-Caveat Lector-
Waco case prosecutor enters plea
Johnston says he's not guilty; January trial set
Dallas Morning News
ST. LOUIS � A former government prosecutor pleaded not guilty
Monday to charges of obstructing the investigation into the 1993
siege at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco.
Former assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Johnston was charged with
two counts of obstruction of justice and three counts of lying to
investigators and a federal grand jury.
The indictment was returned last week as Waco special counsel
John C. Danforth released his final report absolving the
government of wrongdoing in the siege. The case was filed in St.
Louis because Mr. Danforth, a former U.S. senator from Missouri,
based his investigation out of his law office there.
At the hearing Monday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Mary Ann Medler set
a trial date of Jan. 2. Mr. Johnston is free on personal
recognizance bond.
He was present at the arraignment but did not speak other than to
acknowledge that he understood the terms of the bond.
Attorney Michael Kennedy has acknowledged that Mr. Johnston made
mistakes in his dealings with the special counsel. But he called
the charges baseless and unfair.
Mr. Johnston helped draft the search warrant that the Bureau of
Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms tried to execute on Feb. 28, 1993,
at the Waco compound. The botched raid turned into a gunfight in
which four federal agents and six Branch Davidians were killed.
The shootout sparked the 51-day standoff that ended on April 19,
1993, with a fire that consumed the compound, killing sect leader
David Koresh and about 80 followers inside.
Mr. Johnston in 1994 helped convict nine Branch Davidians during
their criminal trial.
In 1999, federal Judge Walter S. Smith Jr. ordered the
government to give him all records and evidence connected with
the standoff. Mr. Johnston then complained publicly that the
Justice Department was covering up evidence showing FBI agents
had fired pyrotechnic tear gas at the compound.
Justice Department and FBI officials denied for years that the
government had used anything capable of sparking fires when they
employed tanks and tear gas to try to end the standoff.
The FBI's subsequent confirmation that some pyrotechnic tear gas
was used prompted Attorney General Janet Reno to ask Mr. Danforth
to investigate.
In July, Mr. Danforth, in a preliminary report, absolved the
government of blame in the blaze. A week earlier, an advisory
jury hearing a $675 million wrongful-death lawsuit brought by
surviving cult members and the victims' families reached the same
conclusion.
Mr. Johnston left the U.S. attorney's office in February. He
admitted in July that he had withheld several pages of notes from
1993 dealing with the FBI's use of pyrotechnic gas.
"It's completely irrelevant and immaterial to the investigation,"
Mr. Kennedy, speaking of the withheld notes, said after the
hearing.
A congressional report issued last week praised Mr. Johnston for
helping reveal the use of pyrotechnics but condemned his failure
to surrender the notes, which indicated he was told in 1993 that
FBI agents fired several incendiary military tear gas grenades.
Mr. Johnston said he withheld the notes out of fear that hostile
colleagues might try to use what he had written to discredit him.
He added that he didn't reveal the notes to Mr. Danforth because
his investigators "treated me with the same loathing and
hostility that I had encountered from the Justice Department."
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Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, YHVH, TZEVAOT
FROM THE DESK OF:
*Michael Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends
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