Associates of former federal prosecutor Bill Johnston said Thursday they are relieved he was not sentenced to prison for withholding information in connection with the Branch Davidian siege near Waco.
Mr. Johnston, once hailed as a rising star of federal law enforcement, was sentenced by a St. Louis judge to two years' probation and community service.
Mr. Johnston "made a bad judgment of withholding a document over fear it would be stonewalled," Mr. Francis said. "He was in a political infight, thinking his agency was not doing right."
He admitted in July to withholding one page of pretrial notes about the government's use of pyrotechnic tear gas on April 19, 1993, the day the Branch Davidian compound burned down. Cult leader David Koresh and about 80 followers died.
Michael Caddell, lead attorney for Branch Davidians who unsuccessfully sued the government last year, said Mr. Johnston's reputation has been unfairly tainted.
"I'm still offended by the sentence," he said. "The one guy that seemed to be dealing with us on a straightforward, honest level was prosecuted because he was critical of the Justice Department."
Mr. Caddell said former Sen. John Danforth, who led the independent Waco review, should be held to the same level of scrutiny.
The FBI admitted last week that the simulation that concluded that government agents did not fire their guns during the Waco siege did not test the type of assault rifle the FBI had at the scene.
Mr. Danforth has said he did not know what weapons were tested and that his conclusions would not have changed.
'A bad choice'
Michael McNulty, who produced several documentaries about the government's role in Waco, said he also believes Mr. Johnston was unfairly targeted.
"It was payback by the federal family to Bill Johnston for being the whistleblower.
"Bill Johnston did something really stupid, but I don't think he did a criminal act," Mr. McNulty said. "He was reacting out of fear. For the first time, he was put in the defendant's seat, and he made a bad choice."
Early career start
Mr. Johnston, appointed a federal prosecutor in 1987 at age 28, is the son of career Dallas County prosecutor Wilson Johnston, who helped try Jack Ruby for shooting accused Kennedy assassin Lee Harvey Oswald. He hung around the courthouse as a boy, watching trials and getting an early start on the career he pursued upon graduating from Baylor Law School in 1982.
He became a McLennan County prosecutor in Waco and later worked as police adviser and in private practice. When a local branch of the San Antonio-based U.S. Attorney's Office opened in Waco, Mr. Johnston was tapped for the job.
In the best-known case of his career, he helped draft the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms search warrant that became the basis of the Feb. 28, 1993, Branch Davidian raid and ensuing 51-day siege.
Afterward, Mr. Johnston assisted in the 1994 criminal trial that resulted in manslaughter and weapons convictions of nine Branch Davidians.
It was uncertain Thursday whether Mr. Johnston would continue practicing law. After an attorney is convicted of an "intentional" crime, the Texas Bar Association generally initiates a disciplinary review, which can lead to license revocation