Waco Prosecutor Gets Probation
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Friday, June 8, 2001
ST. LOUIS (UPI) - A former federal prosecutor was placed on two years' probation Thursday for withholding information from investigators about the use of pyrotechnic tear gas at the end of the 1993 Branch Davidian siege near Waco, Texas.
Bill Johnston, who was a U.S. attorney at Waco, was placed on probation and ordered to serve 200 hours of community service by U.S. District Judge Charles Shaw. He had pleaded guilty earlier to withholding the information in a plea bargain that dropped five other charges.
Johnston was the only government official indicted after special prosecutor John Danforth investigated the government's role in the bloody standoff. In that report, Danforth concluded that the pyrotechnic rounds fired on the final day of the standoff had not started the deadly fire.
Davidian leader David Koresh and more than 80 of his followers died during the blaze on April 19, 1993 as FBI agents fired tear gas into their compound, attempting to force their surrender. The Danforth report claimed that Koresh and his aides were responsible for the fire.
Johnston drew national attention in 1999 when he wrote then-Attorney General Janet Reno, warning her that she and the public were being misled about the FBI's handling of the siege. His charges led to Reno reopening the inquiry and appointing Danforth.
Johnston said he later found 1993 notes he had taken during the federal prosecution of the surviving Davidians in which he referred to the pyrotechnic tear gas. He admitted withholding the notes from Danforth's investigators because he feared they would discredit him.
Copyright 2001 by United Press International.
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