Woman Is First Cultist Convicted for Role in Waco Siege

A woman whose husband was killed in the initial federal raid on David Koresh’s Branch Davidian compound pleaded guilty Thursday to a reduced charge and agreed to testify against 11 other cult members.

Kathryn Schroeder, 34, became the first cult member convicted in connection with the shoot-out and 51-day siege that ended in the fiery deaths of 85 cult members.

Schroeder had been charged with murder, conspiracy to murder a federal officer and possession of a firearm. U.S. District Judge Walter Smith accepted the plea to one count of forcibly resisting a federal officer. She could be sentenced to 10 years in prison. No sentencing date was announced.

The 11 others are scheduled to go on trial Nov. 8 in Waco on charges including murdering federal officers, conspiring to murder and possessing a firearm during a crime of violence.

Some of them also face lesser charges such as unlawful possession of machine guns and conspiracy to possess an unregistered destructive device.

Schroeder was among the Koresh followers inside the compound when two truckloads of Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents arrived on Feb. 28, and a gun battle ensued. Her husband, Michael, died in the shootout, along with ATF agents Steven D. Willis, Robert Williams, Conway C. LeBleu and Todd W. McKeehan.

Most of the 85 cult members who died April 19 perished in a fire that investigators said Koresh and his lieutenants had started when FBI agents began lobbing tear gas into the compound. Others, including Koresh, were shot to death.