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Oklahoma bombing judge limits hair, handwriting questions
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No fingerprints found on truck rental form
February 5, 1997Web posted at: 9:00 p.m. EST
DENVER, Colorado (CNN) -- Prosecutors will be required to limit their use of hair, fiber and handwriting analyses in the Oklahoma City bombing trial, a judge ruled Wednesday.
Expert witnesses can make comparisons but not draw conclusions about what the evidence may show, said U.S. District Judge Richard Matsch.
Prosecutors lack solid scientific evidence to tie bombing suspect Timothy McVeigh to the Ryder rental truck allegedly used to blow up the federal building, CNN has learned.
The FBI has not found McVeigh's fingerprints on documents signed by the person who used a phony South Dakota driver's license to rent the truck in Junction City, Kansas, sources said.
Lacking such evidence, the government had a handwriting expert analyze the signature on the rental form. But Matsch said if prosecutors want to draw conclusions about the signature, another hearing must be held to determine the scientific basis for the handwriting expert's opinion.
McVeigh and Terry Nichols, both charged in the April 19, 1995, bombing that killed 168 people, will be tried separately. McVeigh's trial is set to begin March 31 in Denver. Nichols' trial is scheduled for later this year.
McVeigh has refused to provide the government with a handwriting sample. Prosecutors are expected to introduce military documents McVeigh is known to have signed.
McVeigh attorney, Jeralyn Merritt, argued that handwriting, fiber and hair analyses are unreliable, and said there are no standards for handwriting analysis. Nichols' attorney Michael Tigar attacked the hair and handwriting analyses as "junk science."
But Matsch ruled the evidence can be admitted, saying there is a difference between scientific knowledge and technical skills such as handwriting analysis.
Matsch said the same standards will apply to testimony about hair samples. The samples will not deal with any DNA tests but only with the thickness, color and texture of the hair samples examined by experts.
Wednesday's hearing was held in a newly remodeled courtroom that will be used for the trial. A closed-circuit television picture will be transmitted to Oklahoma City for viewing by survivors and families of the victims in the bombing.
The courtroom contains an American flag, but no federal seal or other reminders that the trial is being conducted by the federal government in a case where many federal workers died.
Reuters contributed to this report.
Special section:
Related stories:
- 'John Doe No. 2' is identified - January 24, 1997
- It's OK with Nichols if bomb victims attend his trial - January 24, 1997
- Witness could tie McVeigh to crucial phone calls - January 4, 1997
- McVeigh's trial set to begin March 31 - November 15, 1996
- Oklahoma bombing judge mulls closed-circuit TV admission - November 14, 1996
- Prosecutors in Oklahoma bombing accused of delay tactics - Novmber 13, 1996
- Oklahoma City bombing defendants to be tried separately - October 25, 1996
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