Showtime’s “Waco: The Aftermath” (2023), a five-episode series that we can only describe as the perplexing and interesting sequel to Paramount’s “Waco” (2018), is truly a production unlike any other. That’s because it dives deeply into the realities of what actually happened after the disastrous federal authorities’ siege of the titular Texas Branch Davidian sect in early 1993. Attorney Dan Cogell is one of those who has been accurately described in this original, so if you’re just interested in learning more about him and where he stands right now, we’ve got you covered.
Who is Dan Cogdell?
Dan apparently first became interested in our judicial system and the fairness of it all when he was still quite young, and as he got older, his curiosity only grew. The Stratford High School alumnus nevertheless decided to enrol in The University of Texas at Austin’s Bachelor of Business Administration programme before even considering dabbling in law. In other words, only after fully realising his intrinsic abilities, passions, aspirations, and dreams did he enrol at South Texas College of Law-Houston in 1979 to earn his Juris Doctor.
Dan once stated bluntly, “I became a lawyer for one primary reason, and that reason [apart from assisting others] was to be able to work for a fella by the name of Richard “Racehorse” Haynes.” “Mr. Haynes was the most well-known criminal attorney in the nation during his era, which was in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He was a hero, and rightfully so. Whatever I know, I learnt from Mr. Haynes. After all, he had worked for his mentor’s company, Haynes and Fullenweider, for over five years after spending a year as a Briefing Attorney at the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
In fact, Dan’s tremendous first-hand experience with Richard was what enabled him to start his own business in 1988 and remain connected to it over the years. In fact, he was a partner and shareholder at Cogdell Law Company in 1993 when Waco occurred, and he was subsequently requested to volunteer to defend Branch Davidian victim Clive Doyle. But after meeting his client, he decided to take the case because he saw that Clive wasn’t “some absolute crazy” in a cult but rather a regular man with fervent, unyielding religious convictions.
Dan recently said about the real siege, “I was gripped like everyone else in the nation. “At the time, there were only 15 or 20 television channels, and it was each channel’s headline story. The Waco “wackos.” I wholeheartedly accepted it… The horror and wrongness didn’t fully hit me in the face until the fire. On April 19, at noon, I was participating in a DWI trial in a misdemeanour court. The trial was halted as the judge switched to the news. We just all stood there and watched it. You couldn’t take your eyes off of it, similar to 9/11. I was more aware of how egregious the government’s behaviour was.
Where is Dan Cogdell Now?
Dan was pleased with his client’s acquittal when the Waco trial, which involved accusations pertaining to the deaths of 4 Bureau of Alcohol, Fire, Tobacco, and Explosives agents, came to a conclusion. He was pretty aggressively protective of this entire affair, but he was also sad because most of his fellow defendants had been found guilty of at least a few gun or manslaughter offences. He believes mistakes were committed on both sides, thus he has given multiple interviews to disclose the complete picture rather than just continuing with the narrative of federal authorities.
About Dan’s current situation, he is still a Houston, Texas, resident who proudly holds the positions of Partner at Jones Walker LLP as well as Trial Counsel at Cogdell Law Firm. It is not surprising that he has been named a Super Lawyer for more than ten years given that, as of writing, he has conducted close to 300 jury cases, the majority of which were victorious, in more than twenty states. In reality, aside from the Branch Davidian Trial, he has also been found not guilty in a number of well-known cases, including the Enron case and the one involving the cancer specialist Dr. Stanislaw Burzinski.
Dan thinks it is crucial that the Waco massacre and its equally horrible aftermath be documented in two separate miniseries over the course of the subsequent roughly three decades. The proud husband, father, and grandfather, who freely admits that his family comes first, added, “I think that was the beginning of the tremendous division that we’re in today. “The Branch Davidian case caused a lot of controversy. When the government acts improperly, especially when it is acted out or live-streamed, it leaves a trace. There has never been a greater gulf between the right and left in politics as there is today.
Dan once stated bluntly, “I became a lawyer for one primary reason, and that reason [apart from assisting others] was to be able to work for a fella by the name of Richard “Racehorse” Haynes.” “Mr. Haynes was the most well-known criminal attorney in the nation during his era, which was in the late 1970s and early 1980s. He was a hero, and rightfully so. Whatever I know, I learnt from Mr. Haynes. After all, he had worked for his mentor’s company, Haynes and Fullenweider, for over five years after spending a year as a Briefing Attorney at the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.
Dan recently said about the real siege, “I was gripped like everyone else in the nation. “At the time, there were only 15 or 20 television channels, and it was each channel’s headline story. The Waco “wackos.” I wholeheartedly accepted it… The horror and wrongness didn’t fully hit me in the face until the fire. On April 19, at noon, I was participating in a DWI trial in a misdemeanour court. The trial was halted as the judge switched to the news. We just all stood there and watched it. You couldn’t take your eyes off of it, similar to 9/11. I was more aware of how egregious the government’s behaviour was.