Branch Davidian Trial: Jury to Recommend Verdict to Judge Soon
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: A verdict could come soon in a lawsuit over the government siege and raid on the Branch Davidians near Waco, Texas, in 1993. CNN national correspondent Tony Clark is covering that trial for us. Tony, good morning.</s>TONY CLARK, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn. This is a $675 million civil lawsuit being brought by survivors from Mt. Carmel and also relatives of those killed during the 1993 raid, standoff and siege, which left the compound in rubble. It burned to the ground. Over the past four weeks we've been hearing vastly different stories of what happened. Davidians have described the February 28 raid by agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Children have talked about hiding to prevent from being shot, while agents have said that they were outgunned and fighting for their lives. The standoff lasted 51 days and then it all came to a very fiery end, the Davidian compound going up in flames. The government saying that it was the Davidians that started that fire as part of a mass suicide. Davidians saying that it was not started by them, that it was in fact perhaps either accidentally started by the government or it was fueled by the government's actions. And the government's responsible for not having fire trucks there. The jury in this case will be given four questions to answer once they get the case: whether the ATF used excessive force during the initial raid; whether the FBI was negligent in handling the 51-day siege, especially the April 19 final day of that siege; whether the Davidians themselves were negligent in any way; and if so, what part of the negligence applies to the Davidians and what part to the FBI in this case? It is a five-member advisory jury. They will recommend a verdict to the judge. The judge's verdict is not expected to come until maybe sometime next month. Tony Clark, CNN, Waco, Texas.</s>KAGAN: Tony, thank you very much.