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04/20/93
Cultists' lawyers accuse FBI of precipitating violent ending
By Lee Hancock / The Dallas Morning News
WACO-The attorneys for cult leader David Koresh and one of his top lieutenants said they were "terribly saddened' by the violence at the compound Monday and blamed the FBI for provoking it.
"This ripping open the walls and injecting tear gas where there were a number of women and children was senseless and did not serve to bring about the peaceful resolution that everybody wanted,' said Houston lawyer Dick DeGuerin, who represented Mr. Koresh.
Mr. DeGuerin said that when he and fellow lawyer Jack B.
Zimmermann, who represented Koresh deputy Steve Schneider, talked with their clients last week, "We had an understanding that it was going to end peacefully and soon.'
Mr. Zimmermann said, "I think tonight's gonna be a night of sadness not only for the families of the people inside.
"The FBI agents who did go out on a limb for us are gonna have a tough time tonight, and (Attorney General) Janet Reno is gonna have a tough time tonight, because any way you cut it, there are 17 burned babies at her feet,' Mr. Zimmermann said. He was referring to the children who Mr. Koresh had said remained in the compound.
Ms. Reno defended the FBI's actions Monday and said that cultists started the fire.
Mr. DeGuerin said he saw nothing during the visits to the compound to suggest that Mr. Koresh might lead his followers in a mass suicide.
Mr. DeGuerin, hired by Mr. Koresh's mother, had said that the cult leader would surrender after writing an interpretation of the Bible.
FBI spokesmen had cast doubt on that prediction, noting that the attorneys erred when they previously said cultists would exit after Passover.
Both attorneys said the situation inside the compound shifted abruptly when armored engineering vehicles began ramming the buildings just after 6 a.m.
Mr. Zimmermann asked why authorities moved Monday, considering that Mr. Koresh was working on his view of the Book of Revelation's Seven Seals.
"It seemed to me there was a tank in their living room. That seems pretty aggressive to me,' Mr. Zimmermann said. "What was so important about today? They were working on the Seals.'
Mr. DeGuerin said he hopes to make public the cult members' accounts of the original raid by Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents, evidence he contends indicates that federal agents fired the first shots inside the compound and did so without provocation.
"I'm convinced from our discussions that the first shots were fired by the ATF agents unjustifiably,' he said. "I'm convinced that there were at least two people killed inside before any fire was returned. I'm convinced that helicopters also fired on the people inside the compound, and at least one person, perhaps two were killed by gunfire from the helicopters.'
That account contradicts the ATF's accounts and reports from news media witnesses that the cult fired first on the ATF agents.
Mr. DeGuerin also disputed the FBI's contention that Mr. Koresh deliberately misled his attorneys and authorities during the siege.
"That's not what I was told and that's not what I felt from my discussions with him,' he said. "However, the situation changed when the FBI went back and injected tear gas and started ripping apart the walls. I think that could only have been seen by those inside as the apocalypse coming upon them. I just don't see that the escalation today was justified.'
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