SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- A Texas prairie battle that began with a grenade hull spilling from a UPS truck and turned into a fireball that consumed at least 81 people enters a federal courtroom today.
Almost 11 months after four federal agents were killed and 16 wounded as they tried to serve a warrant at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, 11 survivors of a 51-day standoff go on trial for conspiracy and murder. Each could face a life sentence.
Watching the case unfold will be representatives of more than 70 media organizations from around the world, at least 23 relatives of deceased Davidians, and a battery of seasoned lawyers - 16 for the defense and five prosecutors.
"Never before . . . has such a military force been directed against such helpless people - women, children and old folks," says lawyer Dick DeGuerin, who represented cult leader David Koresh until Koresh died in the April 19 fire the government says Koresh started. He doesn't currently represent any Davidians.
In court filings, defense lawyers also have indicated they plan to bring up the Randy Weaver case in Idaho. Weaver, a white supremacist, was acquitted last year of charges related to the shooting of a federal marshal; federal agents were later rebuked for killing Weaver's wife and child.
Prosecutors, who like defense lawyers are under an informal gag order imposed by Judge Walter Smith, aren't discussing the case. But in filings they've made it clear they intend to hold all 11 defendants - even three who weren't at the compound when the agents raided on Feb. 28 - responsible for the deaths under a broad concept of conspiracy.
Legal experts say defense lawyers will focus on the government's bungled handling of the raid and try to evoke sympathy for the defendants because of the deadly fire. The Justice Department last fall issued a report critical of the raid's planning and execution.
A key defense: the claim that Davidians were peaceful, religious people who fired in self-defense. The government will try to show there was a conspiracy because the Davidians at least informally agreed to prepare for a raid.
"It appears the prosecution is going to have a strong case of conspiracy, and the defendants aren't going to have that strong a case of self-defense," says Brian Serr of Baylor University Law School in Waco.
But, he says, the jury may well give the Davidian defendants - at least one of whom suffered burns in the fire, and most of whom lost friends and relatives - the benefit of the doubt for reasons of sympathy.
Smith, a 54-year-old former McLennan County Republican Party chairman who is known as a tough-sentencing, pro-prosecution jurist, has sealed most documents the government has filed in preparing its case.
He also has ordered that the jury will remain anonymous, being addressed by numbers only - a move some say is justified by the zealots the Davidian cause has drawn.
They include survivalists, white supremacists and gun enthusiasts who see the raid as an unjustified attack on people in their home and church.
The trial is expected to attract such interest that the U.S. Marshals Service has taken security precautions likely to cost more than $ 500,000.
Smith ordered the trial moved to San Antonio because of massive publicity in Waco, although observers say virtually any jury will have heard about the case. Last week, Smith ruled against a defense motion to bar the use of the word "cult" as prejudicial.
The judge has repeatedly ruled against defense lawyers' efforts to subpoena high-ranking officials including Attorney General Janet Reno.
The case began almost two years ago, when a United Parcel Service driver noticed a grenade hull - the casing, without its explosive interior - fall from a broken package for the Davidians. An investigation by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms resulted, followed by the raid.
Defendants could face life terms
All 11 defendants in the Waco cult trial face charges of conspiracy to murder federal officers, murder of federal officers and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime of violence.
The last four also face federal firearms violations. All could face a mandatory life sentence if convicted of the most severe charges:
Brad Eugene Branch, 34, Navy veteran and former San Antonio resident.
Kevin Whitecliff, 32, ex-Hawaii prison guard.
Clive Doyle, 52, Australian recruiter for Davidians.
Jaime Castillo, 25, of California, former Koresh band member.
