Feds to Idaho: Kiss Our Butts

[Eric Cordian <emc@wire.insync.net>]

The manslaughter case against Ruby Ridge shooter Lon Horiuchi was
effectively neutered today when a federal judge acquiesed to demands
by Justice Department lawyers and moved the case out of Idaho's
jurisdiction and into federal court.  This means that Horiuchi will be
tried in federal court in front of a federal jury on state
manslaughter charges, and not in front of a jury from Idaho's Boundary
County, where the shooting took place.
 
This ruling, by U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge, came just six days
after Boundary County Magistrate Quentin Harden ordered Horiuchi to
stand trial.  State manslaughter charges had been filed against
Horiuchi for the death of Vicki Weaver in August.
 
The Justice Department, which has denied that Horiuchi did anything
wrong, provided the lawyers who argued that any case in which federal
agents are acting in their official capacity may be transferred and
tried in federal court, in front of a federal jury.
 
The trial is scheduled to begin March 10.  Horiochi has continued to
work for the FBI since the charges were filed.

-- 
Eric Michael Cordian 0+
O:.T:.O:. Mathematical Munitions Division
"Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole Of The Law"