Brad Branch

Last updated

Brad Eugene Branch (born c. 1960 [1] ) is an American former Branch Davidian who was charged and convicted of aiding and abetting voluntary manslaughter of federal agents during the 1993 Waco siege and weapons charges. [1] [2] [3] He was sentenced to ten years in prison for the voluntary manslaughter charge and thirty years for the weapons charges. [4] [5] Originally, the charge of carrying a firearm during a violent crime was based on a conspiracy to murder charge on which Branch and other Davidians were acquitted, [6] but federal prosecutors asked U.S. District Judge Walter Smith to reinstate the weapons charges, which he did. [7] The Branch Davidians, including Brad Branch, attempted to appeal the charges, but the appeals were turned down in 1997. [8] [9] The United States Supreme Court agreed to hear appellate arguments from the Branch Davidians including Branch in 2000. [10] In response to the Supreme Court's ruling that Smith overstepped his power in his sentencing, he reduced his and other Davidians' sentences to five years for the weapons charges. [11] [12] [13]

During the February 28, 1993, shootout that began the siege, Branch reportedly shot and killed a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms agent, shouting that he "got one!" [14] Branch Davidian Marjorie Thomas testified that she heard Branch and Kevin Whitecliff, another Branch Davidian, admitting they shot at agents during the shootout. [15] [16] Another Davidian, Victorine Hollingsworth, testified she also heard Branch and Livingstone Fagan discuss firing on agents on February 28, 1993. [17] After the shootout, he, Whitecliff, and Oliver Gyarfas were sent out of the compound to dig a grave for Peter Gent, who died in the shootout. [18] Branch had indicated to federal authorities that he wished to exit Mount Carmel Center during the siege on March 11, 1993. [19] He left the compound with Whitecliff with permission from Branch Davidian leader David Koresh on March 19, 1993. [20] [21] [22] The only reason that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) received for why they left when they did was because before then "it wasn't time". [23] While jailed after leaving the compound, Branch told NBC that David Koresh sought to challenge other Christian leaders to see who can "reveal the book", meaning the Bible. [24] Also while in jail, Brad Branch told CNN that the April 19 fire that destroyed the Mount Carmel compound was a "systematic assassination by the FBI to eliminate all of the crime scene". [25] Branch soon after the siege also believed that Koresh was not responsible for the fire. [26]

Branch was released from prison in 2006 and lived in the San Antonio area as of 2012. [27] Branch was an aircraft electrician from San Antonio, Texas, before becoming a Branch Davidian. [28]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Branch Davidians</span> Cult known for the Waco siege of 1993

The Branch Davidians are an apocalyptic cult founded in 1955 by Benjamin Roden. They regard themselves as a continuation of the General Association of Davidian Seventh-Day Adventists, established by Victor Houteff in 1935.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Waco siege</span> 1993 US law enforcement siege in Texas

The Waco siege, also known as the Waco massacre, was the siege by U.S. federal government and Texas state law enforcement officials of a compound belonging to the religious cult known as the Branch Davidians between February 28 and April 19, 1993. The Branch Davidians, led by David Koresh, were headquartered at Mount Carmel Center ranch in unincorporated McLennan County, Texas, 13 miles northeast of Waco. Suspecting the group of stockpiling illegal weapons, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) obtained a search warrant for the compound and arrest warrants for Koresh and several of the group's members.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mount Carmel Center</span> Former home used by the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas, USA

The Mount Carmel Center was a large group of buildings used by the Branch Davidian religious group located near Axtell, Texas, 20 miles (32 km) north-east of Waco. The Branch Davidians were established by Benjamin Roden in 1959 as a breakaway sect from Davidian Seventh-day Adventists, and was later led by David Koresh starting in the 1980s. Named after the Biblical mountain Mount Carmel in Israel, it was the site of the 51-day Waco siege. The siege began on February 28, 1993, when federal agents attempted to execute a warrant and arrest some Davidians living inside. A subsequent firefight left four Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) agents and six Davidians dead. At the end of the siege, on April 19, 1993, a fire started leaving 76 Davidians dead.

<i>Waco Tribune-Herald</i> Newspaper in Waco, Texas

The Waco Tribune-Herald is an American daily newspaper serving Waco, Texas, and vicinity.

