A marriage made in hell - Branch Davidian trial

National Review, April 4, 1994 by Mary G. Gotschall

Indulgent to the government, the judge has been unrelenting toward the defendants, giving them the stiffest possible sentence under federal guidelines. Although they were cleared of the conspiracy charges, he may hit seven of them with long prison terms for possession of weapons. Defendant Graeme Craddock could, for example, get thirty years for being handed a grenade by Koresh at one point during the standoff--a grenade Craddock, terrified, put down as soon as he could and never used against anyone.

Forced to Take Notice

AND THAT is where the U.S. Government would like to leave the Waco affair. It is unlikely to be allowed to do so. Lawsuits continue to fly. The Davidians and their families are suing the government for a whopping $1.4 billion in damages.

Congress too may be forced to take an interest. Houston lawyer Jack Zimmerman and his partner Jim Lavine are going to press for congressional hearings; they were dissatisfied with those conducted last year by the House Judiciary Committee. These hearings will be hard to avoid, given the acquittals in the San Antonio trial.

Finally, the press may be waking up. Throughout, the press has tended to miss the essence of the story because it willingly accepted the government's version of events. "The problem with the media was that we didn't raise enough hell," observed Phil Record, ombudsman for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. "The media rolled over in their pursuit of information and were not aggressive enough." As the evidence of rash action, ruthless coverup, and slanted trial becomes ever more difficult to ignore, the press may finally be prepared to do Its job, even at the cost of giving aid and comfort to a religious cult.

Miss Gotschall is a Washington-based journalist currently writing a book about the Waco affair with John McLermore, a Waco television reporter who was present at the February 1993 raid.