[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?....”