Senate Idaho Shootout Hearings Set

WASHINGTON — Senate hearings on the 1992 shootout between white separatist Randy Weaver and federal agents will begin Sept. 6, said Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), chairman of the Senate Judiciary subcommittee that will hold the hearings.

Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah), chairman of the parent Judiciary Committee, said it may hold hearings on the deadly 1993 siege at the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Tex., around the same time.

Specter said the Idaho shootout hearing will deal with whether Weaver was entrapped by federal agents and whether the FBI withheld details of its internal inquiry on the incident.

Weaver was acquitted of killing a federal marshal during the shootout at his Ruby Ridge, Ida., mountain home, but he was convicted of minor weapons charges. Weaver’s wife and teen-age son were killed.

Members of militia groups and other organizations have called the incidents at Waco and Ruby Ridge examples of excessive federal agent violence against citizens.