The whistle-blower who triggered the probe into the fiery 1993 deaths of 74 Branch Davidians near Waco, Tex., pleaded guilty to a single felony charge yesterday in an agreement with prosecutors that provided a strange end to the $17 million investigation of the tragedy.
Former assistant U.S. attorney William W. Johnston, whose 1999 letter to then-Attorney General Janet Reno renewed the controversy over the FBI's handling of the assault on the Branch Davidian compound, became the only federal official involved in the matter to admit to a crime.
Johnston pleaded guilty in federal court in St. Louis to misprision of a felony -- failure to reveal knowledge of a felony. In return, special counsel John C. Danforth agreed to drop charges of obstructing justice and lying to investigators, and recommend probation instead of prison for Johnston.
Johnston helped prompt the Waco probe by alleging in a 1999 letter to Reno that the FBI had used pyrotechnic devices in the raid on the Branch Davidian compound, which went up in flames during an FBI raid in April 1993. Until then, Reno and FBI officials had insisted that nothing flammable was fired.
Danforth, who was appointed to investigate the allegations, concluded that the incendiary devices were used hours before the fire and did not play a role in setting the compound ablaze. A jury in a civil lawsuit filed by families of the dead also found in favor of the FBI.
Johnston admitted withholding notes from prosecutors and a grand jury indicating he had been told about the use of pyrotechnics six years before he notified Reno. Johnston said he didn't realize the importance of the information at the time and accused prosecutors of targeting him because he had embarrassed the Justice Department.
But Danforth, a former U.S. senator from Missouri, said yesterday that Johnston's guilty plea "vindicates the rule of law."
"The temptation of government employees to conceal mistakes is understandable," Danforth said. "It is easy to feel under siege, to feel it is better to lie than to face public exposure. But anything less than complete candor cannot be the response of those who represent the United States government."
The Waco standoff began in February 1993 when members of the Branch Davidian religious sect shot and killed four agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Fifty-one days later, after a siege of the compound, an FBI raid ended with a fire that left sect leader David Koresh and 73 followers dead.
As a federal prosecutor, Johnston successfully prosecuted surviving members of the sect in connection with the ATF slayings.
In his plea agreement, Johnston acknowledged withholding notes indicating that the use of incendiary devices was discussed at a 1993 meeting he attended. "Johnston removed this page of notes from the notepad prior to turning the material over for delivery to Congress and the court," according to a news release from Danforth's office.
Johnston has said previously that he feared the notes would be used to smear him in the highly politicized Waco case. His attorney, Michael Kennedy of New York, has said Danforth prosecutors were trying "to destroy the messenger."
Johnston and Kennedy could not be reached for comment after the court hearing in St. Louis yesterday. Johnston's friends and supporters have asked President Bush to pardon him.
Danforth said yesterday that Johnston's plea completes his investigation, and that the special counsel's office in St. Louis will be closed.