Delay in Davidian Case Fact-Finding Is Urged

WASHINGTON — The special counsel investigating the possibility of an official cover-up after the 1993 Branch Davidian siege has asked a Texas judge to delay lawyers’ fact-finding in the civil lawsuit filed against the government by Davidian survivors and relatives of the dead.

Former Sen. John C. Danforth asked a federal judge in Waco to issue an order delaying for 30 days any discovery and witness interviews by government and plaintiffs’ lawyers in the coming trial.

“It is my firm belief that our inquiry will benefit by interviewing witnesses prior to their preparation for testimony in a civil trial,” Danforth wrote Thursday to U.S. District Judge Walter Smith. “Because a civil trial inherently involves advocacy, testimony tends to be very well-rehearsed and coordinated with the testimony of other witnesses.”

Surviving Davidians and the relatives of the dead are challenging the government’s conclusion that the fire that swept through the Davidians’ compound on April 19, 1993, was set by cult members. Leader David Koresh and about 80 followers, including many children, died in the inferno, some from the fire, others from gunshot wounds.

Danforth is investigating whether the government covered up its use of potentially incendiary tear gas grenades that day and whether federal agents fired any shots in the final hours, among other issues.

Danforth, appointed last week by Atty. Gen. Janet Reno to head an independent investigation into the newly revived Davidian controversy, said he needs until mid-October to get his inquiry started.