Date:         Sun, 20 Jun 93 13:18:54 MST
From: Idaho_Survivalist <[R P SBETZ] at [idbsu.idbsu.edu]>
Subject:      Randy Weaver trial update: Day 39.
To: [firearms politics] at [cs.cmu.edu]

Note: These trial updates are summarized from reports in the
_Idaho Statesman_ and the local NBC affiliate television
station, KTVB Channel 7.

Randy Weaver/Kevin Harris trial update: Day 39.

Monday, June 14, 1993 was the thirty-ninth of the trial.

Synopsis: After nearly two days of discussion, U.S. District Judge
Edward Lodge issued instructions to the jury today.  Partial victories
were won by both the prosecution and the defense.  The court is braced
for what is likely to be a spectacular set of closing arguments tomorrow.

U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge today told the jury that the religious
beliefs of white separatists Randy Weaver and Kevin Harris cannot be
held against them.  The jury was told that the two should be found
innocent if they acted in self-defense.  However, not everything went the
defense's way.  Defense attorney Gerry Spence objected as the jurors
were told that they could consider lesser degrees of murder against
Weaver and Harris.  Said Spence, "It's either he's guilty of murder or
nothing."

Spence was able to extract two other victories, however.  First, he
requested an extra hour for closing arguments, over and above the three
hours and thirty minutes allotted.  Judge Lodge granted Spence an extra
thirty minutes, saying, "The mind can absorb only what the seat can
endure."  [Heh!  Good quote!].  Throughout the trial, Judge Lodge has
restricted the motion of the attorneys for both sides.  Spence complained
that he was engaged in a "spastic embrace with a podium...Let me walk
down there and talk to my friends on the jury."  In Spence's other
victory, Spence will be free to roam the courtroom, save that he must
remain behind a line 10 feet from the jury box.

U.S. Attorney Ronald Howen's mystery disappearance continued today.
Howen began shaking all over and was unable to speak last Friday.  The
only comment today was by U.S. Attorney for Idaho, Maurice
Ellsworth, who said, "He [Ronald Howen] was ill.  We don't have any
other comment."

The trial is scheduled to resume Tuesday, June 15, 1993 with the closing
arguments of the trial.
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