DALLAS - Evidence stored by the Texas Rangers may contradict the U.S. government's claim that no pyrotechnic devices were fired into the Branch Davidian compound the day it burned, The Dallas Morning News reported Wednesday.
Branch Davidian leader David Koresh and about 80 followers died in the 1993 inferno at the compound 10 miles east of Waco, Texas. Authorities have denied using any incendiary devices during the assault that ended when the compound was consumed by fire.
Investigators concluded that sect members set the fire.
A probe by the Texas Rangers became the backbone of a 1994 criminal trial in which eight Branch Davidians were convicted of charges ranging from manslaughter to weapons violations. More than 12 tons of evidence were gathered and much of it is stored in Waco.
A researcher for a 1997 documentary critical of the government's conduct was allowed access to the evidence last spring, the Morning News reported.
The researcher, Michael McNulty, who is preparing a new documentary on the standoff, said he found that at least six items listed in Texas Ranger inventories as silencers or suppressors were actually ''flash-bang'' devices, commonly used by law enforcement to stun suspects.
McNulty said the devices sometimes ignite fires in enclosed spaces because they emit a loud bang and flash driven by a small pyrotechnic charge.
Texas Rangers' evidence logs indicate the devices were found in areas of the Davidian compound in which the fires broke out, McNulty said.
''It's our belief that these pieces of ordnance could and probably did have an impact on the fire on April 19th,'' he told the Morning News.
Justice Department spokesman Myron Marlin called the conclusion ''nonsense.''
''We know of no evidence to support that any incendiary device was fired into the compound on April 19, 1993,'' Marlin said.
The Davidians and authorities became locked in a 51-day standoff after agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms were fired upon when they tried to arrest Koresh on Feb. 28, 1993.
The compound erupted in flames April 19 when federal agents punched through the walls and fired tear gas inside.
Congressional hearings have pointed to mistakes by the law enforcement officers, but none has been charged with a crime. A lawsuit filed by surviving Davidians and the relatives of the dead challenges the conclusion that the Davidians started the fire and also shot first during the raid.
DALLAS (Reuters) - A Texas state commissioner Wednesday said evidence held by Texas Rangers calls into question U.S. government denials that its agents set off a fatal fire that ended the 1993 siege of the Branch Davidian compound outside Waco.
Dallas businessman James Francis Jr, chairman of the three-member Public Safety Commission that oversees the state police, said he wanted wider public access to the evidence collected by Texas Rangers investigating the cause of the blaze.
``Some of the evidence appears to be problematic and at least raise legitimate questions'' about how the fire started, Francis told Reuters in an telephone interview, commenting on reports in Wednesday's Dallas Morning News.
Francis declined to say how the evidence might contradict the U.S. Justice Department's account that the fire was set by Branch Davidian members. The department has denied claims the flames were ignited by incendiary ammunition fired by federal agents.
The Justice Department dismissed Francis' allegations.
``It's nonsense. We know of no evidence to support an allegation that any incendiary device was fired into the compound on April 19 (1993),'' department spokesman Myron Marlin told Reuters.
About 80 people inside the Branch Davidian compound died in the flames and the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) came under heavy criticism for how they handled the siege, which started with a shoot-out between ATF agents and Branch Davidians that killed four agents and six members of the sect.
Francis said there were three kinds of evidence among the more than 24,000 pounds of materials gathered by the Texas Rangers that raised questions in his mind.
``One is shells, shell casings, physical things. The second type of evidence is video and still photographs. The third type are interviews done there on the spot at the time,'' Francis said.
Francis said it was time for public access to the evidence, which he said has been shut off behind a confusion of federal and state jurisdictions.
Texas Rangers were deputized as U.S. marshals to investigate the cause of the siege.
As a result, all the evidence collected is held by the Department of Public Safety, the Texas state police agency that includes the Rangers, but belongs to the Department of Justice.
Francis said the DPS sends public requests for access to the evidence to the Department of Justice. But the Justice Department sends the requests back, arguing that the Texas agency has physical possession.
"Everybody is in a Catch-22, nobody has access to the evidence,'' he said. "There is some evidence there that needs to be seen.''
The DPS has recently asked a federal judge in Waco to decide who should have custody of the mountains of material and who should be allowed to see it.
U.S. District Judge Walter Smith has given the federal government until early August to file their arguments in the question and will therefore not rule until after that, Francis said.
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