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Justice officials turn over Waco files WACO, Texas, Nov. 15 (UPI) Justice Department officials facing possible contempt of court action on Monday turned over files demanded by a federal judge in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by survivors of the 1993 Branch Davidian siege near Waco. On two occasions in recent months, U.S. District Judge Walter S. Smith Jr. has accused government lawyers of delays and threatened them with contempt of court for not turning over the files sought by Davidian lawyers. Smith held a brief contempt of court hearing Monday but decided against citing the government lawyers when the documents were produced. Two weeks ago, U.S. Attorney Mike Bradford attributed some of the delay to making copies for special counsel John Danforth, who has been named by Attorney General Janet Reno to probe the controversial standoff. In a sweeping order last August, Judge Smith ordered all government information relating to the Davidian siege be sent to his clerk for safekeeping. The trial is scheduled to begin in mid-May at Waco. The files include secret military documents related to the deployment of soldiers from classified special operations to the Waco siege, according to government documents already made public in the case. Government lawyers have said that 10 special forces personnel were assigned to Waco during the standoff to act as observers or technical advisors. In the lawsuit, attorneys for the Branch Davidians charge that some of the soldiers may have been involved when the FBI began the tear-gas assault that preceded the deadly fire in which more than 80 Davidians died. The lawsuit also claims that government agents, possibly including soldiers, fired into the compound during the April 19 assault, and that they may have sparked the fire. The government has denied both charges.
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