Capitol Shooting Suspect’s Parents Testify on His Illness

The parents and other relatives of a former mental patient charged with killing two Capitol guards laid out for a grand jury Thursday the suspect’s history of mental illness, oddball beliefs and fear of the federal government.

Prosecutors are seeking a murder indictment against Russell E. Weston Jr. in the July 24 deaths of the two officers inside a crowded Capitol hallway.

“They are hopeful that the grand jury will have come to understand the mental illness of their son,” said Steven Tabackman, a lawyer representing Weston’s father, Russell Weston Sr. “They are hopeful the public comes to recognize the problems that their son has and that caused the great tragedy at the Capitol.”

Prosecutors want information about Weston’s mental history because his lawyers are expected to argue he was insane and thus not legally responsible for the killings. Weston, 41, is hospitalized with gunshot wounds and has entered no plea.

After a full day of questioning, Weston’s parents, sister and brother-in-law left the federal courthouse without commenting. Their lawyers said they are finished testifying and were returning home to Illinois.

A diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic, Weston told family and neighbors that he believed the CIA was watching him and that he and President Clinton were clones, government documents show.

Prosecutors have offered no motive, but Weston’s family told the FBI that he was agitated by a letter he received from a federal agency shortly before the shootings. The letter assured him that land mines were not planted around his Montana cabin.

Neither Tabackman nor another family lawyer, William Moffitt, would detail the questions put to the Westons by federal prosecutors or by grand jurors, but they said the family answered each question asked.

“This family has said from the very beginning they want to cooperate” with law enforcers, Moffitt said.

Weston has been held without bail in a locked hospital ward since his arrest. Legal sources said a federal grand jury began hearing evidence in the case last week.

The Weston family told the FBI they did not see their son after he left their home in Valmeyer, Ill., the day before the shootings.

Officer Jacob J. Chestnut and Det. John Gibson were killed and a 24-year-old tourist was wounded in the attack.

If convicted, Weston could face the death penalty.