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Reuters · UPI August 26, 1999 Juror says Davidians deserve new trial
SAN ANTONIO, Aug. 26 (UPI) The woman who headed the federal jury that
convicted eight
Branch Davidian members in connection with the 1993 siege near Waco,
Texas, says they should
get new trials because of new FBI admissions.
Sarah Bain headed a federal court jury that convicted the Davidians on charges related to the Feb. 28, 1993 shootout with Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents that began the 51-day siege. Four ATF agents died when they attempted to serve a warrant on Davidian leader David Koresh. In an interview with WOAI radio in San Antonio today, Bain said the admission by the FBI that agents fired flammable tear gas grenades near the compound hours before the fire that ended the siege is grounds to ask for new trials. Koresh and 80 of his followers died during the fire. Bain said: "The question never was settled in our minds during the trial as to exactly who started that fire. Most of us had some doubts that the Branch Davidians were responsible for mass suicide." The FBI maintains the two canisters were fired six hours before the fire started and were not responsible for the conflagration. FBI officials say recordings from inside the compound indicate the Davidians started the fire. But Bain said, "Some of the allegations were that the FBI may have done something to start the fire, but prosecutors at our trial spent a lot of time trying to prove that the FBI was innocent, so the truth never did come out." Bain said not only will the FBI's admission help five Branch Davidians still behind bars get a new trial, it will strengthen arguments by Branch Davidian survivors and families of the dead who filed a lawsuit over siege. Bain said: "All the evidence that was gathered that caused them to be put in prison was gathered after the fire. Since it now appears that some of the evidence may have been misidentified and mislabeled, and possibly the origin of that fire is now in question, it seems that they might rightly ask for a new trial." She also said: "This is especially exciting for those who have filed the wrongful death claims. This ought to go especially well for their case."
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