From: [i--s--t] at [delphi.com] Newsgroups: talk.politics.guns Subject: Davidian Trial Report Feb 21 Date: Wed, 23 Feb 94 19:15:48 -0500 The following is the text of an article in the San Antonio Express-News published Feb. 21, 1994, commenting on the Branch Davidian trial, which was in recess for the holiday. ========================================================================== Jurors face no simple process By Diana R. Fuentes Express-News Staff Writer When a federal judge ruled jurors in the Branch Davidian murder- conspiracy trial could acquit the 11 defendants if they find sect members acted in self-defense, the issue of who fired first on Feb. 28 moved to the forefront. U.S. District Judge Walter S. Smith Jr. will tell the jury about that option and others Tuesday morning, when jurors return from a four-day weekend. Presentation of evidence ended Thursday. On Friday, Smith, prosecutors and defense attorneys finished hammering out the details of the 67 pages of instructions that Smith will read to the jury. Jurors must follow the instructions in deciding the fate of the defendants. At issue: Were four agents of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms killed in self-defense by a devoutly religious people who thought the agents wanted to slay them for their beliefs or was it coldly calculated murder by a bunch of fanatics? Defense attorneys contend that if ATF agents had not attacked Mount Carmel, the Branch Davidians' compound near Waco, the way they did on Feb. 28, the Branch Davidians would not have fired at them. Prosecutors contend the Branch Davidians planned all along to kill federal agents in accordance with Koresh's teachings, and provided evidence they believe shows the agents were ambushed. At stake are life sentences for the defendants, who are accused of conspiring to murder the ATF agents who tried to raid Mount Carmel, including the four who died in the actual raid on Feb. 28, and the FBI agents who surrounded the compound during the 51-day stand-off that followed. The siege ended April 19, when a fire that prosecutors claim was deliberately set by Branch Davidians destroyed Mount Carmel. Koresh and about 80 followers died in the inferno. In deciding who fired first, the issue of reasonable doubt will figure prominently. Several people who were at the scene on Feb. 28, on both sides, testified they don't know who fired first. Some ATF agents testified the sect members fired first, while several sect members said ATF initiated the gunbattle. So, who do you believe? Early testimony indicated the first face-to-face moments between sect leaders and ATF agents came at Mount Carmel's entrance, two side-by-side metal doors. ATF Agent Roland Ballesteros testified Koresh was unarmed, holding open one of the doors with both hands as Ballesteros ran toward him, yelling his identity and purpose. He said Koresh talked to him -- witnesses gave different versions of what Koresh said -- before slamming the door. Ballesteros said gunfire erupted through that door, and that fire was returned. Defendant Jaime Castillo told a Texas Ranger, who took his statement last year, he was near Koresh at the time and that ATF agents at the door fired first as Koresh closed the door. That door is missing, and defense attorneys have spared no opportunity to point out to the jury that no one seems to know where it went. The other half of the double doors was brought into the court -- one corner bent, a tank track over another corner, but still intact -- showing four bullets coming in and nine bullets going out. A similar metal door close to the interior of the compound also survived the inferno intact, a Texas Ranger testified. Attorney Jack Zimmermann, who visited Mount Carmel during the siege and saw the now-missing door, testified that it had a "spray pattern" of holes made by bullets fired into the house and no bullet holes going out. The prosecution's case hinges on a finding of conspiracy by the jury, because the government has alleged that the other charges -- including aiding and abetting the murder of four agents -- furthered the conspiracy. There are several weapons charges facing some of the defendants; they could be found guilty of those even if the jury finds there was no conspiracy. Under a broad interpreation of the Pinkerton principle, which Smith has ruled is valid in this case, a defendant could be found guilty of crimes he or she did not personally commit or even know had been committed so long as it is proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the crimes were part of the conspiracy and that the defendant was a co-conspirator. As proof that a conspiracy existed, prosecutors begin with a claim that Koresh advocated and encouraged a "war" between the Branch Davidians and the government and then set about arming his followers for the confrontation. Witnesses have testified Koresh preached that when the end of the world came, government officials would attack the Branch Davidians, who would have to fight back and die before they could go to heaven. Prosecutors have concentrated on Koresh's teachings, introduced through witnesses, that his followers had to be ready to "kill for God" in the predicted war. In seeking to show the agents were ambushed, prosecutors cite testimony that defendant Graeme Craddock gave a Waco grand jury last year, in which he said he was told ATF agents were coming to raid the compound and that he and others pulled out their weapons and filled magazines with ammunition to prepare for the raid. Defense attorneys, on the other hand, concentrate on the self- defensive nature of Koresh's preaching, also introduced through witnesses. The defense maintains Craddock's testimony simply shows the Branch Davidians were preparing to defend themselves against an attack, and note Craddock told the grand jury he was ordered to "wait for the word" before he fired and that since he never got the word, he never\ fired his weapon even in the heat of the gunbattle. The instructions Smith will read to the jury Tuesday specifically say that an agreement or plan to defend yourself against an anticipated