A survivor of the final day of the government's siege on the Branch Davidian compound today recalled her hands being on fire as she leaped from the second floor of the complex that was engulfed in smoke and flames. The only thing I knew that was burned was my hands. She was one of nine people who escaped the building. I tried to go down the hallway but couldn't go that way. Government agents say Koresh and his followers are responsible for their own demise.
Plaintiffs say the government shares some of the responsibility.
Koresh Defended Earlier today, a former Branch Davidian whose pregnant daughter also died on the final day of the standoff from a gunshot wound testified that Koresh never labeled the agents as enemies. In a deposition read to jurors, Oliver Gyarfas said his daughter, Aisha, who was 17 when she died, was one of several females living at the compound who was married to Koresh. Gyarfas recalled Koresh's Bible studies, saying he taught that there would be an apocalyptic end of the world but never said tanks, gunfire or fire would play a role. A Texas Ranger also testified through deposition that federal investigators mislabeled evidence. Joey Gordon's review was part of the Rangers' report on efforts to identify questioned evidence.