Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 27, 1994 TAG: 9402270078
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DATELINE: HOUSTON LENGTH: Medium
Five defendants, whose lawyers had argued they acted in self Verdicts end unhappy year for ATF agents. A2. defense, were convicted of aiding and abetting the voluntary manslaughter of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents. Those five and two others also were found guilty of weapons possession charges. Three sect members were cleared of all charges.
Although most defendants were convicted of some offenses, the acquittals on the heaviest charges indicated jurors believed that federal agents - not sect members - were largely responsible for the violence. Legal experts said voluntary manslaughter is distinguishable from murder and indicates a defendant was provoked into sudden and intense passion.
Defense attorney Terry Kirk sought to make the point in telling reporters outside the courthouse, "The nerve of the federal government to do what they did on Feb. 28, and then come into a courtroom and file a brief saying, `Oh if it's a federal agent, you don't have the right of self defense, you have to take a bullet in the head.'
"Well, the judge didn't buy it, the American people most assuredly would not have bought it and that's the message the jury sent."
But Attorney General Janet Reno told reporters in Washington that the jury's verdicts of conviction on lesser counts "indicate that the killing of these four ATF agents was unjustified." She said federal law enforcement will focus on developing "systems and procedures to see that a tragedy like this will never happen again."
Members of the jury, which Judge Walter Smith Jr. kept anonymous to avoid outside pressures, were not available for comment. Jurors deliberated for four days after hearing six weeks of testimony in a San Antonio courtroom. They reached their decision just short of the first anniversary of the bloody Sunday morning raid on Feb. 28, 1993, that led to a 51-day standoff at the Mount Carmel compound.
The verdicts brought tears of joy from several defendants. Clive Doyle, an Australian defendant who was among those acquitted of all charges, wept when he told reporters outside the U.S. Courthouse:
"I'm sorry there are four agents that are dead and a lot more that are wounded. Personally, I believe that those in charge of their agencies caused that.
"That's my personal conviction, but we lost 85 of our friends and family, too, and it was unnecessary."
The lone woman defendant, Ruth Riddle, was convicted of a firearms violation but the judge promptly invalidated it on grounds it did not apply to her case.
Defense lawyers adopted a successful strategy of putting the government itself on trial, questioning the high level of force and intrusiveness used by the federal raiding party of 75 agents against a group of worshipers who the lawyers insisted were controlled, victimized and kept in the dark by a psychotic leader, David Koresh.
During the trial, which started Jan. 12, prosecution witnesses testified they saw the defendants bearing weapons the morning of the raid but were unable to show conclusively they had fired the shots that killed agents from the ATF who were seeking to serve arrest and search warrants on Koresh for illegal weapons purchases.
The murder and murder-conspiracy charges would have carried a maximum punishment of life in prison. Conviction on the lesser charges could bring possible 10-year sentences. No date was set for the imposition of punishment.
Defense lawyers said they were assisted by a federal investigative report last fall that concluded the ATF raid was conducted with poor supervision and that top ATF officials had lied in saying they thought they had maintained an element of surprise.
by CNB