By Michelle Mittelstadt
Associated Press Writer
Thursday, Feb. 17, 2000; 8:43 p.m. EST
WASHINGTON The government's acknowledgment that a type of infrared camera the FBI used during the 1993 Waco siege can detect gunfire is a "stunning reversal" from its long-held position, Branch Davidian lawyers contended Thursday.
One of the government's lead lawyers in the wrongful death case said Wednesday that the camera is capable of detecting gunfire "in some circumstances." But Michael Bradford, a U.S. attorney in Texas, continued to assert that federal agents did not fire any shots on April 19, 1993. A demonstration planned for next month in Texas will test the Branch Davidians' claim that federal agents fired their weapons. Both sides hope the test will determine what caused more than 100 flashes to show up on the infrared tape the FBI shot of the siege. They plan to compare the FBI tape and aerial surveillance footage made at the re-creation. Branch Davidian lawyers contend Bradford's comment about the Forward Looking Infrared camera is a tacit admission that the test will detect gunfire.
"What we're seeing is the government can read the handwriting on the wall, so to speak, and their experts have told them, 'Expect to see gunfire flashes on the (infrared) demonstration tapes that are going to look just like the flashes on the April 1993 tape,'" said Michael Caddell, the lead counsel for Davidians suing the government.
Three months ago, the government appeared skeptical about the camera's ability to detect gunfire. In a filing in federal court in Waco, Texas, the Justice Department proposed to test the plaintiffs' "hypothesis" that gunfire can be captured on camera. The FBI's own camera operators, in more recent depositions, denied the camera could detect muzzle blasts, Caddell and co-counsel Jim Brannon said.
"Now they see they are going to lose the test, they are shifting gears," Brannon said. "To diminish the test before you ever run it, that's the best strategy you could ever follow, isn't it?" The court-ordered field test is expected to play a key role at the trial, which is set to begin in mid-May. Some 80 Davidians died during the siege, some from the fire, others from gunshot wounds. In their lawsuit, the survivors and relatives of the dead allege that government negligence and excessive force contributed to the tragedy. The government has denied wrongdoing, saying the Davidians set the stage for their own deaths.
The government has long insisted that no shots were directed at the Davidians during the culmination of the 51-day siege, which ended when the compound was consumed by flames several hours into an FBI tear-gassing operation designed to flush them out. In an interview Thursday, Bradford denied any shift in the government's stance. As for statements made during the depositions, he said the plaintiffs' lawyers interviewed "individual FBI agents that we did not offer as experts."
The field test, scheduled for an Army outpost in central Texas in mid-March, is about more than whether FLIR can capture gunfire, Bradford said. Also central to resolving the controversy is whether the cameras used during the field test will detect people on the ground, he said, noting the 1993 FLIR did not capture any agents stationed outside the compound when the bursts of light appear. People, like bullets, give off heat, so both should appear, the government contends.
"In our opinion, what will show up on that tape will be so starkly different from what is on the April 19th tape that it will be evident that (what occurred) April 19th is not gunfire," Bradford said. The plaintiffs contend the 1993 FLIR didn't record the agents because the temperature of their clothing, as they lay prone, was similar to the ground temperature.
Copyright 2000 The Associated Press