From: [m--u--e] at [well.sf.ca.us] (Michael M. Mashburn)
Newsgroups: talk.politics.guns
Subject: Waco Jury Foreman at B.D. Memorial Service
Date: 23 Apr 1995 18:00:14 GMT


Remarks of Sarah Bain at the Mount Carmel memorial service for the
Branch Davidians on April 19, 1995, the Second Anniversary of the
final assault.  Ms. Bain served as the Jury Foreman at the trial of
the Branch Davidian survivors in Federal District Court in 
San Antonio, Texas.

All transcription errors, typos, etc. are mine.

Ms. Bain:

Ladies and Gentlemen I am among one of the most frustrated
individuals that probably is walking these grounds today. 
Frustrated, first of all because we are even here.  Why did all 
of this have to happen, and we even have to be here ?

In my opinion there ought to be 120 or 150 Branch Davidians
carrying on their daily routines, worshipping, whatever their life
entailed still ought to be happening out here.

From the jury standpoint I have found out so much information that
we were not presented with during trial.  That makes me not pleased
with what has happened to me personally.  The sign over here is one
of the very things I think must be answered for.  [Pointing to a
large sign near the podium reading, "The Black Booted, Black
Suited, Black Helmeted, Machine Gun Totin' ATF Gestapo Are Guilty
Of Killing Women, Children, and American Citizens.]

When we finally were in our deliberation stages several of us were
voicing frustration over the very fact that there were eleven
defendants on trial.  One of the things that we found some peace,
though it now seems to be a false peace, was in saying,
"This was just the first step, there will be more to come, the ATF
hierarchy surely will be called to answer for what actually took
place."

If it had not been for those in control who ordered the raid we
wouldn't be here today, there would be no reason to be here, it
would be status quo.  There were so many things that should never
have happened.  I've been...  If we sat for seven weeks seeing,
hearing wittinesses, seeing evidence, having things... we were
bombarded with information, and during that time we would look out
across the courtroom and saw the people, supposedly these were the
Branch Davidians who had committed these heinous crimes.  And yet
at the same time we didn't know these people.  We saw one woman,
ten men and that's exactly, really, what they were to us, they were
not individuals.  It was not until I had the unfortunate
opportunity of going back to the courthouse in June for the
sentencing phase, that I finally had an opportunity to meet some of
the attorneys, some of the survivors, some of the still existing
Branch Davidians, that I came to realize more about who the Branch
Davidians are, what they represent.  And there is nothing,
absolutely nothing, I have learned about the Branch Davidians that
could ever lead me to believe that they were involved in any kind
of conspiracy against our government.  Which makes me even more
pleased that we came out with a verdict that said they were not
guilty of a conspiracy to murder anyone.

(...)

All I can see are loving, caring, religious folks who asked for
nothing more than to be allowed to carry on with their lives.

When all of this first hit the news media, you're probably very
much in remembrance of the fact that some of the things that were
being said were that, "Gee, it's a good thing that we stopped this
now, because when we got in there we found these plans that they
had, plans of buildings in Waco, and surely they had plans to bomb
buildings, or set them on fire, or do horrible things.

Impossible to believe !  When I was going to school over these
hills, Baylor University, I had no idea that there was even a group
that was called the Branch Davidians.  How such a group could have
lived in Waco, and in this area for 35 years, peacefully, and then
suddenly turned into a renegade group makes no sense.  Anyone with
any logic could say that they had no reason to have this thrust
upon them.

I am here hoping that, even though I wish we didn't have to be
here, something must be done to keep this before the American
public, to see that it doesn't happen again, to see that no more
children die, and that no more crepe-myrtles have to be planted row
on row.  Thank you.