Ronald G. Cole is a figure in the American militia movement in the United States. He was the founder and leader of the Colorado Light Infantry militia groups in 1993. Cole is the author of the book Sinister Twilight, in which he attempts to explain the Branch Davidian side of the standoff with federal authorities that took place in Waco, Texas in 1993. Cole became a national anti-government figure after the events of the Waco siege.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Roden</span> American leader of the Branch Davidians

George Buchanan Roden was an American leader of the Branch Davidian sect, a Seventh-day Adventist splinter group. In 1987, he was evicted from the Mount Carmel Center near Waco, Texas, by his rival David Koresh. He was later confined in a Texas mental hospital for a 1989 murder until his own death in 1998.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Koresh</span> American religious cult leader (1959–1993)

David Koresh was an American cult leader who played a central role in the Waco siege of 1993. As the head of the Branch Davidians, a religious sect and offshoot of the Seventh-day Adventists, Koresh claimed to be its final prophet. His apocalyptic Biblical teachings, including interpretations of the Book of Revelation and the Seven Seals, attracted various followers.

Steven Emil Schneider was an American Branch Davidian commonly called a "lieutenant" to David Koresh, the leader of the new religious movement. He was formally married to Judy Schneider, but in the community Koresh impregnated Judy and she bore a child with him. Steve Schneider was raised in a Seventh-day Adventist household in Wisconsin. Schneider studied at Newbold College in the United Kingdom, and eventually worked to receive a Ph.D. in comparative religion at the University of Hawaiʻi. In approximately 1986, Schneider encountered Marc Breault, an indigenous Hawaiian Branch Davidian, and converted to Branch Davidianism.

Douglas Wayne Martin, was an American Branch Davidian and Harvard-trained attorney who left the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He worked as an attorney in multiple fields, including contract, child custody, and real estate law, and provided the proceeds to the Branch Davidians. He was nominally married to Sheila Judith Martin, another Branch Davidian, but she was "carnally" married to David Koresh, the Branch Davidian leader. Wayne and Sheila had seven children, four of whom died in the 1993 fire: Wayne Joseph, 20; Anita, 18; Sheila Renee, 15; and Lisa Martin, 13. Sheila Martin, who left Mount Carmel Center on March 21 in the middle of the siege, eventually won custody over the three surviving children: James, Daniel, and Kimberly Martin. Wayne Martin was present at Mount Carmel Center when the February 28, 1993, raid occurred. He was the first person in the compound to call 9-1-1 to local authorities and asked to call off the raid for risk of harming women and children. He was considered the second- or third-in-command at Mt. Carmel, behind or equal to Steve Schneider. He died in the April 19, 1993, fire with three of his children. Wayne Martin was a character in the 2018 miniseries Waco, played by Demore Barnes.

David Thibodeau is an American Branch Davidian, a survivor of the Waco siege, and a musician. He was born in Bangor, Maine. In early adulthood, Thibodeau sought to become a musician in Los Angeles, California, where he converted to Branch Davidianism after meeting David Koresh in a Guitar Center in 1990. In the late 1980s, he attended the Musicians Institute of Technology. At the Mount Carmel Center near Waco, Texas, Thibodeau married Michele Jones upon Koresh's request. Thibodeau was present at the Mt. Carmel compound on February 28, 1993, when the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) conducted a botched raid. He stayed for the 51-day siege until escaping, with eight other survivors, the fire that consumed the compound. In 1999, he co-authored a memoir called A Place Called Waco: A Survivor's Story with Leon Whiteson, a Zimbabwe-born novelist, critic, and architect. Thibodeau runs a website called "Waco Survivors," in which he archives media related to the Waco siege. He (re-)married in 1997 and has at least one daughter. In 2018, the miniseries Waco aired featuring Rory Culkin playing David Thibodeau and Thibodeau himself in a cameo role as an unnamed character. Thibodeau is a drummer for the band The Blast Addicts, and he resided in Texas as of 2020. He played drums for other bands after the Waco siege as well, including Grooviest Maximus.

Clive Joseph Doyle was an Australian leader in the Branch Davidian movement after the Waco siege in 1993. He was a Branch Davidian and a Davidian Seventh-day Adventist before the Waco siege. Doyle was one of nine survivors of the 19 April 1993 fire that destroyed the Mount Carmel Center at the end of the siege. He along with other survivors built a new chapel on the site of the siege in 1999.

Sheila Judith Martin is an American Branch Davidian and a survivor of the Waco siege. She was the wife of Douglas Wayne Martin, a Harvard-educated lawyer, who died in the April 19, 1993, fire that destroyed Mount Carmel Center. Four out of her seven children died in the fire: Wayne Joseph, 20; Anita, 18; Sheila Renee, 15; and Lisa Martin, 13. In September 1993, she received custody of James Martin (1982–1998) who has cerebral palsy and is blind because of a meningitis infection at 4 months old. By 1994, she obtained custody in Texas state court of her two other children – Daniel and Kimberly.

