FBI Admits Photos of Idaho Shootout Scene Were Staged

A jury learned Thursday that the FBI staged photographs from the scene of a deadly shootout with extremists at a mountaintop cabin.

Two FBI agents testified at the murder-conspiracy trial of white separatists Randy Weaver and Kevin Harris that investigators did not tell defense lawyers that some evidence from the area where a U.S. marshal was killed had been taken away, then returned and photographed.

Agent Greg Rampton said he did not disclose that the photographs of a bullet and other unspecified evidence were staged, even when he testified earlier this month.

“You knew before the trial that the pictures I had were reconstructed when I cross-examined you the other day, isn’t that true?” Weaver’s attorney, Gerry Spence, asked Rampton on Thursday.

“You never asked me about that, and I tried to stick with the questions you asked,” Rampton replied.

Information kept from the defense became a major issue Tuesday when prosecutor Ronald Howen admitted while jurors were outside the courtroom that the photos were fabricated.

On Wednesday, he admitted learning eight weeks ago that the photos were staged.

FBI Agent Larry Wages told jurors that he had spoken to Howen about the photos in early April, a week before the trial began.

The agents did not explain why the evidence was removed before being photographed. One or both of them are likely to face cross-examination later.

U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge agreed Thursday to admit the photos as defense exhibits after an extended shouting match between Howen and Spence.

Weaver, 45, and Harris, 25, are charged with killing Deputy U.S. Marshal William Degan during the Aug. 21, 1992, gunfight near Weaver’s cabin in northern Idaho. Marshals were trying to find a way to arrest Weaver on a 1991 fugitive warrant when the shooting started.

Weaver’s 14-year-old son, Samuel, was killed and his wife, Vicki, 42, was felled by a sniper the next day. The two men surrendered 10 days later.

The defense has argued that the government concocted the case to cover up a botched operation.