[from Ruby Ridge: The Truth and Tragedy of the Randy Weaver Family by Jess Walter]
(used with permission of the author)
[U. S. Attorney Maurice Ellsworth was called by the government to testify about the bizarre "Queen of Babylon" he received from Vicki Weaver.]
Cross-examination by Defense Attorney Gerry Spence:
Spence: “We’ve never met, have we?”
Ellsworth: “Yes. . . . We met in Judge Williams’s chambers at the commencement of this case.”
Spence: “Oh, yes. You didn’t look so official.”
Ellsworth: “Apparently, you are a more memorable character than I am.”
Spence: “Thank you very much.”
Ellsworth: “That wasn’t necessarily a compliment.”
Spence: “Then I withdraw the ‘thank-you.’"
Spence: “If I were to call you the Queen of Babylon, it might insult you a little bit, maybe, [after all] you don’t look like a queen.”
Ellsworth: “It would not be my favorite address.”
Spence: “But you would recognize that I, as a citizen of the United States, have a right to call you the Queen of Babylon if I want to, true?”
Ellsworth: “Sure.”
Spence: “The Constitution guarantees it, doesn’t it?”
Ellsworth: “With some limitation...”
Spence: “Do you believe. . . we should have a threat assessment of the Bible?....”