OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Survivors and those who lost loved ones in the Oklahoma City bombing were sent reeling Friday by the one-month postponement of Timothy McVeigh's execution.

"It's going to be very heart-wrenching," said Dan McKinney, whose wife died in the blast. "We have tried to put ourselves in a frame of mind for what we are going to see, what he's going to say. We have suffered for six years for this and I don't think we need to suffer any more."

McVeigh had been scheduled to die by lethal injection Wednesday for the bombing of the federal building that killed 168 people.

The FBI said Thursday that it mistakenly withheld boxes of evidence from McVeigh's lawyers during his trial. That prompted Attorney General John Ashcroft to order a 30-day delay to allow McVeigh's attorneys to review the information.

More than 300 bombing survivors and victims' families had planned to watch the execution in Oklahoma City on a closed-circuit broadcast. Ten others were to watch in person at the federal prison in Terre Haute, Ind.

Speaking at the Oklahoma City National Memorial, Stephen Jones, McVeigh's former attorney, said Ashcroft did the right thing.

"The American people need to have confidence that the right verdict was reached," he said. "If the right verdict was reached, a short delay is not prejudicial, if the wrong verdict was reached, than who would want it to go forward?"

Richard Williams, a survivor, did not sign up for the closed-circuit telecast but said he had been preparing emotionally for the execution.

"It's been an emotional roller coaster for us the last six years," he said. "I think it always will be."

Tom Kight, whose stepdaughter Frankie Merrell died in the attack, said he is putting his trust in U.S. District Judge Richard Matsch of Denver, who oversaw the trials of McVeigh and accomplice Terry Nichols.

"He is a real stickler for the law and I'm glad of that," Kight said. "This law has to apply to everybody, including Tim McVeigh. I do have a lot of faith in Judge Matsch. If that's the way he sees it, so be it."

Kight said that he had gotten mentally prepared for the execution and that it will be hard to do it again in a month.

"I will do some praying," he said.

Not all bombing victims' families were shocked and upset by news of a delay. Kathy Wilburn, whose two grandsons died in the building's day-care center, said she was excited to find out what is in the additional FBI documents.

"I feel like a kid waiting for Christmas morning," Wilburn said.

She believes McVeigh had more help with the bombing than the government has acknowledged.