attack or harm is not a conspiracy to murder. Smith will tell the jurors that if they find that is true or have a reasonable doubt whether it's true, they must acquit the defendants on the conspiracy charge. The judge also will tell the jury that mere presence at the scene of an event, even with knowledge that a crime is being committed, does not necessarily establish proof of a conspiracy. To find a defendant guilty of conspiracy, jurors must find four things: * That two or more persons agreed to murder federal agents. * That the defendant knew the agreement was unlawful and he or she willingly joined it. * That at least one of the conspirators committed at least one of six listed "overt acts." * And, that the defendant had malice aforethought. Under the Pinkerton principle, which dates back to 1946, a defendant may be held responsible for a substantive offense committed by a co-conspirator, even though the defendant was not present when the offense was committed. That means defendant Paul Fatta, who normally lived at Mount Carmel with his son and helped Koresh in the purchase of firearms, could be found guilty of aiding the four agents' murders even though he was out of town Feb. 28, didn't know agents had been killed until well after it happened and was never at the compound during the siege. Article 86775 of talk.politics.guns: Path: teetot.acusd.edu!ihnp4.ucsd.edu!library.ucla.edu!europa.eng.gtefsd.com!howland.reston.ans.net!news.intercon.com!uhog.mit.edu!news.mtholyoke.edu!nic.umass.edu!noc.near.net!news.delphi.com!usenet From: [i--s--t] at [delphi.com] Newsgroups: talk.politics.guns Subject: Davidian Trial Report Feb 22 Date: Wed, 23 Feb 94 19:16:29 -0500 Organization: Delphi ([i--o] at [delphi.com] email, 800-695-4005 voice) Lines: 74 Message-ID: <[5 I 1 JulV innsyst] at [delphi.com]> NNTP-Posting-Host: bos3a.delphi.com The following is the text of an article in the San Antonio Express-News reporting on the events in the Branch Davidian trial on February 22, 1994. ========================================================================== Lawyers on attack in final remarks By Diana R. Fuentes Express-News Staff Writer Defense attorneys and prosecutors took off their gloves Tuesday, as the 11 defendants in the Branch Davidian murder-conspiracy trial were painted alternately as selfish killers and victims of government bumbling. Jurors heard the first half of the prosecutors' closing arguments Tuesday morning, followed by closing arguments from six of the 10 defense attorneys. U.S. District Judge Walter S. Smith Jr. ordered the jurors sequestered in a local motel beginning Tuesday evening, although they still must hear the remaining four defense attorneys and the prosecution's two-hour rebuttal Wednesday before the can begin deliberations. Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Johnston blasted the defendants, saying they and their leader, David Koresh, used religion as a shield for planning and carrying out the murder of four law enforcement officials, then killed themselves and their children in a final selfish act April 19. Not so, said the defense. The failed raid Feb. 28, and subsequent deaths of agents and sect members, was the fault of bad supervision at the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, and the fatal fire that ended the 51-day siege of Mount Carmel was provoked by the FBI, defense attorneys told the jury. "It (the raid) should have been called off. It was not," defense attorney Jeff Kearney told the jury. "You heard that. The supervisors who were in charge, they went in front of this nation ... and they lied to the public about what happened." How could the Branch Davidians have ambushed the agents as the prosecution claims, Kearney asked, when the government's own witness, ATF agent Robert Rodriguez, testified Koresh told him about an hour before the raid they knew the ATF was on its way to Mount Carmel? Kearney reminded the jury that Rodriguez's supervisors decided to raid the compound despite the agent's warning. Defense attorney Rocket Rosen, summing up the case, said: "It's all about indicting these individuals to cover up the crimes of the ATF. "My heart goes out to those four agents, and I'm sick," Rosen said. "I'm sick because their supervisors told them on the morning of Feb. 28, 1993, `It's showtime, baby, let's go.'" Johnston said all the Branch Davidians had a choice about whether to stay at Mount Carmel after an arms buildup by Koresh began in 1992. "There was talk of war ... and they stayed," Johnston said. "Words turned into action. Guns were purchased. And they stayed." "Machine guns are made, and they're talked about in the group," Johnston said later in his argument. "Then firearms training: Yeah, every church does that. "Let's get the Methodist men and the Knights of Columbus together to shoot some machine guns," Johnston added sarcastically. Defense attorney Joe Turner said he thought Koresh and two of his top lieutenants -- all three are dead -- set the fire April 19, but he blamed the government for what happened. "What the government did was take a paranoid, delusional person like Koresh, and they backed him into a corner, and then when he acts like a nut, they act surprised," Turner said. "Their hands are not clean on this case," he said. Defense attorney Stanley Rentz suggested the defendants, including his client Graeme Craddock, were being held to account for something a dead man did. "He shouldn't have to serve Koresh's time," Rentz said. "No one should. Defense attorney John Carroll said: "This is about excessive force and arrogance and abuse of power (by government agents)." Johnston accused defendant Paul Fatta of being the "blood merchant of the group" because he bought firearms. Smith sustained attorney Mike DeGeurin's immediate objection to the term. The government sought to dispute that weapons had been bought as investment, as DeGeurin has maintained throughout the trial. "Maybe it was an investment of sort for Mr. Fatta," Johnston said, "lifting up a poster with color photographs of the four slain agents. "Behold the dividend of Mr. Fatta's investment."