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On Sunday August 30, 1992, Bo Gritz returned to the Weaver cabin
with a body bag to remove Vicki's body. Gritz had been outfitted
with a transmitting device this time, so that the command post could
monitor any conversations between himself and the Weavers.
Following a brief conversation with Randy, Gritz and a family friend
of the Weavers, Jackie Brown, carried Vicki Weaver's body out of the
cabin and placed it in a vehicle to be transported down to the command
post. After delivering the body, Jackie Brown returned to the
cabin with some water and began cleaning blood from the floor of the
cabin. Brown later reported that, at her request, she was given
two five-gallon buckets of water, three white bath towels, and a roll
of paper towels. Brown said she cleaned Vicki Weaver's blood
from the cabin floor because she did not want the Weaver girls
"to deal with cleaning the blood of their mother."
Gerald McLamb, a retired Phoenix police officer who was assisting
Gritz in his campaign for President, returned to the cabin with Gritz
to help in the negotiations. Both negotiators focused their
conversations on Weaver and Harris and their need for medical
attention. Kevin Harris was in a serious mental and physical
state and had given up his will to live. Randy, not wanting to
watch his friend die before his eyes, agreed that Harris should
surrender and get the medical attention he desperately needed.
Following the brief conversation, Gritz and McLamb carried Kevin
outside to an armed carrier where he was then transported down the
mountain for medical supervision. Deciding not to push Randy too
far too fast, Gritz and McLamb then left the cabin, promising to
return the following morning for further talks.
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Guns and ammo taken from
Weaver compound
(AP /Wide World) |
The following day, Monday August 31, 1992, Gritz and McLamb
returned to the Weaver cabin. The pressure on the two men was
more intense, because if they could not persuade the Weavers to
surrender, a tactical team would over run the cabin later that day to
bring the standoff to a final end. If the operation were to take
place, it would most likely result in the death of Randy and perhaps
even his children.
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Prior to arriving at the cabin, Gritz had spoken with Gerry Spence,
a renowned attorney from Wyoming, who was known around the world for
representing the poor, the injured, the forgotten and the damned
against what he calls "the new slave master," mammoth
corporation and mammoth government. He had previously tried and
won many nationally known cases, including the Karen Silkwood case,
and had not lost a case since 1969. Spence had more
multi-million dollar verdicts without an intervening loss than any
lawyer in America. After Gritz contacted Spence and explained
the situation, the attorney agreed without hesitation to defend the
Weaver family in court. Gritz had also obtained a handwritten
note from Assistant U.S. Attorney Ron Howen to Randy Weaver, which
agreed to allow Randy to present his account of the situation to a
grand jury.
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Randy Weaver with Linda
Thompson
(AP/Wide World) |
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When Gritz informed Randy of the deal he had made with Gerry Spence
and the note he had obtained from Ron Howen, Randy began to waiver.
The children, sensing their father was about to make a terrible
decision, begged with him not to surrender himself to the “ZOG
Government,” however the mental and physical strain had taken its
toll and Randy felt that he could no longer hold out in the cabin.
After a brief discussion with his children, Randy Weaver agreed to
surrender and exited the cabin with Bo Gritz. As soon as the men
stepped outside the cabin door federal agents handcuffed Randy and the
entire Weaver family began to cry as they were escorted down the
driveway. Snipers and camouflaged agents began crawling out of
the woodwork and as the Weavers noticed multiple armored carriers,
helicopters flying overhead and a massive tent city at the base of the
mountain, they could not believe their eyes. “All this for one
family,” Sarah muttered as tears ran down her face.
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