This was posted to the firearms-politics mailing list.
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Hi Folks;

Thursday, April 15 marked Day 3 of the trial.

This day marked the first testimony of the trial.  Deputy
U.S. Marshal Larry Cooper took the stand for the prosecution.

The short version is that his testimony was consistent with
the opening statements for the prosecution.

Cooper testified that he had arrived in Spokane (Washington)
on August 17, 1992 to participate in a surveillance operation
with five other deputies near the Weaver cabin.  The team was
using night vision equipment for surveillance, and split up
into two teams of three people.  The six later met at an
observation point above the cabin.  After this, deputies
Cooper, William Degan, and Arthur Roderick began a descent to
scout further possible surveillance sites.

Cooper told the court that Roderick threw two large rocks into
a gully to see, "whether the [Weaver family] dogs would respond."
Striker, the Weaver's yellow lab, started toward them barking
loudly.  Roderick led the three in a run from the area.

They ran through some dense woods into an open area [called the
"fern field"] with the dog in pursuit.  By this time, Kevin
Harris and Samuel Weaver had joined the chase.  The surveillance
team had reached a Y in the road: Cooper decided that they should
take cover in the woods because otherwise they would be an easy
target and might be "shot in the back."

As Degan reached the Y, he spotted Randy Weaver coming down the
road from the cabin ahead.  Weaver was startled but did not fire.

At this moment, Striker reached Degan, and Cooper had to "fend
him off with his gun."  [It is unclear whether this means he
clubbed the dog or shot the dog].  Both Cooper and Degan then
took cover in the woods.  According to Cooper, Kevin Harris and
Samuel Weaver continued walking down the road, apparently not
noticing the two.  After they had passed by on the road, Degan
got up on one knee, raised his gun, and shouted, "Stop!  U.S.
Marshal!"  Harris then "...brought the weapon around at hip level
and fired.  He didn't bring the weapon up to eye level.  I saw
Bill's arm going back, and I knew he had been hit."  Cooper fired
at Harris, and Harris went down.  Cooper then brought his weapon
to bear on Samuel, but did not fire.  At this point, Cooper then
heard two shots to his right.  Samuel Weaver looked in the
direction of the shots, yelled, "You son of a bitch!" and ran
toward them.  Cooper then realized that shots were coming at him
from directly ahead, so he fired a three-round burst at the
cabin.  At this point he then saw Samuel Weaver running toward
the cabin.  When Cooper reached Degan, he placed his first two
fingers on Degan carotid artery, counted two or three beats, and
then his heart stopped.  Shortly thereafter, Roderick and the
other three marshals joined him.  They then all heard a large
burst of gunfire from the area around the cabin.

On cross-examination, David Nevin questioned the point of
throwing rocks into the gulley, asking, "You wanted to lure that
dog out so you could shoot that dog, didn't you?"  Nevin also
pointed out that in last September's testimony, Cooper had
claimed that he spotted Weaver after the dog had left him.
Cooper claimed that he had gone over the events in his head and
decided that Thursday's account was correct.  Nevin continued the
cross-examination by asking what Cooper would have done had an
armed man dressed in full camouflage jumped out of the woods at
him [no answer was available].

Friday, April 16 marks continued cross-examination of Cooper.

Notes: There was no coverage of protestors.

Drew
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