DALLAS (AP) -- A former federal prosecutor who pleaded guilty to withholding information about the Branch Davidian siege could face jail time, despite the government's earlier pledge to recommend probation.
The government withdrew the pledge, saying Bill Johnston violated his plea agreement by making statements to a legal journal after his February guilty plea.
Sentencing is set for Thursday in St. Louis.
In the Feb. 19 issue of Texas Lawyer, Johnston was quoted as saying, "They charged me with obstruction of justice and five counts of false statements. I did not plead guilty to that and was not guilty of that."
Legal experts said that without the probation recommendation and prosecutors' assurance that he accepted responsibility for wrongdoing, a federal judge could sentence Johnston to six months in federal prison.
The 1993 siege ended with burning of the compound near Waco and the deaths of leader David Koresh and some 80 followers.
Johnston set in motion renewed scrutiny of government missteps in 1999, warning then-attorney general Janet Reno that she and the public were being misled about the FBI's handling of the tragedy. Johnston himself admitted withholding information about the use of pyrotechnic tear gas.
After his indictment, Johnston said he withheld the notes out of fear hostile colleagues might try to use them to discredit him and because Waco special prosecutor John Danforth's investigators "treated me with the same loathing and hostility that I had encountered from the Justice Department."
Investigators eventually concluded the gas did not cause the fire, and Danforth's report absolved the government of wrongdoing.
But just Thursday, Danforth told The Washington Post that the FBI was so uncooperative that he threatened Director Louis Freeh with a search warrant to gain access to relevant documents.