Newsgroups: talk.politics.guns,alt.politics.org.batf,talk.politics.usa.misc From: [w--g--s] at [lonestar.utsa.edu] (William W. Hughes) Subject: Branch Davidian Trial Update - Tue, 11 Jan 94 Date: Tue, 11 Jan 1994 20:54:55 GMT Branch Davidian Trial Update - Tuesday, 11 Jan 94 Page 1A Headline - JURY CHOICE PROVES TO BE RAPID PROCESS Subhead (page 4A) - Selection of jury could be completed as early as today Accompanying photo on page 1 shows Koresh's grandmother, Jean Holub, as she arrived at the courthouse. Court officials expect jury selection to be completed later today. As of Monday, 24 of 41 required people have been chosen for the jury. Attorneys will be permitted to reject 23 of the 41, leaving 12 primary jurors and 6 alternates. One 20-year veteran of the S.A. Police Department was rejected after he declared that he believed the defendants were guilty. "Jury selection had been scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. Monday. Because of the large -- 78 -- there was no room for members of the public in the courtroom, and a pool of five journalists was chosen. However, neither the media pool nor anyone not directly connected to the case was allowed to enter the courtroom until 10:30 a.m. Officials could not say what transpired in the courtroom during those 90 minutes." [When I and others attempted to gain entry (see second story below), we were given two conflicting stories by Federal Marshals -- 1. That the courtroom was open to the public, but that there was no room, the avail- able seats having already been taken; and 2. That the courtroom was closed to the public. We were then evicted from public property -- the foyer of the Federal Courthouse.] Part of the jury selection process included questions on religious free- dom and self-defense. One juror was excused when she stated that she did not believe that anyone except law enforcement personnel should be allowed to carry firearms, and that she could not be objective in a case where civilians even owned firearms. "At one point, out of the hearing of the panel, defense attorneys asked [Judge] Smith to question the people more closely about their views on self defense. Houston attorney Dan Cogdell in particular wanted to know the potential jurors' views on an individual's right to self-defense involv- ing a peace officer. But Smith, who has not decided whether he will allow the jury to consider that someone can kill a police officer in self-defense, told the attorneys he would not be more specific with the panel at this time. 'I've said all I'm going to say to them about self-defense,' Smith said. 'I think it's a very iffy thing at best (whether he will allow the issue to be considered).'" Other excluded jurors: a man with limited fluency in English who felt he would be unable to keep track of testimony, and a new mother who said she would be unable to understand how parents could let their children die and who sided with federal agents. "'The government's the government,' she told the judge. 'I'm sure they investigated and did what they had to do.'" [Baaaaa. Sorry, couldn't resist.] The juror had been given an extensive questionnaire some weeks ago, and were asked to tell about their views and backgrounds. In addition, there were questions about whether they had ever been charged with a crime or had any ties to law enforcement. One woman responded that she had several family members who were in law enforcement, that she had participated in "ride along" programs, and that she had worked as a security guard and for a sheriff's office transporting prisoners. She also stated that a brother had been charged with murder and had "hung himself in the county jail." She claimed that she could be impartial. [No word on whether she was excused or not] About a dozen members of the panel have stated that they did not believe that anyone other than law enforcement personnel should be allowed to own handguns. "Associated Press reporter Kelly Shannon was escorted from the court- house after she commented that it is a public building -- a comment prompted as she watched security officers rebuff a member of the public who wanted to attend the proceedings. Shannon later said courthouse officials apologized to her." [Hey! _I_ didn't get an apology after I was thrown out...] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Headline - PROTESTERS MAKE THEIR PRESENCE KNOWN Page 1 photo shows Frances V. Sommer being carried out of the court- house. [She was later arrested; see summary below] "Protesters shouted 'Vote your conscience!' at about 80 prospective jurors as they filed from two blue-and-white chartered buses into the federal courthouse at 8:30 a.m. Monday." The paper reports that more than 20 protesters were there. [I counted about 50...] Most of the protesters were from the Fully Informed Jury Association. No arrests at the protest, but one person was arrested after attempting to gain access to the courthouse. According to Larry Dodge of FIJA, they object to the judge's jury- anonymity order. "The association supports the concept that jurors have the right to weight the