Hearing on McVeigh execution today
Down on death row, preparations continue
By Karin Grunden
Tribune-Star
As lawyers in Denver argue today if Timothy McVeigh's execution should be delayed, officials at the federal prison in Terre Haute are continuing to plan for Monday's execution while keeping a close eye on the news.
The hearing, scheduled for 10 a.m. before Judge Richard P. Matsch, will address McVeigh's request for a stay of execution, based largely on the FBI's belated disclosure of more than 4,000 pages of documents related to the Oklahoma City bombing case.
Some experts -- including McVeigh's original trial attorney Stephen Jones -- expect Matsch to delay the execution.
That ruling could come as early as today, a court spokesman said.
However, staff at the U.S. Penitentiary will continue preparing for Monday's execution until they hear otherwise from Department of Justice officials, prison spokesman Jim Cross said.
"We're proceeding in doing our jobs while at the same time watching the events as they transpire," Cross said, adding it "would make things easier if we knew what was going on."
McVeigh, convicted of the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City that killed 168 people, was originally scheduled to die by lethal injection on May 16.
Less than a week before his execution date, the FBI disclosed it had discovered documents that were never turned over to McVeigh's lawyers.
In response, Attorney General John Ashcroft set a new execution date -- a date McVeigh has decided to fight.
Claiming the FBI's belated disclosure of documents was a "fraud upon the court," McVeigh's attorneys on Thursday filed a petition for a stay of execution.
The government responded Monday with a written argument opposing the stay, arguing that "McVeigh clearly has no claim of actual innocence that would support relief from his death sentence."
Today's proceeding will provide both McVeigh's attorneys and federal prosecutors an opportunity to argue their sides before Matsch, said Jim Manspeaker, clerk for the U.S. District Court, District of Colorado.
"There'll be no testimony, it'll be just legal arguments," Manspeaker said. It's unclear how long the hearing will last, he said.
Matsch could either rule from the bench today or issue a ruling later, Manspeaker said.
Jones said he believes Matsch will probably stay the execution, which would make Juan Raul Garza's June 19 scheduled lethal injection the first federal execution in 38 years.
If either side is unhappy with Matsch's ruling, they need not go far to file an appeal. The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals is a floor below the courtroom site of today's hearing, Manspeaker said.
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