Lawyers for Cult Predict Passover Exodus : Standoff: After talks with leaders, the attorneys say they expect a call ending the stalemate after the holiday feast. Another man leaves compound.

The lawyers for two cult leaders entered the Branch Davidian compound Sunday morning and left it with a prediction that the drawn-out siege would end sometime after the feast of Passover.

“I’m expecting that phone call when they celebrate Passover,” said Houston lawyer Dick DeGuerin, who is representing cult leader David Koresh.

But like almost everything in this case, nothing is simple. The traditional celebration of Passover is to begin this evening. But Jack Zimmermann, the lawyer for cult lieutenant Steve Schneider, said that the Branch Davidians have a “different emphasis” on the holy day in their faith. And federal officials who have been questioning cult members said the celebration could range from a few days to more than a week.

After the meeting, a man identified as Jesse Amen left the compound, the first person to do so in nearly two weeks. He was taken to the McLennan County Jail, a spokesman for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms said.

DeGuerin told reporters late Sunday afternoon that he and Zimmermann went to the compound to clear up some questions about religious interpretation. And what was supposed to take only a couple of hours dragged on for more than seven. In the end, DeGuerin said he was going home but would not rule out another session with Koresh if the need arose.

Previously, the lawyers had said that they did not plan to re-enter the compound unless it was to lead their clients out.

DeGuerin also said he remains convinced that the siege, which began on Feb. 28, could be ended peacefully. During a raid on the compound by the ATF, four agents were killed and 16 more were wounded.

Zimmermann said that he believes that the cult members want to come out.

“I really thought they were going to come out,” Zimmermann said after a round of talks Friday. “They (Koresh and Schneider) had both said that it was in their best interest to come out.”

But then he reported that Koresh said they would exit according to their own timetable. That kind of statement had an old ring to it. Federal negotiators have thought repeatedly that they were on the verge of a breakthrough, only to have Koresh throw in some new wrinkle that stymied the process.

FBI spokesman Bob Ricks said many cult members--both in Waco and other parts of the world--have told federal agents that Koresh has said this will be the last Passover they celebrate together.

But Ricks said he could not glean from that whether it means the siege of the compound will end peacefully or in a firefight.

Ricks stressed that the cultists regard Good Friday and Easter as “pagan holidays” and only celebrate Old Testament holy days.