St Louis Post-Dispatch - Branch Davidians drop Horiuchi claim

STORY

Branch Davidians lawyer drops claim that FBI sniper fired at groups compound

By Terry Ganey
Of the Post-Dispatch

The Branch Davidians' main lawyer is dropping the claim that FBI sniper Lon Horiuchi fired at the Branch Davidians during the 1993 Waco siege.

Forensic experts concluded that 35 shell casings found at Horiuchi's sniper post did not come from his rifle. Instead, the casings came from weapons used by agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) during the initial gunfight with the Branch Davidians on Feb. 28, 1993 — 51 days before Horiuchi was alleged to have fired.

Mike Caddell, lawyer for the Branch Davidians, asked the federal court on Monday to dismiss Horiuchi from the wrongful death suit that accuses the government of wrongdoing in the death of approximately 80 Branch Davidians. Caddell said that there was "no credible evidence" against Horiuchi, who was the lone government official named as a defendant in the case.

Mike Bradford, the U.S. Attorney in Beaumont, Texas, said that development "helps to verify our overall contention that the FBI did not shoot at the compound and it is consistent with our position that there were no shots fired at the compound on April 19."

Caddell disagreed. He said the action "in no way undermines or alters our strong belief that government agents...directed gunfire at the back of Mt. Carmel.

A court-ordered simulation of the conditions of the Waco siege is scheduled for Sunday to determine whether flashes on an infrared surveillance tape of the 1993 Waco siege are from government gunfire or the glint of the sun.

Horiuchi's role at Waco was scrutinized because he had fired the shot that killed the wife of Randy Weaver during the Ruby Ridge, Idaho standoff in 1992. That scrutiny intensified with the discovery of an after-action report by FBI agent Charles Riley, who was quoted as saying he heard gunshots from Horiuchi's Sierra One sniper position at Waco.

Riley later explained that the report had been wrong — that he had heard Horiuchi say the Branch Davidians were firing. Seven other FBI agents swore Horiuchi had not fired.

Texas Rangers found 35 shell casings at the sniper post — 11 spent .308-caliber cartridges and 24 casings of .223 caliber. Gaylan Warren, an expert for the Branch Davidians, compared those casings with images from test firings of the ATF weapons made by the FBI crime lab in 1993. He also compared them with recent test firings of rifles used by Horiuchi and the FBI. The casings matched the ATF rifles, not Horiuchi's. Special Counsel John C. Danforth is conducting the same comparison, but his findings remain secret.

In other Waco news, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, New York Times, Dallas Morning News and Associated Press said they would not appeal last week's federal court order closing the simulation to the press and public.

The Sunday test may have to be postponed because the weather forecast calls for cloudy, rainy weather. The test plan requires warm, sunny conditions to test whether the flashes on the infrared tape are from guns or glint.



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Slowpoke Rodrigo...he pack a gon...

Vote for the Neal Knox 13
 
I may be mistaken, but is it not so that trained snipers police (collect) their spent brass (reflections off shiny cases will give away their position)? I have read of the reloading method used with bolt action sniper rifles, and it is very quiet, apart from replacing the new cartridge in your hand with the spent case, to be tucked away somewhere unseen and noiseless.
 
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