Jurors advise judge to clear government in Waco deaths

WACO, Texas — An advisory jury decided Friday that the government does not bear responsibility for the deaths of 80 Branch Davidians during the cult’s 1993 standoff with federal agents. A federal judge will deliver the final verdict.

The five jurors deliberated for 2 1/2 hours in the $675 million wrongful-death lawsuit filed by surviving Branch Davidians and relatives of those who were killed. The trial, which lasted nearly a month, brought out emotional testimony recounting the standoff from both sides.

U.S. District Judge Walter Smith, who will take the jury’s findings under advisement, said he would render his verdict soon, possibly in August. He will also consider perhaps the most contentious issue — whether federal agents shot at the Davidians at the end of the siege.

The plaintiffs contended that the government should shoulder some blame for the botched raid that started the 51-day standoff and the final day of the siege, when the cult’s compound went up in flames.

But the jury found that the government did not use excessive force during the raid and was not negligent by driving tanks into the compound on the final day. The jurors also had been asked whether agents contributed to or spread the fires or violated a directive to have firefighting equipment at the site, which was known as Mount Carmel.

“I think a vast majority of the American public will take this as the final word,” said Michael Caddell, lead counsel for the plaintiffs. “For most people that will be the finish to Mount Carmel.”

The government contended that federal agents were ambushed by heavily armed Davidians in the raid and that suicidal members of the group set the fires themselves on the final day.

To bolster their defense, government attorneys played audio tapes made inside the compound in which unidentified Branch Davidians were heard asking “Start the fire?” and “Should we light the fire?”

At one point, a male voice could be heard saying, “Let’s keep that fire going,” as tanks rumbled in the background.

“This terrible tragedy was the responsibility of David Koresh and the Branch Davidians, not the federal government,” the Justice Department said in a statement after the decision was announced. “We are pleased the jury affirmed that view.”

Plaintiffs’ lawyer Ramsey Clark, who was attorney general during Lyndon Johnson’s administration, said in closing arguments Friday that the deaths of the cult members “didn’t have to happen” and called the siege “the greatest domestic law enforcement tragedy in the history of the United States.”

David Thibodeau, a Bangor native and former Branch Dividian member, survived the seige but lost his wife and daughter in the blaze. He is not part of the class-action lawsuit, but attended the trial.

“The bottom line is that this is the biggest circus I’ve ever seen. It’s absolutely a cover-up,” he said, reacting to the jury’s decision from his home in Austin, Texas. “It’s much easier to believe that a bunch of religious fanatics killed themselves rather than to see the truth.”

Thibodeau said the trial may have ended differently if another judge presided and allowed more evidence to be heard in court.

“That judge is protecting the government,” he said.

“If the conduct of the ATF and the FBI was performed without excessive force and without negligence, then how in the world did it end up with such unmitigated, disastrous effects?” Clark said.

The siege began Feb. 28, 1993, when Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents tried to search the complex and arrest Koresh, the cult’s leader, on illegal weapons charges. Six Davidians and four ATF agents were killed in the ensuing shootout.

The standoff ended 51 days later with the deaths of some 80 men, women and children inside the compound from either gunshots or from the flames that quickly engulfed the building hours into a tear-gassing operation designed to end the siege.

Caddell cited government documents that he said prove agents deviated from their planned tear-gassing operation and put innocent people inside the compound.

Memories of the inferno at the end of the siege have made Waco a one-word rallying cry for critics of the government, who have claimed the government covered up aspects of its role.

Last year, the FBI recanted earlier denials and acknowledged that federal agents fired one or more incendiary tear gas rounds during the standoff.

— Denise Malan of the NEWS staff contributed to this report.