Branch Davidians - Vernon Howell's (David Koresh's) Affiliation With The Branch

Vernon Howell's (David Koresh's) Affiliation With The Branch

In 1981 Vernon Wayne Howell (later renamed David Koresh) connected himself with the group after being disfellowshipped (excommunicated) from the SDA church in Tyler, Texas, for moral reasons. Shortly after that time he said that he had a new message for the church, but it was not received by anyone then. Rejected in his attempts to gain a following at that time, he came and went over the next year or so, only to return in early 1983, and then again in the fall of 1983 to try again. When there, he would offer Mrs. Roden his services in fixing cars and other mechanical problems, thereby gaining her trust.

Never at any time did he actually accept any of the basic moral teachings and practices of the Branch Davidian Seventh Day Adventists. The same type of things that caused him to be disfellowshipped from the SDA church would have disqualified him from membership in the Branch. The fact that he later had multiple "wives," used alcohol and flesh foods (and taught his followers to do so), dealt in firearms, and used various questionable techniques to compel the consciences of his followers and break down their physical and mental powers, further disqualified him from membership in the church and its leadership.

In September 1983 Lois Roden allowed Howell to teach his own message, opening the door for him to build a following before their split in early 1984. It is the church's practice to allow most anyone the freedom to present a study, so as not to stifle the spirit of investigation. There was a general meeting at Mount Carmel Center of many Branch Davidians in 1984 during Passover, and the end result was that the group split into a few factions, one of which was loyal to Howell. At this time George Roden forced Howell and his group, and some others, to leave the property. Shortly before that time Howell named his faction the "Davidian Branch Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist Association." Within about a year after leaving Mt. Carmel Center, Howell and his followers ended up in Palestine, Texas, which was his headquarters for the next couple of years. At Howell's command, his followers stopped distributing any of the Davidian and Branch literature after they joined him.

On March 28, 1985, Lois was in court again, enforcing the injunction against George. At that time she swore that she was the "President of the Branch Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist Association." About 2½ months later, Vernon Howell was involved in a separate court case in which he swore that he was the "President of the Davidian Branch Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist Association", and named nine of his followers who were members of the Branch before they left it to join his new faction under its new name. That case was initiated by George Roden. He was claiming that Vernon and numerous others were preventing him from being the President of the Branch church. Vernon's defense against George's complaint was that he was actually the President of a different association, i.e., the "Davidian Branch Davidian Seventh-Day Adventist Association."

While Howell and his followers claimed that Lois Roden had passed on, or had lost, her presidency to him, he never challenged her in court, nor did he attempt to exercise his purported right to the presidency and to the church's name and property until after she died in November, 1986. Though George had used his office of Trustee of the association to have Howell banned from the church's headquarters in 1984, Howell never used his alleged right to the leadership of the church to overturn George's action against him until after Lois died. Neither was he a party in the probate of Lois' estate in January 1987. Lois, as president of the church, held much of the church's property in her name in accordance with the church's Constitution and By-laws, yet Howell was not at the probate proceedings to protect the church's property, which he could have, and should have, done if he were her lawful successor. Instead, in the following summer Howell began to file numerous documents in the County Records office, which he and his followers were to later use to exert their claim to the right to use the church's identity and property. In all of those documents he assumed the church's name, rather than using the new name of his distinct faction, which he dropped at around that time.

Many of those nine persons named in Howell's statement regarding his being president of an association ("Davidian Branch Davidian...") different from The Branch had been members of the church's Executive Council under Lois. But, it wasn't until after Lois died that they and Vernon used that fact to make it appear that they were still members of the association which Lois was president of in order to gain use of the church's identity and property, and to bring contempt charges against George, causing him to leave the church's property. Their names appeared on the original 1979 court order against George, so although they left the church under Lois to join with Howell, under the guise of still being members of the "Executive Council" they took legal actions against George after Lois died.

In early November, 1987, Vernon and seven of his followers made what the authorities described as a military style assault upon George in order to gain control of Mt. Carmel Center. It was reported that Vernon and his followers said that they were just trying to get some photographs of a dead body which George had dug up. They claimed that the District Attorney had requested that they get the pictures in order to prosecute George That claim is questionable, because the sheriffs were well aware that George had dug up the body, for they had investigated the matter nearly nine months before that time when it was reported to them by Doug Mitchell (one of Lois' remaining followers) during the time of the probate of Lois' estate.

It was reported that during their assault Vernon and his followers had more ammunition than "a Vietnam patrol." They had hidden out in the ruins of the Administration building that Vernon burned down in 1983 until the morning when they were discovered and a shootout started between them and George. It reportedly went on for around 45 minutes before the sheriffs arrived. The sheriffs were met by Perry Jones (Vernon's father-in-law) outside of Mt. Carmel who said that they were just trying to take some pictures of the deceased woman. Vernon and those with him were put in jail, awaiting their trial on attempted murder charges. Vernon was bailed out while the others remained in jail. One of the officers who testified at the trial said that it appeared to him that Vernon and his followers were attempting to use the sheriffs in order to gain control of Mt. Carmel Center.

While waiting for the trial, George was put in jail under contempt of court charges on March 21, 1988 because of his use of foul language in some court pleadings. The very next day, Perry Jones and a number of Vernon's other followers moved from their headquarters in Palestine, Texas to Mt. Carmel Center.

At the trial, Vernon's group came with their children and gained much sympathy from the jury. The jury acquitted Vernon's followers. There was a mistrial declared for Vernon, and the charges against him were later dropped. All of their guns were given back to them.

Mitchell, the last church member in Waco to work with Lois before she died, had left there a week or so before that shootout, so there were no members of the church under Lois Roden in Waco who could testify at the trial in 1988 as to what was going on, other than George. Therefore, neither the jury nor the general public knew that Howell's leadership was of a completely different nature than that of Victor Houteff, and that of Ben and Lois Roden, who were well respected in the Waco community, or that he was actually the leader of a different association under a different name.