Editing Ruby Ridge standoff (section)

=== ATF involvement ===
The [[Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives|Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms]] (ATF) first became aware of Weaver in July 1986, when he was introduced to a confidential ATF informant<!-- both names used by the informant, Fadeley and Magisono, were pseudonyms --> at a meeting at the World Aryan Congress. The informant portrayed himself as a weapons dealer working with [[motorcycle gangs]]. Weaver had been invited to the meeting by Kumnick, the original target of the ATF investigation. It was Weaver's first time at this Congress. Over the next three years, Weaver and the informant met several times. In July 1989, Weaver invited the informant to his home to discuss forming a group to fight the "[[Zionist Occupation Government conspiracy theory|Zionist Organized Government]]", referring to the U.S. government.{{r|rubyreportcover_39|pp=13, 25}}

In October 1989, the ATF claimed that Weaver sold the informant two [[sawed-off shotgun]]s, with the overall length of the guns [[Title II  weapons#Short-barreled shotgun|shorter than the limit set by federal law]]. In November 1989, Weaver accused the ATF informant of being a spy for the police; Weaver later wrote he had been warned by "Rico V."<ref name=RSWeaver98_29>Weaver & Weaver, ''The Federal Siege'' (1998), p. 29.</ref> The informant's handler, Herb Byerly, ordered him to have no further contact with Weaver. Eventually, FBI informant Rico Valentino outed the ATF informant to Aryan Nations security.{{r|Walter02|p=112}}

In June 1990, Byerly attempted to use the sawed-off shotgun charge as leverage to get Weaver to act as an informant for his investigation into Aryan Nations.{{r|rubyreportcover_39|pp=13, 22}} Weaver refused to become a "snitch", and the ATF filed the gun charges in June 1990. The ATF alleged that Weaver was a bank robber with criminal convictions.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Quarles|first1=Chester L.|title=Christian Identity: The Aryan American Bloodline Religion|date=2004|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-0786481484|page=161|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=r5BzY2eeyngC&pg=PA161}}</ref> (Those claims were false: at that time Weaver had no criminal record. The 1995 Senate investigation found: "Weaver was not a suspect in any bank robberies.")<ref>{{cite book|last1=Parker|first1=R. J.|title=Top Cases of The FBI|date=2012|publisher=Rj Parker Publishing, Inc.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZqvZBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT49}}{{self-published source|date=August 2021}}</ref>{{self-published source|date=August 2021}} A federal grand jury indicted Weaver in December 1990 for making and possessing, but not for selling, illegal weapons in October 1989.{{r|rubyreportcover_39|p=34}}

The ATF concluded it would be too dangerous for agents to arrest Weaver at his property. In January 1991, ATF agents posed as broken-down motorists and arrested Weaver when he and Vicki stopped to assist.{{r|rubyreportcover_39|pp=13, 22}} Weaver was told of the charges against him, released on [[bail]], and told that his trial would begin on February 19, 1991. On January 22, the judge in the case appointed attorney Everett Hofmeister as Weaver's legal representative. The same day, Weaver called probation officer Karl Richins and told him that he had been instructed to contact Richins on that date. Richins did not have the case file at that time, so he asked Weaver to leave his contact information and said he would contact him when he received the paperwork. According to Richins, Weaver did not give him a telephone number. Hofmeister sent Weaver letters on January 19, January 31, and February 5, asking Weaver to contact him to work on his [[defense (law)|defense]] within the federal court system.{{r|rubyreportcover_39|p=38}}

On February 5, the trial date was changed from February 19 to 20 to give participants more travel time following [[Presidents' Day|a federal holiday]]. The court clerk sent the parties a letter informing them of the date change, but the notice was not sent directly to Weaver, only to Hofmeister. On February 7, Richins sent Weaver a letter indicating that he had the case file and needed to talk with Weaver. This letter erroneously said that Weaver's trial date was March 20.{{r|rubyreportcover_39|p=38}}<ref name=wlswinv>{{cite news |url=https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=19930423&slug=1697496 |work=Seattle Times |agency=Associated Press |title=Weaver's lawyers say warrant was invalid – court clerk testifies that suspect was given wrong date |date=April 23, 1993 |access-date=January 14, 2020}}</ref> On February 8, Hofmeister again attempted to contact Weaver by letter informing him that the trial was to begin on February 20 and that Weaver needed to contact him immediately. Hofmeister also made several calls to individuals who knew Weaver, asking them to have Weaver call him. Hofmeister told [[United States District Court for the District of Idaho|U.S. District Court]] Judge [[Harold Lyman Ryan]] that he had been unable to reach Weaver before the scheduled court date.<ref name=RRTF_OPR_IVB2c>RRTF, ''Report of the RRTF to the OPR'' (1994), Ch. IV., §B.2.c., p. 44f. [Quote:] "On February 20, Howen and defense counsel Hofmeister appeared before the U.S. district court judge Harold L. Ryan. At that time, Hofmeister told the court that he had been unable to contact Weaver."</ref>

When Weaver did not appear in court on February 20, Ryan issued a [[bench warrant]] for failure to appear in court.<ref name=wlswinv />{{r|rubyreportcover_39|p=2}} On February 26, Ken Keller, a reporter for the ''[[Kootenai, Idaho|Kootenai]] Valley Times'', telephoned the U.S. Probation Office and asked whether Weaver did not show in court on February 20 because the letter Richins sent him had an incorrect date. Upon finding a copy of the letter, the Chief Probation Officer, Terrence Hummel, contacted Ryan's clerk and informed them of the incorrect date in the letter. Hummel also contacted the [[U.S. Marshals Service]] (USMS) and Weaver's attorney, informing them both of the error. Judge Ryan, however, refused to withdraw the bench warrant.<ref name="Department of Justice">{{cite web |title=DOJR - IV. Specific Issues Investigated (Part B) |url=https://famous-trials.com/rubyridge/1125-failuretoappear |website=www.famous-trials.com |publisher=Department of Justice |access-date=24 March 2024}}</ref>

The USMS agreed to put off executing the warrant until after March 20 in order to see whether Weaver would show up in court on that day. If he were to show up on March 20, the [[United States Department of Justice|Department of Justice]] claimed that all indications are that the warrant would have been dropped. But instead, the [[United States Attorney|U.S. Attorney's Office]] (USAO) called a [[grand jury]] on March 14. The USAO did not inform the grand jury of Richins's letter and the grand jury issued an [[indictment]] for failure to appear.<ref name="Department of Justice"/>