Ex-rival hired as counsel
By Maro Robbins
San Antonio Express-News Staff Writer
Two of San Antonio's most respected and feared prosecutors have
hired one of the city's best known and most accomplished criminal
defense lawyers to deal with an investigation into whether they
deceived Congress.
Gerald H. Goldstein is representing the husband-and-wife team of
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ray and LeRoy Jahn — career prosecutors
who are subjects of a probe into possible government wrongdoing
related to the 1993 Waco standoff with Branch Davidians.
While making allies out of former courtroom adversaries, the
match between the federal enforcers and the eloquent,
self-described ex-hippie has symmetry beyond their local status
as premier lawyers.
All three attended law school in Austin together, and all
attended the 1995 congressional hearing in which the Jahns have
been accused of misleading lawmakers.
The investigation led by special counsel John C. Danforth,
however, represents an unexpected twist in the Jahns' careers.
Their polished résumés include targeting public corruption,
convicting federal Judge John Wood's assassin and tenaciously
grilling President Clinton during the trial of his former
Whitewater business partners.
The Waco probe has thrust the veteran prosecutors into the
unusual position of being investigated even as they investigate
others. Most recently, their signatures appeared on grand jury
subpoenas issued to the office of state Sen. Frank Madla, D-San
Antonio, and other state agencies.
The investigation focusing partly on the Jahns stems from their
1994 prosecution of 11 Branch Davidians after the 51-day siege
ended with about 80 members of the religious sect dying as fire
consumed their bunker. Some died from gunshot wounds.
Although Danforth concluded in July that sect members kindled the
blaze that killed them, he said several government agents and
lawyers withheld information that, when it surfaced, spurred
cover-up allegations and conspiracy theories.
The former U.S. senator noted that the Jahns did not reveal the
use of a potentially incendiary tear-gas canister on the morning
of the siege during the 1994 trial or at a 1995 congressional
hearing, in which the pair appeared as Justice Department experts
on the Waco case.
Their statement to lawmakers read in part, "the FBI did not fire
a shot other than the nonlethal (and non-incendiary) ferret
rounds which carried the CS (tear) gas."
When questioned by Danforth's investigators, Ray Jahn "admitted"
he knew about the pyrotechnic round in 1993 and claimed that he
was merely "negligent" in not revealing them, the special
counsel's preliminary report stated.
The report added that investigators continue to examine whether
the Jahns, or other prosecutors who worked alongside them,
intentionally concealed the canister's use.
Danforth's spokeswoman refused to comment on the investigation's
progress.
Goldstein likewise declined to discuss whether the Jahns had been
summoned before a grand jury Danforth has convened in St.
Louis.
But he characterized them as ethical lawyers who are being
sacrificed to the public's need to blame someone for controversy
surrounding the Waco siege.
"The word scapegoat comes to mind," he said, adding, "I think
there will be other scapegoats."
Other prosecutors, past and present, who worked on the 1994 trial
include former Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Johnston of Waco.
He could not be reached for comment.
Another trial participant, Assistant U.S. Attorney John Phinizy
of Austin, said he had been interviewed but not subpoenaed by
Danforth's investigators.
San Antonio lawyer John Convery, a former prosecutor who helped
select the jury but had no part in trial preparation, said
investigators once contacted him but canceled their interview.
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Shalom, A Salaam Aleikum, and to all, A Good Day.
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