Livingstone Fagan – sometimes misspelled as Livingston Fagan – is a British Branch Davidian who survived the Waco siege in 1993. He was born in Jamaica but moved to Nottingham in 1964 with his parents as part of the Windrush generation. He joined the Branch Davidians in 1989 while studying to join the Seventh-day Adventist ministry in the United Kingdom. He moved to Mount Carmel Center with his wife, Evette, and mother, Doris Adina, both of whom would die in the 19 April 1993 fire. He left the Mount Carmel Center before the 19 April fire. He was tried and convicted in the United States of voluntary manslaughter and using a firearm during a crime. He was given a 30-year prison sentence and spent about half of it in various holding facilities in the United States. He was released in July 2007 and deported to the United Kingdom where he currently lives.

<i>The Davidian Massacre: Disturbing Questions About Waco That Must Be Answered</i> Nonfiction book on Waco siege

The Davidian Massacre: Disturbing Questions About Waco That Must Be Answered is a 1995 non-fiction book about the Waco siege written by Carol Moore. It was co-published by the Gun Owners of America Foundation and Legacy Communications.

<i>The Ashes of Waco: An Investigation</i> Nonfiction book on the Waco siege

The Ashes of Waco: An Investigation is a 1995 non-fiction book by journalist Dick J. Reavis about the Waco siege. Reavis is a professor of English at North Carolina State University and former reporter for the San Antonio Light and San Antonio Express. The book was first published by Simon & Schuster in 1995, and it was later re-published by Syracuse University Press in 1998. According to Catherine Wessinger, Reavis argues that "the story of the Davidian tragedy was not reported fully, in part because the FBI controlled information, but also because reporters did not investigate". Reavis reportedly left his job from an "alternative" newspaper in Texas to research for the book.

<i>From the Ashes: Making Sense of Waco</i> Non-fiction anthology on the Waco siege

From the Ashes: Making Sense of Waco is a 1994 non-fiction anthology book edited by James R. Lewis about the Waco siege. It was published Rowman & Littlefield. The book contains 46 essays from people like Franklin Littell, Stuart A. Wright, David G. Bromley, Thomas Robbins, Dick Anthony, James A. Beckford, James T. Richardson, Dean M. Kelley, and Eldridge Cleaver. Some of the essays are scholarly articles, while others are opinion pieces. Other contents include press releases, personal correspondences, and a poem from a surviving Branch Davidian. Catherine Wessinger notes in her review of the book that it was a chance for new religious movement scholars to respond to the siege.

Why Waco? Cults and the Battle for Religious Freedom in America is a 1995 non-fiction book written by James D. Tabor and Eugene V. Gallagher on the Waco siege and the anti-cult movement in America. It was published by the University of California Press. The same press reprinted it in 1997 in paperback. The appendix of the book contains an unfinished manuscript written by David Koresh, the leader of the Branch Davidians, on the Seven seals in the Book of Revelation. The appendix has a preface written by Tabor and J. Phillip Arnold. The manuscript was obtained from a survivor of the fire, Ruth Riddle. The final pages of the book provide a list of Branch Davidians who died in the 28 February 1993 raid, the 19 April 1993 fire, and who survived.

Ruth Ottman Riddle is a Canadian Branch Davidian and survivor of the Waco siege. Riddle was raised in the Seventh-day Adventist Church. She was born as Ruth Ellen Ottman. Riddle was one of nine survivors of the 19 April 1993 fire that destroyed the Mount Carmel Center and most of its occupants. She carried with her after leaving the compound a copy of David Koresh's final incomplete manuscript which after creating he agreed to leave. It was reprinted in James D. Tabor and Eugene V. Gallagher's book Why Waco?: Cults and the Battle for Religious Freedom in America. She was married to another Branch Davidian, James Loyle Riddle, who died in the 19 April 1993 fire. Her niece, Misty Dawn Ferguson, survived the fire as well. She was formerly of Tweed, Ontario. However, other sources indicate she is from Oshawa, Ontario.

Dana Okimoto is an American former Branch Davidian. She moved to Waco, Texas, from Los Angeles, California, in approximately 1988 with Robyn Bunds, a former Branch Davidian turned critic. She is originally from Hawaii and is a registered psychiatric nurse at Kaneohe State Hospital, and remarried to Roy Kiyabu, a chef, as of 2003. She gave birth to Sky or Skye Borne Okimoto and Scooter Okimoto, who are both children of David Koresh, the leader of the Branch Davidians.

Charles J. Pace is the current leader of The Branch, The Lord Our Righteousness, the supposed successor group of the Branch Davidians after 1993. According to the Toronto Star, he is from Collingwood, Canada. He joined the Branch Davidians in the 1980s, but he left just before the Waco siege that destroyed the Mt. Carmel center. He claims to be the successor to David Koresh as the prophet of the Branch Davidians. He returned to Waco, Texas, in 1994 after having left the Mount Carmel Center in the mid-1980s in order to start his own religious movement. He is trained as a reflexologist, nutritionist and colon therapist, according to the Toronto Star. A tractor reportedly amputated his foot sometime before April 2013. National Public Radio and other news sources note that he is an herbalist and gardener. He is married to Alex Pace and has two children, Michael and Angela Pace.

