Date: Mon, 14 Feb 1994 20:34:34 -0600 (CST) From: "William W. Hughes" <[w--g--s] at [lonestar.utsa.edu]> Subject: Branch Davidian Trial Update - Friday, 4 Feb 94 Branch Davidian Trial Update - Friday, 4 Feb 94 [transcribed] Page 1C DAVIDIAN HOPES FOR REUNION Schroeder explains reason for testimony By Diana R. Fuentes Express-News Staff Writer One of Branch Davidian leader David Koresh's multiple wives said Thursday she decided to testify against her fellow sect mem- bers because she wants to be reunited with her children. A desire to be with her four children also prompted her to accept $12,000 for the movie rights to her story, said Kathryn Schroeder, 31, who said she could get "big money" if the movie is made. Jeff Kearney, one of several defense attorneys in the murder- conspiracy trial of 11 Branch Davidians, got to the heart of why Schroeder agreed to turn against her friends. "You desperately wanted to get out and be with the children, isn't that right?" Kearney asked. "Yes," Schroeder answered. The 11 defendants are charged with conspiring to murder four federal agents who died Feb. 28 in a gunbattle that erupted when more than 75 agents of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms tried to serve arrest and search warrants at the Branch Davidian compound near Waco. Under an agreement with the government, Schroeder pleaded guilty to a charge of impeding a federal officer with a deadly weapon, which carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison. Earlier, she had faced the same conspiracy charges as the others -- charges that her attorney, Scott Peterson of Waco, said carry an "automatic life sentence." Peterson, who said he received $5,000 in fees from the $12,000, said Schroeder agreed to sell the rights in March because she needed money for a lawyer to help her fight for custody of the children, or visiting rights. Also Thursday, Schroeder testified about a conversation she had with defendant Norman Allison, a conversation that Allison's attorney said could help persuade the jury that Allison was not really a Branch Davidian or a follower of Koresh. Witnesses have testified that Allison was banished by Koresh from Mount Carmel, for earlier running away. Attorney Tim Evans repeated the conversation. "(Schroeder) said, 'If you leave here, you might miss the end of the world,' and he (Allison) said, 'Well, I'll just watch it on TV.'" Schroeder agreed that the statement was accurate. However, U.S. District Judge Walter S. Smith Jr. refused to allow the jury to hear the testimony. The judge also refused a request from attorney Douglas Tinker to let the jury hear what Assistant U.S. Attorney Ray Jahn told a grand jury before presenting Schroeder, after she entered into the plea bargain. Tinker quoted Jahn as saying: "We don't necessarily want to present her on the record." Schroeder made a statement to Texas Rangers shortly after she left the compound on March 12 that differed from the statement she gave the grand jury later, after the plea bargain, defense attor- neys contend. Also Thursday, Jahn tried to clarify several points, including the conspiracy issue. "On the day you were supposed to come out with guns and invite gunfire, did you have an intention to kill agents on that day?" Jahn asked Schroeder. "If it was necessary, yes," she said. "The object of the plan was to be translated (to die)... and we had to draw enemy fire, but killing the agents was not something that I thought about," she told Jahn. "Would you have done it?" he pressed. "If I was told to, yes," she responded. Referring to proceedings Wednesday, when Schroeder testified she didn't know the people who stormed the Branch Davidian compound from cattle trailers on Feb. 28 were ATF agents, Jahn asked: "Did you know who was on the trailer that day?" "According to David's teachings, I assumed it was the authori- ty," she said. Asked who "the authority" is, she said: "The government." Defense attorneys asked Schroeder whether she had seen Branch Davidians Oliver Gyarfas, Derek Lovelock, Rita Riddle or David Thibodeau with a weapon during the 51-day siege that followed the raid. Schroeder said she saw all four with weapons, as she has testified about eight of the 11 defendants. ========================= ADMINISTRIVIA ========================= COMMENTS No testimony, no kids. A mother would do anything to get her kids back. As far as I am concerned, Schroeder's testimony was coerced, and is therefore unreliable. I do not blame Kathryn for this; rather, I blame the prosecution team and the "system." I'm also curious about the judge's refusal to allow the jury to hear about prosecution reservations about Schroeder's testimony. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - KNOWN DISTRIBUTIONS USENET: talk.politics.guns, alt.politics.org.batf, alt.conspiracy, alt.politics.usa.misc & alt.politics.libertarian - author USENET: info.firearms.politics/mailing list Firearms Politics ([firearms politics] at [ns1.rutgers.edu]) - author Other networks - BIX: tojerry/inquest - Paul L. Schauble ([p l s] at [shell.portal.com]) FIDONET: DEBATE - Terry Goodman ([terry goodman] at [support.com] / Terry Goodman 1:102/837) FIDONET: CONTROVERSY - Terry Goodman FIDONET: LEGAL (non-backbone) - Lester Garrett (1:125/101) FIDONET: SMOKER (non-backbone) - Bill Bauer (1:147/32) Prodigy: Politics-Other, Subject; A.T.F. Waco - Jim Bell SmartNet: POLIPHIL - Lester Garrett (FIDO 1:125/101) The Patrick Henry League - a gun rights BBS network: - Paul L. Schauble KNOWN ARCHIVES The Powder Keg BBS, 707-427-1310, 14.4, 24H7D, directory WACO (SurvNet/PRNet 176:100/24, sysop Peter Nesbitt) The Soapbox BBS. 919-387-1152, 14.4, 24H7D, file area BATF (FIDO 1:151/142, sysop Stacy Powers [[p--we--s] at [rock.concert.net]]) Full access on first call, supports FREQ, FREQ FILES to get a list of all available files Anonymous ftp teetot.acusd.edu in directory /pub/Beelzebub/Politics/The_Tax_Cops/Waco/Trial service provided by Jerry Stratton ([j--r--y] at [teetot.acusd.edu]) =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= This Update of the Branch Davidian trial is based on or transcribed from articles published in the San Antonio Express-News. The origi- nal 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 summaries, either by hardcopy or electronic means, is authorized and encouraged, 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. St. Dismas' Infirmary for the Incurably | government in Waco, Texas - Informed [_Synners_, Pat Cadigan] | including over 20 children.