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- ST. LOUIS (Reuters)
- The special counsel investigating the 1993 siege of the Branch Davidian
compound near Waco, Texas, will stage a reenactment of the climactic day
when 75 cult members died from a fire and gunshots that lawyers for survivors
say were fired by FBI agents.
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- Special counsel John Danforth, Justice Department attorneys
and lawyers representing the Branch Davidians agreed in a meeting on Wednesday
at Danforth's St. Louis office to stage the reenactment next month, the
special counsel's spokesman said.
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- The test to be held as soon as March 18 at Fort Hood,
Texas, will include six people standing in as FBI agents shooting various
weapons while cameras aboard two aircraft record the scene, which will
include debris such as water drums glass and aluminum.
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- The reenactment will try to determine the source of mysterious
flashes seen on an infrared surveillance videotape taken on the last day
of the actual siege that lawyers representing families of the Davidians
said are muzzle flashes from the guns of FBI agents.
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- The FBI has maintained its agents did not fire their
weapons and that cult leader David Koresh and some of his followers died
by their own hands. The flashes could also be glitches on the tape.
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- Koresh and 74 followers died in the April 19 climax of
the 51-day siege that ended with modified tanks injecting tear gas into
the complex and a subsequent fire that consumed the building. Nine Davidians
survived and were charged and convicted of manslaughter and weapons violations.
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- The siege began with a Feb. 28 shootout when federal
agents tried to arrest Koresh at the complex on weapons violations, resulting
in the deaths of four agents and three Davidians.
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- The reenactment will be supervised by Vector Data Systems,
a British company approved by a federal judge overseeing a wrongful death
suit spawned by the siege, instead of being conducted privately by the
FBI in order to enhance the test's credibility, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
reported.
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- Michael Caddell, an attorney representing plaintiffs
in the suit, told the Post-Dispatch he expected the parties to learn more
about what happened from the reenactment, which he hoped would be opened
to the public and the news media.
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