References

  1. 1 2 Pressley, Sue Anne (February 27, 1994). "JURY ACQUITS CULT MEMBERS OF MURDER IN WACO SHOOTOUT". The Washington Post . ISSN   0190-8286 . Retrieved December 29, 2022.
  2. ↑ "Jailed Branch Davidians wait, hope as Waco probe reopened". CNN . September 17, 1999. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
  3. ↑ Newport, Kenneth G. C. (2006). The Branch Davidians of Waco: The History and Beliefs of An Apocalyptic Sect. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 249. ISBN   9780199245741.
  4. ↑ "5 Each Get 40 Years In Waco Case". The New York Times . June 18, 1994. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved December 29, 2022.
  5. ↑ Associated Press (June 5, 2000). "5 Davidians' Jail Terms Reduced". www.cbsnews.com. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
  6. ↑ Cardwell, Cary (February 26, 1994). "Branch Davidians acquitted of murder conspiracy charges". UPI. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
  7. ↑ "Judge Restores Weapons Convictions Against 7 Davidians". The Oklahoman . March 10, 1994. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
  8. ↑ "5 Branch Davidians' Sentences Are Upheld". The New York Times . September 5, 1997. pp. A32.
  9. ↑ "Hearing to reconsider sentencing of Koresh followers". Associated Press. September 4, 1997.
  10. ↑ England, Mark; Witherspoon, Tommy (January 14, 2000). "U.S. Supreme Court will hear appeal from Branch Davidians". Cox News Service .
  11. ↑ Bryce, Robert (September 22, 2000). "Naked City". The Austin Chronicle . Retrieved December 29, 2022.
  12. ↑ "JURIST CUTS DAVIDIAN SENTENCES". Chicago Tribune . September 19, 2000. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
  13. ↑ "Judge reduces Davidians' sentences for 1993 raid". Associated Press. September 19, 2000.
  14. ↑ "Former Federal Prosecutor Bill Johnson Discusses Branch Davidian Siege in Waco". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
  15. ↑ "Cult 'spread fuel hours before fire'". Evening Standard . February 15, 1994.
  16. ↑ Associated Press (February 15, 1994). "Koresh Tapes Contain Discussion of Fuel, Fire". Dayton Daily News .
  17. ↑ Shannon, Kelley (February 2, 1994). "Branch Davidian Says Koresh Planned ATF Ambush, Mass Suicide". Associated Press.
  18. ↑ Doyle, Clive; Wessinger, Catherine; Wittmer, Matthew D. (2012). A Journey to Waco: Autobiography of a Branch Davidian. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 142. ISBN   9786613860538.
  19. ↑ Kennedy, J. Michael (March 13, 1993). "2 Allowed to Leave Texas Cult Compound : Standoff: Australian man and a mother of 4 come out. Woman's children were released earlier, husband was killed in Feb. 28 shootout". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved December 29, 2022.
  20. ↑ "Waco: The Inside Story: Chronology of the Siege". PBS. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
  21. ↑ Newport, Kenneth G. C. (2006). The Branch Davidians of Waco: The History and Beliefs of An Apocalyptic Sect. Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 269. ISBN   9780199245741.
  22. ↑ Verhovek, Sam Howe (March 21, 1993). "Leader of Cult Talks of Details Of a Surrender". The New York Times . p. 20.
  23. ↑ MacIntyre, Ben (March 13, 1993). "Mother surrenders to Waco besiegers". The Times .
  24. ↑ Verhovek, Sam Howe (March 25, 1993). "Decibels, Not Bullets, Bombard Texas Sect". The New York Times . pp. A16.
  25. ↑ Kerstetter, Todd (2004). ""That's Just the American Way": The Branch Davidian Tragedy and Western Religious History". Western Historical Quarterly. 35 (4): 453–471. doi:10.2307/25443054. ISSN   0043-3810. JSTOR   25443054.
  26. ↑ Aron, Jaime (April 20, 1993). "Cult Followers Still Believers". AP NEWS. Retrieved December 29, 2022.
  27. ↑ Doyle, Clive; Wessinger, Catherine; Wittmer, Matthew D. (2012). A Journey to Waco: Autobiography of a Branch Davidian. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield. p. 180. ISBN   9786613860538.
  28. ↑ Reinhold, Robert (March 14, 1993). "Sect Members Are Hurting but the Siege Goes On". The New York Times . p. 24.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.