This was posted to the firearms-politics mailing list. ============================================================= 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 ==============================================================