correctness of a law itself, rather than restrict their decision to whether a law was broken." "'If the jury is to be anonymous, what's to stop the government from padding the jury with government agents?'" Don Doig, national co- ordinator of FIJA Frances V. Sommer of San Antonio was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of criminal trespass, after she tried three time to enter the courthouse. [I saw another man dragged into the courthouse where film from his camera was confiscated after he took a photo of Frances being dragged out (the second time she tried to enter the courthouse). Funny how that didn't make the paper...] Protest signs included: Is Your Church BATF Approved? Remember the Alamo! Remember Waco! Jail Judge Smith For Jury Tampering Gary Dusljee of the FIJA, was asked by police to cease using a loud- speaker while jurors were taken into the courthouse. [Confirmed -- he was _asked_, not ordered. I was there.] Donald Hanson (El Paso) and Jay Manifold (Dallas) held a 'Don't Tread On Me' banner, based on the old U.S. flag design. Both are members of the Libertarian Party protesting government interference in individual religious liberty issues. Mark Lucas (Dallas) wore a T-Shirt depicting the Mount Carmel compound in flames and bearing the logo "FBI - Federal Bureau of Incineration". He was protesting federal coverups of the actions at Waco. = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Page 4A Headline - IOWAN WHOSE MOTHER DIED IN STANDOFF DRAWN TO S.A. Human-interest story about Darren Borst, whose mother Mary Jean Borst died in the Mount Carmel fire. Darren was in basic training for the National Guard when the compound burned. His instructor excused him from training so that he could follow the news reports. He is a sophomore at Iowa State, intending to pursue a career in law enforcement, specifically the FBI. He is majoring in sociology, with a minor in criminology. "'They have to have some good people,'" he said. he also said "he would bring 'honesty, if nothing else' to the job." He plans to stay a few days, before he has to return to school. He believes, based on reports from news media, family and friends, that his mother was murdered by the FBI. He discounts claims of a suicide pact, sine the Davidians felt suicide to be an "'unpardonable sin.'" He is maintaining telephone contact with his father (who remarried) in Colorado, and with brothers Brad (Plattville, Colo) and Lance (Maryland). None were able to make the trip to San Antonio for the trial. Brad was a resident of the compound for a while, but got "fed up" and left. The parting was friendly, and Koresh gave Brad "$50, a guitar and an amplifier as a parting gift." This information from a telephone interview Monday afternoon. He says Koresh was "'a nice guy, not the mad maniac some make him out to be.'" ======================================================================= Administrivia: This section will include corrections, personal observations & comments, and pointers to known cross-postings and archives. It will become short- er (I hope) as time goes by. Posting - Effective immediately, these Updates will be posted to three newsgroups; talk.politics.guns, alt.politics.org.batf, and talk.poli- tics.usa.misc, with Distribution set to "world." Please feel free to forward to other groups that you feel may be interested. Followups - Default follow-ups will be set to talk.politics.guns, alt.politics.org.batf and talk.politics.usa.misc. Info.firearms.politics - For some reason, my submissions to the info.firearms.politics moderated newsgroup are apparently getting lost. Would someone forward these Updates to this group? And let me know that you are doing it? I will include a note in later Administrivia sections. If anybody is archiving these updates, and/or making them available for ftp, gopher, or other access, please let me know and I will include that information in further Administrivia sections. Summarizer comments - All personal comments, clarifications or explana- tions within the text of the Update will be bounded by brackets []. The Administrivia section is all personal comments. Double-quoted ("...") sections are taken directly from newspaper re- ports. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= This summary of the Branch Davidian trial is based on articles published in the San Antonio Express-News. The original articles, and any sections quoted herein are copyrighted by the Express-News. The remainder of the summary is copyright 1994 by William W. Hughes. Copying of these sum- maries, either by hardcopy or electronic means, is authorized and en- couraged, as long as this notice remains attached and intact. "I do not work for or represent the San Antonio Express-News" -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= -- [w--g--s] at [lonestar.utsa.edu] (William Hughes) | In memory of 85 un-charged, UTSA doesn't agree with me. They're wrong. | un-convicted victims of the U.S. Politicians Prefer Unarmed Peasants | government in Waco, Texas - Politically Incorrect and proud of it! | including over 20 children.