Capitol Gunman's Kin Subpoenaed

The parents of the suspect in the shooting deaths of two Capitol police officers were ordered to appear before a federal grand jury that could indict their son for murder.

Lawyers for Russell Weston Jr.'s mother and father have challenged the subpoenas, and chief U.S. District Judge Norma Holloway Johnson was holding a closed hearing Thursday to decide whether they must testify, said their Washington lawyer, Henry Asvill.

Russell Weston Sr. and Arbah Jo Weston, who spoke out publicly for the first time Wednesday, arrived at the courthouse early Thursday morning.

Neither the family lawyers nor federal prosecutors would comment when they left the courtroom after about an hour, and it was not immediately clear whether the grand jury appearance would go forward Thursday.

At a news conference they held after visiting their son in the hospital, where he is recovering from wounds he received in the Capitol shootout, the elder Weston said they had told their son that they "love him and that he has our support."
They expressed special thanks to the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill and to families of mentally ill patients who wrote to the Westons to give support. Weston's parents have said their son is a paranoid schizophrenic

The Westons took no questions from reporters after making their statement Wednesday.

If Johnson she rules the Westons must testify, the two would go before a grand jury already sitting at the courthouse.

Federal prosecutors issued the subpoenas as the Westons visited their bedridden son, Asvill said.

"No parent wants to testify in a matter pertaining to their son," Asvill said Wednesday. Nevertheless, he said Weston's parents don't object to testifying later but were startled at the subpoena coming Tuesday as they made their first contact with their son since the shootings, Asvill said.

"I have a problem with the insensitivity," he told reporters outside D.C. General Hospital, where Weston has been shackled to a bed and under heavy police guard since shortly after a gunman cut down officer Jacob Chestnut and detective John Gibson in a busy hallway of the Capitol.

Prosecutors allege Weston took two guns with him from Illinois, including the .38-caliber handgun allegedly used in the shootings.

Weston has been held without bond pending a court appearance scheduled Aug. 19. He has not entered a plea to a charge of murdering federal officers, which could carry the death penalty if he is convicted.

Weston's parents have said their son has a deep distrust of the federal government. Prosecutors have offered no possible motive for the shootings.