunday Morning, this can be demonstrated throughout. Based on the information given, the verdict of Steve Harmon seems to be incorrect while the verdict of Brenton Butler seems to be correct.
But Harris and Klebold planned for a year and dreamed much bigger. The school served as means to a grander end, to terrorize the entire nation by attacking a symbol of American life. Their slaughter was aimed at students and teachers, but it was not motivated by resentment of them in particular. Students and teachers were just convenient quarry, what Timothy McVeigh described as "collateral damage."” Harris and Klebold could’ve chosen any place to stage their bombing as it wasn’t about the school. The school had absolutely nothing to do with their intentions, it was just an opportunity to do what they dreamed of doing. They had no intention of starting a school shooting as was stated in the same article as above, “The killers, in fact, laughed at petty school shooters. They bragged about dwarfing the carnage of the Oklahoma City bombing and originally scheduled their bloody performance for its anniversary. Klebold boasted on video about inflicting "the most deaths in U.S. history." Columbine was intended not primarily as a shooting at all, but as a bombing on a massive scale…. It wasn 't just "fame" they were after… they were gunning for devastating infamy on the historical scale of an Attila the Hun. Their vision was to create a nightmare so devastating and apocalyptic that the entire world would shudder at their power.”
The Battle of Little Bighorn is one of the most, maybe even the most, controversial battle in American history. General George Armstrong Custer led his 210 troops into battle and never came out. Miscalculations, blunders, and personal glory led Custer not only to his death, but also being the most talked about soldier in this battle. But all the blame doesn’t just go on Custer’s shoulders; it also goes on Captain Frederick Benteen and Major Marcus Reno, who both fought in the battle. Both the Captain and the Major both made serious mistakes during the fight, most notable Major Marcus Reno being flat out drunk during the course of the battle. All of these factors have led The Battle of Little Bighorn to being the worst lost to any Plains Indian group in American history.
When a giant explosion ripped through Alfred P. Murrah federal building April 19,1995, killing 168 and wounding hundreds, the United States of America jumped to a conclusion we would all learn to regret. The initial response to the devastation was all focused of middle-eastern terrorists. “The West is under attack,”(Posner 89), reported the USA Today. Every news and television station had the latest expert on the middle east telling the nation that we were victims of jihad, holy war. It only took a few quick days to realize that we were wrong and the problem, the terrorist, was strictly domestic. But it was too late. The damage had been done. Because America jumped to conclusions then, America was later blind to see the impending attack of 9/11. The responsibility, however, is not to be placed on the America people. The public couldn’t stand to hear any talk of terrorism, so in turn the White House irresponsibly took a similar attitude. They concentrated on high public opinion and issues that were relevant to Americans everyday. The government didn’t want to deal with another public blunder like the one in Oklahoma City. A former FBI analyst recalls, “when I went to headquarters (Washington, D.C.) later that year no one was interested in hearing anything about Arab money connections unless it had something to do with funding domestic groups. We stumbled so badly on pinpointing the Middle East right off the bat on the Murrah bombing. No one wanted to get caught like that again,”(Posner 90). The result saw changes in the counter terrorism efforts; under funding, under manning, poor cooperation between agencies, half-hearted and incompetent agency official appointees and the list goes on. All of these decisions, made at the hands of the faint-hearted, opened the doors wide open, and practically begged for a terrorist attack. So who’s fault is it? The public’s for being
On the morning of July 4, 1954, Marilyn Sheppard was violently beaten in her home in Bay Village, Ohio, on the shore of Lake Erie. She was four months pregnant and had been felled by 35 vicious blows (Quade). Right away Sam Sheppard was accused of being the victim to do this. Sheppard had told investigators that he had been asleep downstairs and was awakened by his wife’s screams. Sheppard said when he went upstairs and entered the room he was knocked unconscious by the intruder. He denied any involvement and described his battle with the killer he described as “bushy-haired” (Linder). After a police investigation, Dr. Sam Sheppard was convicted of second degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. With the hectic media covering it, they were quick in decision that it was him that committed the murder. This was an unfair trial, ruined a man’s life, and gave him no time for a career.
Being the oldest daughter of a Senior ATF Agent, I have been exposed to domestic terrorism all of my life. My father has investigated thousands of bombings, fires, and explosions for more than twenty years now. Many of these incidents were examples of the terrorism that I speak about. His experiences have taught me countless lessons and informed me of many current events. The information that I have obtained from him is far more valuable than anything that the media could ever possibly convey. Though he is always strictly guarded with the confidences of his profession, he has always provided me with a firsthand knowledge of the impact that domestic terrorism has on the citizens and law enforcement. Through him, I learn the facts of these incidents without the media’s exaggerations. Today I will share with you some of these facts. I will talk to you about the impact that domestic terrorism has on our citizens. These impacts include: the monetary damages that terrorism inflicts, along with the injuries to the victims, the shocking repercussions that are embedded into the minds and souls of the people who come to sort through the rubble to find the survivors and the remaining evidence.