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Source: Justice weighing document disclosure
WASHINGTON (AP) Lawyers for Timothy McVeigh sifted through
documents Wednesday as Justice Department attorneys weighed whether
to make public details about the material the FBI belatedly turned
over.
"All I can say is that we're working hard," said Richard Burr,
a Houston death penalty expert on McVeigh's legal team. "There's a
lot of pressure, no question about it."
Burr and three other McVeigh lawyers have been reading through
the material, which the FBI turned over about two weeks ago.
More than 3,100 documents were discovered as the FBI was
gathering all items that were part of the Oklahoma City bombing
investigation. They were supposed to have been turned over to
McVeigh's lawyers before his trial, but were not. The discovery led
the Justice Department to postpone McVeigh's execution for one
month to June 11.
McVeigh's lawyers are trying to determine if there is anything
in the documents that might prompt McVeigh to ask for an appeal or
stay of his execution.
"If we're in a position to file anything, we need to do so
sooner than later," Burr said Tuesday.
The Justice Department and the FBI say nothing in the documents
would cast doubt on McVeigh's guilt or conviction. Much of the
material consists of interviews and information about "John Doe
No. 2," a possible accomplice who never materialized.
Other documents provided no relevant information about the
investigation, but were filed anyway, officials said.
Under a court order, the documents cannot be made public. The
Justice Department is looking at whether to provide some details
about them in a filing in federal court in Denver, where McVeigh's
trial was held, said a government official, speaking on condition
of anonymity.
Additional items turned up during a final sweep, ordered May 11,
of all FBI fields offices and legal liaison offices around the
world.
FBI officials have declined to specify how much previously
undisclosed material has been discovered among the thousands of
documents sent to the FBI's Oklahoma City bureau, where the
documents are being gathered.
Meanwhile, an Oklahoma state court hearing for McVeigh
co-conspirator Terry Nichols, scheduled for Wednesday, was
postponed for one week to allow both sides to review through the
FBI evidence.
A federal jury convicted Nichols, 46, on federal involuntary
manslaughter and conspiracy charges and he was sentenced to life in
prison.
He now faces state charges of 160 counts of first-degree murder
for the April 19, 1995, federal building bombing that killed 168
people and injured more than 500. State prosecutors plan to seek
the death penalty.
They have complained to a judge about delays in the getting the
newly discovered documents.
In a telephone conference with District Judge Ray Dean Linder
last week, Oklahoma County Assistant District Attorney Sandra
Howell-Elliott said the FBI had not complied with her request for
the documents.
"We have tried really hard not to air with the court or with
the public that we've had difficulties with the federal government
from the beginning, but we have," Howell-Elliott said. "It has
not been a cooperative effort."
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