Francisco Martin Duran

Francisco Martin Duran (born September 8, 1968, in Albuquerque, New Mexico) is most known for his actions of October 29, 1994, when he fired 29 rounds from a rifle at the White House. He was later convicted of attempting to assassinate United States President Bill Clinton and sentenced to 40 years in prison.

Events of the Day

On Saturday October 29, 1994, dressed in a trench coat, Duran went up to the fence overlooking the north lawn of the White House and fired an SKS semi-automatic rifle [http://www.fas.org/irp/agency/ustreas/usss/t1pubrpt.html] at a group of men in dark business suits on the White House lawn. Two nearby boys claimed they had remarked aloud just before the shooting that one of the men looked like Clinton. Secret Service agents immediately began running across the lawn, guns drawn, when citizens Harry Racowski, Ken Davis, and Robert Haines tackled him and pinned his arms until he could be subdued. Clinton was reportedly in the family residence watching a football game at the time of the shooting and was unharmed. The incident followed just six weeks after Frank Eugene Corder crashed a Cessna into the White House South Lawn and prompted debate about closing off traffic on that area of Pennsylvania Avenue. No one was harmed in the assassination attempt.

Trial

The most important charges in the two-week trial were attempted murder of the President and four counts of assaulting a federal officer (the Secret Service agents). Duran had served prison time previously, convicted of aggravated assault with a vehicle in the Army, and therefore, beyond the attempted murder of the President he was also charged with illegal possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. The other charges were use of an assault weapon during a crime of violence, destruction of U.S. property, and interstate transportation of a firearm with intent to commit a felony.

Duran pleaded not guilty and mounted an insanity defense, claiming that he was trying to save the world by destroying an alien "mist", connected by an umbilical cord to an alien in the Colorado mountainsFact|date=February 2007. He also claimed to be incited by conservative talk show host Chuck Baker, who spoke on air about "armed revolution" and "cleansing" of the government. [ [http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1279 AM Armies] ]

Duran was probably motivated at least in part by the Federal Assault Weapons Ban of 1994. In August 1994, Duran had called a local congressional office to oppose the ban and threatened to "go to Washington and take someone out." He also bought the SKS on September 13, 1994, the same day Clinton signed the bill into lawFact|date=May 2008.

References

* [http://blasecabaret.com/tunes/a-pair-of-birds 1994 Blase Cabaret track with news excerpt at 1:18]
* [http://www-tech.mit.edu/V114/N57/assass.57w.html November 19, 1994 Washington Post article]
* [http://www.prop1.org/park/pave/950405wp.htm April 5, 1995 Washington Post article]
* [http://www.prop1.org/history/1995/950323wp.htm March 23, 1995 Washington Post article]
* [http://web.archive.org/web/20041015094434/http://writeaprisoner.com/template.asp?i=z-19588016 Duran's personal ad on WriteAPrisoner.com from prison]
* [http://www.publiceye.org/eyes/gunsammo.html Public Eye report talking about Duran's motivations]
* [http://www.fas.org/irp/agency/ustreas/usss/t1pubrpt.html White House Security Review of the incident]