http://wire.ap.org/?PACKAGEID=FEAwaco
SEPTEMBER 01, 01:00 EDT
Whistleblower Waco Lawyer Targeted
By C. BRYSON HULL
Associated Press Writer
HOUSTON (AP) — The former prosecutor who warned Attorney General
Janet Reno of a possible cover-up within her own department has been told
he is being targeted for prosecution by Waco Special Counsel John C.
Danforth.
Former assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Johnston's attorney, Michael Kennedy,
said his client has been threatened with indictments on charges including
obstruction of justice and perjury.
``This law office and Mr. Johnston believe that he was unfairly targeted for
his frequent criticism of the U.S. government and for blowing the whistle on
the government's efforts to mislead the public about the government's use
of pyrotechnic devices against the Branch Davidians,'' Kennedy said in a
statement Thursday.
The investigation of Johnston reportedly stems from pretrial notes he made
in 1993 that show he may have been present at a meeting where ``military
rounds'' were discussed.
Johnston didn't pass the notes to Danforth's office because he was concerned they
would be misconstrued and used to falsely implicate him, two government sources
told The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity. Kennedy said Johnston
wasn't at the meeting.
Jan Diltz, a spokeswoman for Danforth's office in St. Louis, declined to comment on
the reports Thursday.
Johnston, who resigned from the U.S. Attorney's office in Waco in January, was
involved in the Branch Davidian case from the beginning.
In 1993, he helped draft the search warrant that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
attempted to execute on Feb. 28 of that year in a botched raid that turned into a gunbattle. Four
federal agents and six Davidians were killed. The following year, Johnston helped to convict nine
Davidians in the deaths of the agents.
Johnston has been at odds with Justice officials since he paved the way for filmmaker Michael
McNulty to review evidence sifted from the ruins of the burned Branch Davidian compound. The
compound caught fire during a siege April 19, 1993, that ended a 51-day standoff between the sect
and federal agents. Sect leader David Koresh and some 80 followers died inside.
McNulty's discovery of a spent pyrotechnic tear gas canister forced the FBI last year to recant its
long-standing denials that potentially incendiary devices had been fired at the compound.
The about-face triggered investigations by Congress and the special counsel appointment by Reno.
Danforth was asked to review government actions in the standoff and to determine if there was a
government cover-up.
Johnston wrote Reno a letter on Aug. 30, 1999, stating that government lawyers had known about
the potentially incendiary devices for years. Ten days later, he was pulled from the case. In 1993,
Johnston also bypassed his supervisor and wrote to Reno about the FBI's handling of the crime
scene at the burned compound.
Johnston said in a written statement that Danforth's prosecutors have tried to ``coerce'' him into
pleading guilty over the past year, The Washington Post reported in Friday editions.
``Mr. Danforth's prosecutors and investigators have lied to me, made me false promises, cursed me
with profanity and threatened to throw me in jail,'' Johnston said in the statement. He said one
prosecutor told his law partner his life was over. ``Not my career, mind you; my life.''
Danforth has twice brought Johnston before a federal grand jury for questioning since his resignation
in January.
Last month, Danforth absolved the government of all blame in the blaze. A week before, an advisory
jury hearing a $675 million wrongful-death suit brought by surviving cult members and the victims'
families came to the same conclusion.
In another matter, U.S. District Judge Walter S. Smith on Tuesday canceled a Sept. 18 hearing on
whether federal agents shot at Branch Davidians on the final day of the standoff.
The hearing was canceled because plaintiffs would not pay travel costs for David Oxlee, an expert
from England. Oxlee worked with British firm Vector Data Systems Ltd., which examined infrared
images taken by an aerial FBI surveillance camera on the final day of a 51-day standoff between
federal agents and the Davidians.
Smith is expected to issue a final ruling on the issues presented to the jury as well as the gunfire
issue.
———
On the Net:
Danforth's report: http://www.osc-waco.org
SEPTEMBER 01, 01:00 EDT
Whistleblower Waco Lawyer Targeted
By C. BRYSON HULL
Associated Press Writer
HOUSTON (AP) — The former prosecutor who warned Attorney General
Janet Reno of a possible cover-up within her own department has been told
he is being targeted for prosecution by Waco Special Counsel John C.
Danforth.
Former assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Johnston's attorney, Michael Kennedy,
said his client has been threatened with indictments on charges including
obstruction of justice and perjury.
``This law office and Mr. Johnston believe that he was unfairly targeted for
his frequent criticism of the U.S. government and for blowing the whistle on
the government's efforts to mislead the public about the government's use
of pyrotechnic devices against the Branch Davidians,'' Kennedy said in a
statement Thursday.
The investigation of Johnston reportedly stems from pretrial notes he made
in 1993 that show he may have been present at a meeting where ``military
rounds'' were discussed.
Johnston didn't pass the notes to Danforth's office because he was concerned they
would be misconstrued and used to falsely implicate him, two government sources
told The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity. Kennedy said Johnston
wasn't at the meeting.
Jan Diltz, a spokeswoman for Danforth's office in St. Louis, declined to comment on
the reports Thursday.
Johnston, who resigned from the U.S. Attorney's office in Waco in January, was
involved in the Branch Davidian case from the beginning.
In 1993, he helped draft the search warrant that the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms
attempted to execute on Feb. 28 of that year in a botched raid that turned into a gunbattle. Four
federal agents and six Davidians were killed. The following year, Johnston helped to convict nine
Davidians in the deaths of the agents.
Johnston has been at odds with Justice officials since he paved the way for filmmaker Michael
McNulty to review evidence sifted from the ruins of the burned Branch Davidian compound. The
compound caught fire during a siege April 19, 1993, that ended a 51-day standoff between the sect
and federal agents. Sect leader David Koresh and some 80 followers died inside.
McNulty's discovery of a spent pyrotechnic tear gas canister forced the FBI last year to recant its
long-standing denials that potentially incendiary devices had been fired at the compound.
The about-face triggered investigations by Congress and the special counsel appointment by Reno.
Danforth was asked to review government actions in the standoff and to determine if there was a
government cover-up.
Johnston wrote Reno a letter on Aug. 30, 1999, stating that government lawyers had known about
the potentially incendiary devices for years. Ten days later, he was pulled from the case. In 1993,
Johnston also bypassed his supervisor and wrote to Reno about the FBI's handling of the crime
scene at the burned compound.
Johnston said in a written statement that Danforth's prosecutors have tried to ``coerce'' him into
pleading guilty over the past year, The Washington Post reported in Friday editions.
``Mr. Danforth's prosecutors and investigators have lied to me, made me false promises, cursed me
with profanity and threatened to throw me in jail,'' Johnston said in the statement. He said one
prosecutor told his law partner his life was over. ``Not my career, mind you; my life.''
Danforth has twice brought Johnston before a federal grand jury for questioning since his resignation
in January.
Last month, Danforth absolved the government of all blame in the blaze. A week before, an advisory
jury hearing a $675 million wrongful-death suit brought by surviving cult members and the victims'
families came to the same conclusion.
In another matter, U.S. District Judge Walter S. Smith on Tuesday canceled a Sept. 18 hearing on
whether federal agents shot at Branch Davidians on the final day of the standoff.
The hearing was canceled because plaintiffs would not pay travel costs for David Oxlee, an expert
from England. Oxlee worked with British firm Vector Data Systems Ltd., which examined infrared
images taken by an aerial FBI surveillance camera on the final day of a 51-day standoff between
federal agents and the Davidians.
Smith is expected to issue a final ruling on the issues presented to the jury as well as the gunfire
issue.
———
On the Net:
Danforth's report: http://www.osc-waco.org