Execution delayed
McVeigh's day of death set back to June 11 after document foul-up
By Karin Grunden
Tribune-Star
Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh was prepared to die on Wednesday, but he might reconsider his request to be executed since the FBI disclosed it withheld evidence in his case, his attorneys said.
Attorney General John Ashcroft on Friday ordered McVeigh's execution be delayed a month so defense attorneys can review government documents from the bombing investigation that surfaced this week.
Ashcroft announced a new execution date of June 11.
"Mr. McVeigh had prepared to die mentally and physically. He's disturbed that he may have to go through that process again," his attorney Nathan Chambers said in Denver.
The postponement came one day after the FBI publicly disclosed that reports, photographs, written correspondence and tapes pertinent to the bombing investigation were never turned over to McVeigh's defense attorneys. The documents should have been provided to the defense during the discovery phase of the trial, Ashcroft acknowledged.
"I believe we are doing the right thing in this instance," the attorney general said.
Because of the delay in the execution, McVeigh may reconsider his choice to die, his attorney Robert Nigh Jr. said. Against the advice of his attorneys, McVeigh had asked a federal judge in December to stop his appeals and set a date for his execution.
"He is willing to take a fresh look," Nigh said in Terre Haute after consulting with his client. "He is going to make an informed decision on the information available."
Nigh said his client expressed a "degree of frustration" over the developments but was not angry.
The developments were a relief, in part, to McVeigh's father, Bill.
"The longer it goes without the execution, the better. But the problem with this is you've got to start all over again," Bill McVeigh said from his home in Pendleton, N.Y.
Don Rogers, who is among the survivors of the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building that killed 168 people, was upset with the delay.
"We just want to go on with our lives, and this is just kind of a roadblock. We're just tired of it," Rogers said from his ranch in Normal, Okla.
The delay is "an effort to allow his attorneys ample and adequate time to review these documents and to take any action they might deem appropriate in that interval," Ashcroft said during a news conference in Washington, D.C.
Ashcroft also announced plans to fully investigate "the FBI's belated delivery of documents and other evidence created during this investigation."
McVeigh's attorneys were notified Tuesday of the discovery of the FBI documents, which have been turned over to the defense team, the Justice Department said. The reports and evidence were discovered after an FBI archivist requested all bombing-investigation related materials be sent to the Oklahoma City field office.
"Career attorneys at the Department of Justice are confident that these documents do not create any reasonable doubt about McVeigh's guilt, nor do they contradict his admission of guilt for the crime," Ashcroft said.
But the defense is not taking the government's word for it.
Nigh said the 30-day postponement "most likely will not be enough" time to conduct a thorough analysis on the documents.
Chambers said he's only "scratched the surface" in looking through the thousands of pages of documents. He described the situation as "astounding."
"It needs to be investigated. We need to know what happened here," he said.
In Terre Haute, Nigh said the events of the past three days demonstrate the government is not capable of carrying out the death penalty in a fair and just manner.
"This kind of thing happens far too often in the criminal justice system," he said.
"Not only is a stay appropriate in Mr. McVeigh's case, I believe a moratorium" on all federal executions is appropriate, Nigh said.
Tribune-Star staff reporters Zach Taylor and Michele Holtkamp contributed to this report.
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