McVeigh ends appeals for stay

By Nolan Clay and Robert E. Boczkiewicz

Published: June 8, 2001

DENVER Timothy McVeigh gave up Thursday.

Order and judgment of the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals
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The Oklahoma City bomber dropped his fight to delay his execution after losing at the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

"He has reached the point that he wants us to press no further, his attorney, Rob Nigh, said after the ruling.

"He decided straight away. I think his demeanor was extremely calm. I think his resolve was clear.

McVeigh faces lethal injection at 7 a.m. Monday and will become the first federal inmate put to death in 38 years. His attorneys had wanted to go on to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The attorneys were seeking a stay so they could have more time to investigate leads from newly discovered FBI documents. They argued they might have proved the FBI was guilty of a "fraud on the court.

The FBI admitted last month it had found more than 4,000 pages of documents that should have been turned over to defense attorneys before McVeigh's 1997 trial.

"There was a breakdown in the system, prosecutor Sean Connelly conceded Wednesday.

McVeigh, 33, had dropped his appeals last December. But he changed his mind last week because of the FBI foul-up and authorized his attorneys to seek a stay.

His trial judge turned him down Wednesday, and the federal appeals court upheld the decision Thursday afternoon.

The appeals court ruled 3-0 that McVeigh "utterly failed to demonstrate any substantial grounds for a delay.

"When I informed him ... he said, All right, well, let's go no further.' ... And it was as simple and straightforward as that, Nigh, a Tulsa attorney, told reporters.

"He just said, Stop.' He didn't want to create any more uncertainty. He didn't want to leave the door open. He didn't want to say he's keeping his options open. He said he wanted the people to know. He wanted people to be able to make the preparations they have to make, including himself.

McVeigh had come within days of execution in May but U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft pushed back the date because of the FBI disclosure.

"He had prepared himself to die prior to the initial execution date of May 16, and he now again wants to make the final preparations necessary to be ready to die on Monday, Nigh said.

McVeigh is being held on death row at the U.S. Penitentiary in Terre Haute, Ind.

McVeigh's attorneys complained again Thursday that McVeigh is treated differently by the courts because of the magnitude of his crime.

The 1995 attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building left 168 dead, including 19 children.

"The McVeigh case has been a test of our system, attorney Richard Burr told reporters.

"In the lifetimes of all of us today, there has never been a case that has tested the fairness of our judicial system like this one. And we have not passed the test very well.

Attorneys also complained they had proof the FBI was still withholding documents.

McVeigh has told his attorneys only he and a friend, Terry Nichols, are to blame for the bombing.

Attorneys argued he might have disclosed other accomplices if they could have confronted him years ago with the recently found FBI documents.

The attorneys said jurors might have spared McVeigh's life if they had heard evidence of others' involvement.

At a hearing Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Richard Matsch rejected that argument as "just not tenable.

"Whatever may in time be disclosed about the involvement of others in this bombing, it will not change the fact that Timothy McVeigh was the instrument of death and destruction, the judge said.

Attorneys told the federal appeals court the trial judge "succumbed to the human tragedy of this case and lost sight of the demands of fairness.

Ruling Thursday for the 10th Circuit Court were Judges David M. Ebel of Denver, Paul J. Kelly Jr. of Santa Fe, N.M., and Michael R. Murphy of Salt Lake City.

The U.S. attorney general called their decision "a ruling in favor of justice.

"For the victims who have endured additional pain as a result of this last month of uncertainty, I am grateful this process will be over soon, Ashcroft said.

Nichols, 46, was convicted at a separate federal trial of the bombing conspiracy. He was sentenced to life in prison.

Nichols is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to reconsider his appeal in light of the recently found FBI documents.